Blog #5 A MOOC?

Focus on project identity! There was a lot of  collaborative work taking place last Tuesday within our group. We are a large group and we really spent our time focusing on getting the job done. Splitting ourselves up into three groups to tackle the different parts of our presentation proved to be successful. Maria and I really honed in on the first part of our presentation, how we come to terms with defining our identity. We feel we selected an amazing Finding Your Roots episode to share with the class that pinpoints several important topics when discussing identity. The episode brings up many talking points. It made us think us think about how we/society define(s) identity, and how we are effected by external factors in our lives that may make us question who we are. It has been awesome working with Maria, doing a close reading of the video, and developing discussion questions that we feel the class will really appreciate and that will allow for some true moments of expression and sharing. We hope it is enlightening and that some people may find themselves connecting with the presentation. 

Now onto the MOOC. I never heard of a MOOC before. I was curious about what it was when it was brought up in class on Tuesday. Thank you Dr. Zamora for providing a link so we can see what an actual MOOC looks like. It seems like a great way to serve the needs for our class. I spent some time perusing the site.  I even watched a few of the webinars. One webinar allowed the panel to reflect upon their experiences engaging in a MOOC, and their feedback was extremely positive. Those who were invited on the panel shared about the connections made between people involved and the positive energy they felt throughout their experience. I know this was an example of quite an extensive MOOC that was more "involved" for lack of a better word, than ours may be, but I really liked that people felt connected. That was the key word for me. It definitely seems like a way to reach out to others who may be invested in our class, and maybe don't it yet. However, being a tech spaz I would like to know more about how to construct a MOOC site and upload our work onto it. How does it all come together?