Maria H. Anderson, Ph.D. Director of Learning & Research, Instructure maria@instructure.com @busynessgirl Canvas Network: http://canvas.net Many of us have experience with SPOCs = Small Private Online Courses Recommendations: 2-4 hrs/wk, 3-6 weeks Considerations for Teaching MOOCs - Assessments - Resources provided - Required materials - Length - Access to resources Samples Social Media MOOC - http://learn.canvas.net/courses/1 Request student access to SoMe - http://bit.ly/sloancmooc Recommendations from Maria Resources Provided Wherever possible, provide resources that are freely accessible in most of the world Consider your role to be the curator of the millions of resources on the Internet Assessments The assessments should provide another opportunity for learning (ex: design a quiz that is designed for students to fail unless they read the readings, then let students go back and take quiz again after failing first time and then completing the readings) Activities The activities should provide a chance to apply what you’re learning in the real world Activities should provide a way for students to share and delight in what they are learning Discussions Discussions provide a place to truly leverage the diversity and life experiences of your participants. Discussions don’t have to be required unless the purpose of participating will be valuable to every student individually Length of Course MOOC students want to spend fewer hours per week and commit to less weeks This doesn’t mean you teach a less rigorous version of the same course. It means you teach a different course. It might mean you teach three courses instead of one. My Takeaways MOOCs (massive open online courses) are fundamentally different from SPOCs (specialized private online courses) student-created content are some of the most interesting and valuable components of MOOCs MOOCs can be great venue for experimenting with new learning opportunities for students MOOCs can be considered "service to the community" and are a great way to showcase the institution motivation for offering MOOCs still must be identified "enroll has become the new like button" ongoing availability adds a unique dimension

Lately, I have been looking at a lot of job postings. I often get excited about a possible opportunity and look at the company and become fascinated with who they are and what they represent. "My, what I would love to bring to an organization like that, I appreciate their message, their mission. I have experience in what they are asking for and needing. Oh, they require a college degree. Next…" Most employers now expect applicants to have at least a Bachelor’s in order to be able to contact them. The message is clear- Do not bother contacting us if you do not have a college degree. Nope. Stay away. We don’t care who you are, who you know, what you’ve done or what you are passionate about, or capable of. Sometimes, employers don’t even make a notation as to what you have to be degreed in at all; only that you have one. It is as if, they check a box on the form and that’s it. No exceptions. This brings up a few thoughts. My mother went to USC and received a degree in dental hygiene. Only to own her own remodeling company for 35 years. My father carries a zoology degree from USC and has spent most of his career life as a purchasing manager, writer, and business owner. For people who switch career paths in life, a degree becomes just a piece of paper. They still have to learn everything new that they need to know. Most of them do that with mentorship and work experience. This current college degree only applicants phenomenon strikes me strange for the following reasons. With standard protocol in (big) business over the last twenty years, being to either outsource work to other countries or to pay people as little as possible to help their bottom line- Why would employers now demand a degree that will mean they will have to pay them more than someone without? Older workers were weeded out of positions because they had nice salaries, longer vacations and benefits. Only to be replaced by inexperienced workers who had to learn on the job but were paid much less. Now let’s hire people we have to pay more. People get bored. The few people I know that were completely born to do the same job are engineers. They are wired for it, love it, breathe it and usually have enough change to keep it exciting for them. Other than the Professional roles, (doctors, lawyers, teachers) I think people in general want to mix it up a little. When people (Yes, I am making sweeping generalizations here, but as this is only my opinion, I think it’s ok) find a new something that gets them excited, they want to pursue it. They have big energy for it; strive to learn as much as they can about it. They try really, really, hard. Reading the article reference here- it takes much longer to fill a position when one requires a degree than it does if it is open to other applicants. Sixty one days to fill a college degree demanded position or 28 days for the same position without the moniker. That is potentially wasted productivity time. When employers add the must have 5-10 years of completely related work experience. Again, people get bored. Maybe they are looking for a new job because they are sick of their last job. They will bring that energy to a new company if they are tired of that work or market. Some employers complain that they can’t find any good applicants, no one fits the bill. Maybe it’s because you have knocked out 60 % of the potential people before you even know their name. Sometimes it feels like a secret club, one that takes significant money and time to get into. I am in NO WAY undermining a college education. It is very important and is becoming even more so as the years go on. However, for some, like me, a middle aged woman who has one daughter in college now and another one starting next year; taking the time and money away from them is not what I want to do. I do want to work, I want to work hard. I have ideas, energy and passion coming out of my ears. But I don’t have the degree. Next. Further Reading How 'Upcredentialing' May Close the Middle-Class Path Picture by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid

How do rollouts of new Blackboard releases impact institutions? What steps are institutions taking to prepare faculty, teaching staff, and students for the changes brought about by Blackboard upgrades? During this presentation at the 2013 Blackboard Product Development Offsite on May 15, 2013, Northern Illinois University shared its comprehensive faculty development strategy for supporting faculty and preparing the campus community for new upgrades. Specific steps taken to prepare faculty and staff for each service pack were shared, including the initiatives underway in conjunction with NIU’s upgrade from Learn 9.1 SP8 to SP11 in June 2013. Walk away with practical examples of how an institution is compiling and integrating available support documentation and resources from Blackboard to share with its campus as well as the wider Blackboard user community! Slides are available here | mobile-friendly slides

