Last week I had the opportunity to attend and present at the  Cyber Summit 2105  conference.  I was thrilled to be partnered with Jonathan Schaeffer, a Distinguished University Professor of Computing Science and currently the Dean of the Faculty of Science, at the University of Alberta for the presentation topic:  Are MOOCs Past Their Peaks?

I began the session by sharing the 2 year journey of  OSSEMOOC,  a learning community supported by OSAPAC which I co-lead with Donna Miller Fry. (@fryed)

Jonathan shared his perspective and insights on the MOOC movement, noting that  while it is only a few years old, it has already had a tremendous impact on teaching and learning. Although some of the original hype surrounding MOOCs has not been realized, the reality is that they are here for good and are influencing institutional thinking.

In reflection, although the perspectives we each  presented represented significantly different contexts,  some very interesting commonalities emerged.  In summary:

• teaching is all about meeting the students needs (not limited to the teacher’s needs or comfort zone)
• MOOCs do, and will continue to play a role in moving learning forward
• MOOC’s are playing a disruptive role along with other technologies
• Educators own the responsibility to keep exploring new possibilities (including with technology) to achieve the best possible learning experiences for students.
• There is an important need for “mini moocs” that needs to be recognized and acted on
• Building a quality brand matters

My slides for the OSSEMOOC portion of the presentation:

Many thanks to those who attended our session.

~Mark