Today, I get a mail from course leader Jenni Hayman saying I have to go into the Open Courses platform and set my notification settings to receive mails from them. Seems as if the high number of no-shows had alerted them to a problem.
Of course the Open Courses server is "down for maintenance" so I can't do the settings. This may be a sensible timing for server maintenance for WWE - they are still fast asleep and it's 4 am over there. I'm in London and ready to get my MOOC underway.
Lessons for MOOC organisers.
1. Set default communication to email notification. This channel, for all its faults, ensures people do turn up at the right time and place.
2. There is no such thing as scheduled server downtime in the MOOC space. It's global time.
But one encouraging thing in this mess. The MOOC lead instructor, Jenni Hayman, spotted quickly that the MOOC participation patterns were not looking right, and presumably investigated fast and got the answer fast. That tells me two more useful things.
3. MOOCs are now a stable and standardised enough format, that the instructors have a good feel for what ought to happen
4. There's still no technology better than a smart person dedicated to their job.
Hi Stephen, thank you for your fair and balanced post. There seem to be a couple of comedy of errors streams emerging at the startup of our course. We are not amused, and certainly feel the pain of our participants, but we're also not panicking. These errors represent some of the challenges of using large-scale technology and conducting mass communication, while maintaining user privacy and choice. Good elements to consider for global open educators. All feedback is going to improve effectiveness as we go, and hopefully contribute to everyone's professional development. Best, Jenni
ReplyDelete