I have long suspected there was something in MOOCs for me; I am glad I was finally satisfied that was a good hunch!

After many false starts, in varied platformsScreen Shot 2014-03-04 at 6.04.07 PM

I am pleased to share that I have actually finished a MOOC!

Screen Shot 2014-03-04 at 6.16.16 PMI finished the Coursera course: K-12 Blended & Online Learning conducted by Kennesaw State University.

The course was divided into two sections. This was to serve as an introductory and advanced segmentation to my mind. The first section was very theoretical. And easy, the first part was easy. The kind of “log in with your fingers and thoughts and do some work to prove you were here” which people would do for 2 Professional Learning Units (PLUs to Georgia teachers). The second part was more challenging. In the second part of the course we were asked to follow the rubrics from iNACOL and the examples by the KSU professor Anissa Lokey-Vega and create an actual Syllabus, 6 week unit plan, and a module (which they called a lesson – still unsure about that). After creating each we were asked to use the iNACOL rubric and evaluate 3 of our peers in the course. All three of those weeks I had a real suspense once I submitted my task, what if I had not done it right? How embarrassing if I misunderstood what to do, I wanted desperately to compare my work to a peer before finishing … in other words, I felt *just* like students do. Good for this course. I had the anticipation of an online student and think that I will now write online/blended coursework differently because of that.

the PLUs were a factor in trying this course, but there are many PLU experiences which I still manage to avoid…

I will use the Coursera statement of accomplishment to submit for 5 PLUs from the state. I will not lie, the PLUs were a factor in trying this course, but there are many PLU experiences which I still manage to avoid. However what I am most excited about doing is leading a group of folks through this exact same process next January.  My audience will be mostly interested in blended environments, but I think it is such a powerful experience.

This is the wrap-up video in case we want to sample the informal flavor which accompanied much of the intense, college-like work in this course.

I do think that because much of the work was administered by a college professor of education, that because the work was familiar to me as a semi-professional student (read: teacher) that also helped me finish the course successfully.

The fact is that no other experience has made such an improvement in my confidence to write online learning materials. That is pretty good professional learning!

You know I’ve got at least one more MOOC in the works, right? Let’s see what my reflection is at the end of that one now!