MOOCs and Metaphors #edcmooc

In week 1 of the MOOC I noticed a common theme voiced by many of us and it can be summed up in one word: overwhelming.

Within my quadblog group, Martell wrote of a rolling, milling, moving, teeming mass of freshers in a virtual multi-level campus and I saw myself entering an enormous beehive of a university, heard the deafening buzzing of thousands of busy bee students, and felt that I would never find my way through the mazes of hallways. Jane wrote of a marathon race, where some were experts with the latest model running shoes and the training options were endless. I identified with her feeling of bewilderment and inadequacy to compete with these experienced marathoners. Tatiana used a Russian metaphor to express her feeling of beginning a journey on a long road with the first steps, not knowing where it would lead.  As for me, it felt like an enormous and frightening sea and I wondered if I would be able to navigate it.

Yet, just by the simple act of adding our names to the list of Quadblog 16, we connected with each other. Four classmates finding their way through the crowded campus; jogging together at our own pace; sailing in our own little quadblog boat; and walking the MOOC road together.  My first lesson that I learned in MOOC school has been that I do not need to use everything that is out there; quite obviously that is impossible. I have been developing my own list of sites where I have gone to try things out and some will probably be useful to prepare the final assignment. I discovered the fodey.com site to make the squirrel animation when I was scrolling down the facebook wall posts, looking for my fellow quads to let them know I had left comments on their posts. Most of these discoveries have been serendipitous and some probably have nothing to do with the MOOC per se, but they have been fun and they have been learning.

The videos are very accessible (my favourite was Plurality so I don't know if that means I am secretly wary of a dystopic privacy invasion) but I find the readings quite challenging. Some are highly theoretical so it is hard to bring back what I read to the level of application. They are, to continue the sea metaphor, the theory of why tides rise and fall and the navigational maps; understanding them is not necessary to ride in the boat and enjoy the ocean breeze but they are no doubt useful if one wants to chart a course and arrive at a destination. 

The Johnston article talks about metaphors for the Internet commonly referencing physical space, physical speed, destruction, and salvation and what this means in terms of our subconscious attitude toward technology and change. If I look at the MOOC metaphors I mention above, there is a lot of movement involved and physical speed seems to be the common element. This fits with our shared experience of perceiving unlimited options of digital tools, platforms, resources, material and viewpoints. If these are our metaphors, then they are not entirely positive. However, they are dynamic and allow for the possibility of evolution; indeed, this is what happened when we were able to find a few friendly faces among the teeming masses and slow down with them to chat and compare notes as we walk along the same road through the MOOC campus.