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Patrick Andrews

MOOC on EMI 2

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Edited by Patrick Andrews, Sunday, 23 Jul 2017, 14:20

I have taken several MOOCs as a student as well as being a moderator on one.  The most recent has been the MOOC on EMI.  I quite enjoyed this but there were also some aspects that I feel less keen on.

The course was relatively small and it was possible to engage with other students and many of these were engaged and had different and interesting perspectives. We were able to make use of "collective intelligence".

It was just moderated by the two lead educators.  They were very responsive and I was surprised that they were able to reply to so many comments.  I assume that they must have been given time to do this.  There are other courses where the moderators are much less visible.

I do not really like the "mark as complete" button at the end of each activity.  This seems to imply the learning has finished but in fact, it is often important to go back to the activity (eg to respond to comments on what I had posted).

I also find the quiz items either trivial or the answers could be unreliable - I suppose this is inevitable with "objective testing" and this is the only way to cope with the size of the course.

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Patrick Andrews

MOOC on EMI

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I have started studying a MOOC on English as a Medium of Instruction for Academics (https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/emi-academics/1/todo/8341)  The first week has been interesting in seeing the variety of concerns that practitioners have.

It is also good to see that the course makes heavy use of input from Kristina Hultgren, who works for the OU.  This shows how this university is doing important work in the field of Applied Linguistics.


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Patrick Andrews

MOOC on English for Academic Purposes

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An OU MOOC on English for Academic Purposes will be offered next month:

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/learning-english-academic-purposes-first-steps?utm_source=newsletter_broadcast&utm_medium=futurelearn_organic_email&utm_campaign=fl_june_2017&utm_term=05_06_2017_first_name_there_s_a_course_for_you_starting_today

There are also due to be some SPOC (Short Private Online Courses) to follow for more specific academic needs.

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Patrick Andrews

MOOC on Dyslexia and Foreign Language Teaching

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I am just starting as a student on a MOOC on Dyslexia and Foreign Language Teaching.  I have only scanned the course but as with the previous Lancaster MOOC on Corpus Linguistics, I am impressed by the number of moderators they seem to have allocated.

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Patrick Andrews

Talk the Talk MOOC again - terms of address

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Edited by Patrick Andrews, Wednesday, 27 Aug 2014, 13:19

It still seems to be going well and many students have been supportive of each other.  There are, however, some postings that seem unnecessarily negative about presentations that people have posted.

One thing that has been striking is how often terms of address have been problematic.  Some people have been using titles (Mr X etc) and Madam/Sir.  These seem to be misinterpreted at times.  There is a perhaps a need for clearer expectations about the level of equality that is expected.

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Patrick Andrews

Talk the Talk MOOC Week 5

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The course generally seems to be going well.  Something that is striking is that in week 5, there are quite a large number of students still posting on the early activities, stating that they are just starting the course.  I am trying to reply to at least some of the postings by these students so that they are aware that we are interested in their contributions and still keen to encourage them.

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Patrick Andrews

Weeks 2 and 3 of the Presentation Skills MOOC

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Students still seem engaged on the course and there is plenty of useful discussion occurring.  I am trying to encourage and support by making my presence felt.  There was one unusual reply to a message I posted - "yah".  I find it hard to interpret.

 

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Patrick Andrews

First week of Talk the Talk MOOC

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The first week was interesting to experience.  There were many comments and the discussions seemed to be lively.  Many of the concepts were perceptive but the main impression was of energy as there seemed to be postings almost by the minute.  I wonder what student responses to such a busy course are.

The course I took as a student (on Corpus Analysis) had many more facilitators and they were more visible as a result.  I hope that students do not feel that there is too little presence of the facilitators but they are only human and cannot be present all day every day.

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Patrick Andrews

A Future Learn MOOC on presentation skills

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Edited by Patrick Andrews, Tuesday, 5 Aug 2014, 16:59

I will be working as a facilitator on the Future Learn MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on presentation skills.  If anyone reading this wants to join, they can do so at:

http://www.futurelearn.com/courses/talk-the-talk

It is free to register for it. 

I hope to post some thoughts on how it goes as the course progresses.

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Patrick Andrews

MOOc on Corpus Linguistics,

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I decided to try the MOOc on corpus linguistics.  For a response to my first week on the course, see http://patrickdandrews.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/initial-impressions-of-corpus.html

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