After feasting on the riches from PLENK 2010 for a whole year, I’m looking forward to the upcoming Change MOOC.
This spring my College made official the tongue-in-cheek “Computer Geek” award they gave me a year earlier. This one, titled “Innovation and College Improvement Award” is a classy-looking plaque in walnut and brushed aluminum. I got it mainly for doing stuff I learned in PLENK. I’ve been amazed at how positively colleagues and administrators have 
responded to my pushing the boundaries of what’s been tried in the north.
I owe a huge acknowledgement of indebtedness, not only to Stephen Downes, George Siemens, and Dave Cormier, but to all the people with whom I’ve networked as a result of PLENK, especially Glen Gatin, Tony Radcliffe, Susan Grigor, Carol Yeager, Susan O’Grady, and, in spite of my short-lived participation in ds106, Jim Groom, Cogdog, Noise Professor to name a few. (In ds106 I learned to make animated GIFs, obtained my own domain, installed WordPress with plugins, discovered The DailyShoot, and got on ds106 Radio, all in just one month.)
Then there’s Nellie Deutsch and the participants in Moodle 4 Teachers , including Mal who promises to interact with my students this winter. I also sampled Mobi MOOC, but without cellular service in our area, chose to drop out – still, I learned what QR codes are and how to generate them – there’ll be one on my next set of business cards.
None of this would likely have happened without PLENK. Now I’m looking forward to a new round of connecting and learning with #change11. This time I’m inviting some of my colleagues to join me in the adventure. I’m hoping my previous experience will enable me to guide them through some of the more frustrating aspects of a new learning paradigm.
You may be interested in my Livebinder Site created at: http://livebinders.com/edit?id=71146 with links to lots of MOOC related content from previous MOOCs
Interesting library, very well organized. I found the links opened more quickly if I went to the target page rather than waiting for them to open in livebinder. Could be due to my 20th century broadband connection.
Hey there Jim. Many thanks for the mention. PLENK had the same effect on my life, opened many new horizons, generated infinite thought streams and provided me with my first PLN. The CCK11 MOOC, reliant on gRSShopper didn’t provide me with that same level of enthusiasm. It seemed a lot more fractured and seemed to be debating the same issues with the ongoing acronym and semantics ambiguity. As you may be aware, photography has now consumed my life, so I fear I am destined to be one of those much maligned lurkers this time around. I don’t like the GRRShopper format. I look forward to dropping by and reading your thoughts as you travel MOOC style this time.
Susan
Hi Jim, greetings from Nunavut,appreciated your post. I joined change11 and have been wondering what I might expect to learn that will have any practical application. Sounds like you got lots out of PLENK! I am encouraged by that. I see one of my colleagues has also noticed your blog and made a comment. Perhaps we should have an “up north discussion group” for change11. Interested?
I read your post and you could have been talking about me as well. I too have feasted on the banquet called PLENK10 and surfaced after months of discovery and thinking with incredibly innovative ideas about the direction of libraries. Forging this new conceptual path got me invited to speak at a number of conferences. So PLENK was invaluable. I describe this more in my blog which I use for all moocs combined. myclipmarks.wordpress.com
Now DS106 – that was just plain fun this summer. So whacky and wonderful. I needed that uplifting experience. Ditto on the thanks to the people above.
Hey! I see from your comment on my site we share the ‘challenges’ of a northern isolated community. I’m sure there are several more of us lurking around. However, I can also see that you have a lot more experience than I do when it comes to experimenting with these different learning platforms. I look forward to reading more of your posts and learning from your experiences.
tara
Congratulations, Jim! and thanks for the mention … your assist on my website was one impetus for starting the MOOC … CMC11.
Have a great journey with Change11 and come visit us from time to time … if only to lurk about!
Cheers …
And you also invited your son along :). I don’t really have anything constructive to comment, but congratulations on the computer geek award.