Well, I have resisted delving into learning analytics long enough.
Student data analytics has smacked of math and manipulating people, two things that both fascinate and repel me. Stephen Downs is offering an Analytics MOOC bracketed by ethics, and duty of care in the title. That’s enough to draw me in. And of course, the fact that it is Stephen Downs, who co-facilitated my very first cMOOC (PENK 2010), is also a big draw to me. I had a bit of a fanboy moment with Stephen in Toronto at the ICDE World Conference in 2017 when I finally met one of my cMOOC heroes in person.
Shout out to Matthias Melcher for his X28’s blog post that alerted me to this opportunity.
So over the next couple of months I’ll be muttering my developing thoughts about the justaposition of ethics and analytics into blog posts here, mostly dictating into Google Docs as I mull over what I’m learning from others. It won’t be anything too organized, but it’s my way of participating. Maybe I’ll even figure out how to dictate new posts directly into the WordPress app on my phone. I think I’ll also sign up for the newsletter on mailchimp, since I’m a bit lazy about chasing down an RSS feed harvester. Perhaps that’s something else I’ll learn how to do well in this MOOC.
To close, here’s a totally gratuitous sunrise photo from my morning walk a few weeks ago
to brighten up the bottom of this rather drab WordPress page.
Good to see you on the intro with Stephen, kind of a co-host. Also good to know you too are learning by doing…. ie: rss feed and all. That fits well into what Stephen Downes is up to with us, a net of learning of sorts are in the mix with the course.
Thanks Bill, but it wasn’t me on the video.