Catching up and technical frustrations

I knew I was likely to get behind on the course, but am now trying to catch up.  In week 4 (I am two weeks behind I think) we were asked to put some observations up on iSpot.  I mis-remembered the instructions and put 3 rather than 4.  However, as I read it, I thought we would then be able to see 'interactions' with the species - but my observations are not linked to anything. Of course I was in a bit of a hurry - and it is only now, coming back to it that I noticed we were supposed to tag our observations with  #FLeco13  to connect with others on the course so, back into iSpot but I couldn't see how to do the tagging.  I like the idea of using iSpot as part of the course - and iSpot is itself wonderful, but it is important to be able to see the connections and the interactions.  So I gave up on that and thought I would have another try at joining the discussion.  I have never been able to do this either from this machine (a fairly old MacBook) or from my iPad - the only OK machines I have at home unless I try the iphone and I really don't want to try to type much on an iPhone.  So, when I start to try to put a comment in the forum, the iPad freezes - and when I do it on this machine, the page also freezes.
So I have to give up on that one which is a shame.  I can see what others have written though.

Taking the course has really made me think about what I see when I am out and about and about the local habitat and ecosystems.  I even got going on my Nature blog again.  It is a shame that we are having one of the wettest and windiest spells that I remember - as it is not conducive to long walks outside.

So now back to the course, but without being able to contribute to the discussion.  Pity

End of week three of the Open University Ecosystems MOOC

I have finally caught up with myself after a busy time where I had not found the time to do the course.  Makes me wonder how our students manage.  I had thought about it and decided I would work on the course on Monday and Wednesday evenings - and Friday if necessary.  However, on Monday I was in London at a meeting of our Welsh reading group, and on Wednesday evening a friend was staying over.

So I have caught up last night today, and that is fine with a course that takes around 3 hours a week - but would not be possible with a course needing much more input.  I've enjoyed most of it, and have  learnt from it - whilst last week was looking at ecosystems in woods, this week focussed on adaptation and ecosystems in more extreme conditions, using deserts and the arctic as case studies.  I've particularly enjoyed the OU/BBC videos, although I suspect I shift into a  'leisure watching' mode, rather than a more active learning mode.  I have not taken notes at all - which I would normally do if taking a course, and might still do.

The materials and teaching are very good, as I would have expected.  The part that is not working so well for me at the moment is the discussion.  The forum is arranged fairly simply with the most recent posts at the top - but this means that a) the questions have already been answered by other people and b) it is not really a discussion but a series of posts.  I don't have a sense of how many people are taking the course, or their interests or background, so the social element is not really there.  And it is not helped at all by the fact that there are technical problems with contributing to the forum on both this Macbook and on my iPad - manifesting themselves as the page essentially crashing.  I hope to try and do some from my work desktop next week if I can to see if that is better.

Week one of the ecosystems MOOC

I have now finished week 1 of my first MOOC:  Ecosystems (from the OU) and have survived, kept up and enjoyed it.  I was a bit concerned that interacting with the community might be overwhelming – however there was only one discussion ‘step’ (which is how the course is organized).  The task was to discuss the definition that we had been introduced to and as it has a simple and fairly linear organization, essentially what you get is the most recent comments, so although posts are put up in reply to others, it is not easy to see which posts are being replied to as if there is a lot of traffic they may be a long way down.  I was a little disappointed at the lack of a feel of the community.  I don’t know how many people are following the course or where they are from – it would have been good to know.  One of the features of MOOCs is that they tend to have a high drop out rate.  My colleague Doug Clow has written about the metaphor of  the ‘funnel of participation’; and as he says, such courses have a much higher drop out rate and in this paper he explores this steep drop-off in three different contexts.

Of course, one consequence of courses being free is that people can dip in and try to see whether or not they like the course, whether or not they can cope with the course and whether or not they have the time – with no penalties if they discover that they don’t. So is the Ecosystems course going to lose a lot of people?  In week 1 videos have been used quite a bit to explore and to illustrate the concept of an ecosystem – and for me that has worked well.  I was very engaged with the Wicken Fen example which is also within visiting distance for me – so may well take a trip.

Interestingly, Countryfile, a weekly BBC programme about various aspects of the countryside was discussing some of the early ecologists tonight such as Gilbert White, who carried out a detailed study of the natural history of Selbourne, through painstaking observations.  I have intended to visit his house which is now a museum and his garden and the combination of the programme and course has reminded me: so hope this will be a trip for 2014 - and I may also dig out his book.

So, looking forward to week 2.

Computer says "No": Workarounds in setting up the blog

So I had about 10 minutes before a meeting this afternoon and thought I would set up this new blog.  I already have a small number of blogs already on blogger .  Two are not currently very active, but my Welsh one is, and my profile therefore was in Welsh.  Hence I needed an English profile (as the original would probably be a tad inaccessible). I thought it would be problematic setting up a new blog with a different profile (in English) so thought I'd explore setting up my new blog.  

Guess what?  After filling in the required form to enable me to have a blog, the "submit" button on the form was not active - and I could get no further.  I checked again and could not see where I was making an error - so reloaded the form and tried again.  Still no luck.  Googling led me to see that others had had similar problems - but no advice on overcoming it.  With 5 minutes of my time gone, I resorted to going back to Blogger.  As it was ages since I had originally created my profile I could not remember how to edit it, and it was not obvious how to do it.

But after a little while (probably now over my 10 minute limit), I had a new blog - with a title in print that is larger than I want - and that has somehow lost the photo I previously had (as I played with the design), and has a profile that now does not quite fit the other blogs. 

All I want is a design where what I need to do is intuitive and simple.... but enough moaning and on with the course.