The internet is a fabulous thing and has shaped modern life in numerous ways. And clearly it had its impact on the way people learn today. Not only are there countless learning resources available, often one can learn something new completely free of charge. However, when looking for something on the Internet today, especially with the intention to gain knowledge, information and learn something new, the experience can be pretty overwhelming as there is so much content available. This is why curation in education has become so prominent over the past 2-3 years. Learners, and teachers alike, often rely on experts to cut through all the noise and come up with the best pieces of content, may it be articles, videos, infographics or other forms of content. MentorMob allows experts to create playlists where they can break down a longer and often complicated process of learning something into small and digestible steps. Introduce your startup and give a short description of what you are doing. MentorMob makes learning easier for everyone.The MentorMob community finds the best free learning content on the web and organizes it into free, comprehensive learning guides. MentorMob’s mission is to empower anyone to start, enhance or master any skill or hobby by making the best free learning content of the web easier to find. Who are the founders, how did you meet, what are your different roles in the startup. MentorMob was started by University of Illinois Alumni Kris Chinosorn and Vince Leung. After meeting at UIUC, both Kris and Vince knew there had to be a better, more efficient way to learn for free online and that is when MentorMob was born. Kris Chinosorn is a University of Illinois alum who acts now as the strategic and creative head of MentorMob. An early dotcom entrepreneur, Kris worked on several projects with the earliest employees of Facebook, Google and Paypal before coming across his realization of how to use the Internet to solve a worldwide problem. Vince comes in as the tech head of MentorMob with an engineering degree from the University of Illinois. He started his career in California working for exciting projects for both enterprise and consumer spaces, including the Motorola Razr. How was the idea for your startup born? The idea for MentorMob sprouts from the backgrounds of Kris Chinosorn and Vince Leung. Both avid learners, they found early on that the Internet was not quite the incredible tool for learning new skills and hobbies that everyone thinks it is. Even with millions of free lessons online, the content is almost impossible to navigate. Enter MentorMob. What is the main problem in education that you aim to solve. We are addressing a problem that everyone has, but have yet to realize. Search engines find information, but don’t organize it. By curating and organizing the best online learning content, MentorMob allows people who spend all their time searching to actually start learning. And MentorMob provides the community a way to learn and interact with anyone else who’s learning it...anywhere in the world. Who are your main competitors? What sets you apart from them? Google. YouTube. The internet. All give you a lot of content and most is of questionable quality. MentorMob provides one definitive learning guide of the highest quality content that is out there on the web. In which markets / regions are you active. What markets / regions are next. We are anywhere people are searching the web to learn a new interest, hobby or lifestyle. We make top quality education accessible for everyone. Currently, we have launched with kiteboarding, photography, snowboarding, parenting, wedding planning, salsa dancing, bachata and entrepreneurship. We have a list of mobs we will be moving into shortly. Any you want to see? Who is your target audience. Hobbyists, educators and lifelong learners around the global. YOU! What is your business model. How much does your product / service cost. The first phase involves brand sponsorships. The value proposition is building a relationship with a highly qualified group of users learning the hobby that the brand wants to sell, to be coupled with a very high engagement experience. Since users are on MentorMob to learn a hobby it is natural to learn about related products and services that you will need. Are there milestones you are especially proud of and would like to share. We are especially proud of watching our community grow, learn and interact around the world. From our internal standpoint it has been extremely gratifying to see our name in Times Square for the ringing of the NASDAQ bell. Also, this past year we were top 3 at SXSW Entertainment and Content. What are the next steps in growing your startup. Getting the word out there to more people around the world. Sharing the love! How can people get in touch with you. Kristin@mentormob.com @MentorMob www.facebook.com/mentormob

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One Education, an Australian non-profit partner of One Laptop per Child (OLPC), aims to breathe new life into the project. It revealed a prototype of a new version of the educational computer that takes some pages out of Google’s modular smartphone project Ara. The XO-infinity is a modular laptop, meaning the main components like WiFi antenna, battery, screen, camera and core are easily interchangeable through a Lego-like system. This makes the laptop easily repairable or upgradeable by simply switching out the desired components. Through the system One Education hopes to reduce electronic waste as older or broken components can be changed separately instead of replacing the entire laptop. One Education aims for a lifespan of ten years instead of two for most laptops and tablets. The XO-infinity can be used as stand-alone tablet or as a laptop and there are different processor units which enable it to run on Android, Linux or Windows. The first working model of the XO-infinity is expected to be shipped in August with a public launch in early 2016. Further Reading To infinity and beyond: A computer designed to outlast a childhood | Medium OLPC Australia to Launch a Modular, Hybrid Laptop/Tablet Called the XO Infinity | The Digital Reader Meet Rangan Srikhanta, the former refugee who wants to change the world one laptop at a time | Sydney Morning Herald Links one-education.org/infinity

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In this episode of Meet Education Project, Jessie Arora talks about new education technology companies, Teacher Square, and building a link between teachers and ed tech products.  Don’t miss it! Jessie Arora, founder of TeacherSquare, is focused on improving educational outcomes for all types of learners and empowering educators to play a more active and meaningful role in tech adoption in our schools.  She is particularly passionate about cultivating the education startup ecosystem to help create tools and services that improve teaching and learning for all students. As an angel investor she focuses on the K12 education space, applying her experiences from Google, Citizen Schools & the Stanford Graduate School of Ed. She blogs at edcrunch.org and you can follow her @Jessie_Arora. Social media & key links from the episode: Twitter:  @Jessie_Arora Blog:  edcrunch.org LinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/in/jessiearora/ Goalbook:  Streamlining the IEP Shawn Rubin, and teacher/entrepreneur community building in RI EdTech Accelerators: Socratic Labs 4.0 Schools Imagine K12 School Models: Zaya.org For more episodes featuring thought leaders in education visit MeetEducationProject.com, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and follow Nick DiNardo on Twitter.