Edited by Tabitha Naisiko, Wednesday, 30 Oct 2019, 14:36
In
the tasks of activity 14, am comparing MOOCs, specifically, I have chosen
Rhizomatic 15 with an offering from Future learn. In Future learn, I choose an ongoing
MOOC course titled Learning Online: Reflecting and sharing, run by the university
of Leeds ( https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/reflecting-and-sharing).
The course is designed to help learners at
school or college to make the transition to studying at university or workplace.
On the other hand, Dave, the blogger argues that rhizomatic learning is one story
for how we can think about learning and teaching in the complex world (http://davecormier.com/edblog/2015/04/10/a-practical-guide-to-rhizo15/). These two have similarities in technology, pedagogy, and general approach and philosophy. However, they also have remarkable
differences as will be presented in the article.
The similarities in technology are that both Rhizomatic
15 and FutureLearn use interactive technologies of web 2.0 including Facebook,
Twitter and blogs. However, Neil Moris the Tutor on future learn goes ahead to
illustrate the several tools they will use and why as reflected here. “Online tools for sharing I use a mix of tools:
* Microsoft Office - especially teams - for work
* Twitter to engage in politics
* Facebook to engage with friends and interests
* Instagram for pictures
* I will usually play around with new tools as they came onto the market just
so I am familiar with them, eg Snapchat, Gab, Pinterest, etc”
On the other hand, Dave the
blogger in the Rhizomatic 15, does not stress which technology and why, for he thinks
[feels] learning is a very messy place and the story of the rhizome is one he found super useful in explaining
things he has seen happen in learning spaces. He doesn’t justify but uses videos
and sketchbooks; perhaps to get sense out of a mess.
For pedagogical comparison between
rhizomatic 15 and FutureLearn, I find the later more systematic. Perhaps because
the course is also systematic with clear objectives, learning outcomes and
course content. The pedagogy used is thus watching videos, joining discussions,
reading articles and completing exercises. In assessment, there are short tests
and quizzes. For the former, rhizomatic 15 does not have a clear system of
pedagogy. Dave refers to this as learning in the new school which involves a
lot of interactions with teacher and learners. It uses a lot of collaborative
learning, social learning, constructive learning and a lot of networking. Dave
refers to this as the community as curriculum and open learning because the teacher
learns the learners, learners learn each other and about each other and this turns out to be open learning.
For the general approach
and philosophy, I observe that both rhizomatic and FutureLearn use connectivism
theory and empower learners through promoting networking by use of
collaborative and social learning approaches with the use of interactive
technologies and the internet. However, FutureLearn is more teacher-oriented
while Rhizomatic 15 is more student-oriented.
Comparing MOOCs: Rhizomatic 15 vis-avis FutureLearn
In the tasks of activity 14, am comparing MOOCs, specifically, I have chosen Rhizomatic 15 with an offering from Future learn. In Future learn, I choose an ongoing MOOC course titled Learning Online: Reflecting and sharing, run by the university of Leeds ( https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/reflecting-and-sharing). The course is designed to help learners at school or college to make the transition to studying at university or workplace. On the other hand, Dave, the blogger argues that rhizomatic learning is one story for how we can think about learning and teaching in the complex world (http://davecormier.com/edblog/2015/04/10/a-practical-guide-to-rhizo15/). These two have similarities in technology, pedagogy, and general approach and philosophy. However, they also have remarkable differences as will be presented in the article.
The similarities in technology are that both Rhizomatic 15 and FutureLearn use interactive technologies of web 2.0 including Facebook, Twitter and blogs. However, Neil Moris the Tutor on future learn goes ahead to illustrate the several tools they will use and why as reflected here. “Online tools for sharing I use a mix of tools:
* Microsoft Office - especially teams - for work
* Twitter to engage in politics
* Facebook to engage with friends and interests
* Instagram for pictures
* I will usually play around with new tools as they came onto the market just so I am familiar with them, eg Snapchat, Gab, Pinterest, etc”
On the other hand, Dave the blogger in the Rhizomatic 15, does not stress which technology and why, for he thinks [feels] learning is a very messy place and the story of the rhizome is one he found super useful in explaining things he has seen happen in learning spaces. He doesn’t justify but uses videos and sketchbooks; perhaps to get sense out of a mess.
For pedagogical comparison between rhizomatic 15 and FutureLearn, I find the later more systematic. Perhaps because the course is also systematic with clear objectives, learning outcomes and course content. The pedagogy used is thus watching videos, joining discussions, reading articles and completing exercises. In assessment, there are short tests and quizzes. For the former, rhizomatic 15 does not have a clear system of pedagogy. Dave refers to this as learning in the new school which involves a lot of interactions with teacher and learners. It uses a lot of collaborative learning, social learning, constructive learning and a lot of networking. Dave refers to this as the community as curriculum and open learning because the teacher learns the learners, learners learn each other and about each other and this turns out to be open learning.
For the general approach and philosophy, I observe that both rhizomatic and FutureLearn use connectivism theory and empower learners through promoting networking by use of collaborative and social learning approaches with the use of interactive technologies and the internet. However, FutureLearn is more teacher-oriented while Rhizomatic 15 is more student-oriented.