#eduMOOC Week 3 Online and Networked Learning

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Here is my second post on eduMOOC, with part of our conversation on Facebook on online and networked learning:

Online academy for K12 students would be operated very differently from higher education, as likely the emphasis would shift from “lower order” learning based on learning of content (facts and information) to “higher order” learning based on learning of critical thinking, metacognition (thinking how to think), sensemaking and wayfinding. The transition of Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 could be hindered if the teacher or lecturer would like to “teach” all the content as stipulated in the lesson (based on lesson plan) without regard to what the learners actually need or might be interested individually, especially in the case of adult learning. That makes learning seems like spoon feeding when the learners’ experience and prior knowledge are disregarded. So, for education and learning for professors, for K-12 educators, for veterans could be very different to novices, if viewed under the lens of pedagogy, and the critical question is: should a differentiated approach in teaching and learning for those categories of learners be used instead of a one-size suit all (lecture) that are still typically used in HE?
Isn’t learning for individuals more about setting goals, developing strategies and action plans, and implementing those plans with technology, media and networks as affordances (the philosophy of having a PLE/PLN)? As Mary said it requires the learners to coordinate and organise the learning him/herself, and that of groups and collectives, especially for independent (or interdependent) learners. The challenge is: who decides on the plans, content, actions for the learners? In the case of a course, is it the teacher? The learner? Or a combination of teacher/learner in the case of coaching/mentoring where the coach or mentor mediates the learning, and supports the learners to experiment through their own learning spaces/networks? Or the peer learners (like here eduMOOC/MOOC)? Our past researches indicated that MOOC might be welcome by more experienced educators who wanted to advance their teaching and learning, but could be a huge challenge for novices who would like to have some structures in their course of study. That makes learning “appears” to be somewhat more complicated and complex, especially when the new comers found that they might be inundated with information and might also have found some advice perplexing, as that is not what they have experienced in their previous studies (high school, or even university studies with lectures, face-to-face education). Some educators and learners would argue that learning should be simplified by the teachers, and so the curation of learning resources should rest solely on the teachers, and the learners are merely consumers of such curated resources (as isn’t that what a commercial customer wants when buying products?). So if education is viewed as a commodity, or a product that a learner could buy through the process of education, then such education would need to be “effective and efficient” from the educator’s point of view, as educators are responsible for the teaching and accountable to their institution authorities for what they are paid for. These fundamental roles of educators as assumed in institution could then be very different from that in a typical MOOC, where the roles of educators are shared amongst the peers, especially in the case of 2300 + in edu MOOC. Would the learners perceive their role in this way? Or would most (>95%) remain as LPP as is the case in past MOOCs?