Week 01 - BlendKit 2014 MOOC

So, we have started another MOOC in search of the never ending quest for professional education hours. This seasons MOOC is BlendKit 2014, a massively, open, online course on blended learning. While the first weeks readings and activities make clear that some instructor involvement is required for learning to be officially declared blended learning, there's seems to be no minimum nor maximum percentage of learning allocated as such. I still retain my concept that blended learning does not require any in-person nor online interaction with an instructor, but a blend of learning materials, strategies, and activities. The course designers appear to covertly imply consent to my viewpoint, in that, while there was a live instructor led webinar, watching a delayed recording of said webinar is also deemed sufficient for course progress. So one can complete the first week of the MOOC without instructor interaction. The point goes to Timothy.

One interesting aspect of the BlendKit 2014 MOOC is the use of badges. As applied, this is a poor attempt at gamification. While on boarding occurs by simply completing an assignment, there doesn't appear to be any scaffolding or increasing levels of difficulty to achieve follow on badges. I suspect this will result in boredom and a corresponding lack of motivation. How important is a badge anyway if one need do next to nothing to achieve it? Good dog! Here's a treat.

I've been able to point a few folks to information and have made some online contacts for the do it yourself (DIY) assignments, which many report as difficult. Perhaps they did not follow the advice from one of the pre-recorded MP3 audio tracks to keep things simple, at least at first.

As this is a six week MOOC and blogging seems an integral part of BlendKit 2014, expect to find five more rants or raves in coming weeks. I also created a Blended Learning board on Pinterest. I'll be pinning the best resources and examples as I did with gamification.