Wednesday, October 5, 2011

No music title - No artist. I only hear the distant traffic and the wind.

I had planned my schedule around the September 29th live session, thinking it was at noon as usual. I logged in, noticing that I was alone. Ugh. I missed the announcement that the time was moved up and like walking into the empty lecture hall hours after the class was over, I logged off, defeated.

However, I made use of the recorded session and was able to enjoy Siemens presentation. I was struck by the feeling that though I was observing the recorded event, and even if live, everyone was scattered far and wide, we were indeed connected. Paying attention, reading, thinking.

Mr. Siemens said "we socialize to make sense of information", and I think the live sessions show that to be true. I know I started as a baffled MOOC newbie, (still somewhat, but improving) but attend and interact to make sense of the information!

I'm writing a big note, and putting a reminder in my iPhone (thank you, and rest in peace Steve Jobs) so I'll be on time for class tomorrow. I'd rather be connected live instead of a tape-delay.

#CMC11

PS - The Encarta graphic perfectly captured the change in how we access information. I remember it came with the Windows 95 computer I purchased so long ago. I can't imagine being limited to a few discs worth of information now, knowing how readily available everything is online today.

2 comments:

Wendy said...

I too like the idea of sorting information through personal exchange. There is a sense of a bit of loneliness in your description of finding only the recorded session, a.k.a. I hear you.

Q said...

I think that sorting idea fits. There is an absolute crush of information available, but how can we possibly process and find the useful bits? I think we have to filter out the static and find the best of the best.