Like Alan Levine I have signed up for open courses but never completed them (I too am an OCDU (Open Course Drop Out)). This raises some issues for open education in itself – motivation to complete is not just about interest but also about pressure. If you have paid for a course then your commitment to it is higher, or if you’ve told everyone you’re doing something it’s harder to drop out.
But I’m willing to try again, particularly for something as innovative as Jim Groom’s Digital Storytelling course ds106. I have a meta interest in this beyond the content (which I think will be great fun), and that is to see how a course which aggregates content from participants in the cloud feels and works.
Already you can see that the open nature of the course has led to participants suggesting ways in which it can operate, or possible activities. This is partly a result of Jim having a good network who want to work with him, but also because the boundaries of the course are not fixed.
The course starts in January, but as a pre-course activity we were asked to create an animated gif of a favourite film which captures the essence of it. In an attempt to export some culture and sophistication to these rowdies, I created the following gif from Kieslowski’s Double Life of Veronique. I cheated and used the online service GifSoup (warning, lots of the Gifs on the home page appear a bit ‘adult’). I haven’t seen this film for years, but I remember the brewing tea scene. It could be because it’s contemplative, beautiful and about silence. Or it could be because I like tea.
PS – blog title is from this Rilo Kiley song.
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