{"id":1403,"date":"2013-09-19T13:16:31","date_gmt":"2013-09-19T20:16:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.k12opened.com\/blog\/?p=1403"},"modified":"2014-01-13T18:45:06","modified_gmt":"2014-01-14T01:45:06","slug":"moocs-the-platform-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.k12opened.com\/blog\/archives\/1403","title":{"rendered":"MOOCs: the platform question"},"content":{"rendered":"

In doing some thinking about planning and setting up connectivist MOOCs, the first question that often comes up is “What platform should we use?”<\/strong><\/p>\n

To answer that question, like many other design questions, one should first think about the goals of the task at hand, in this case, the goals of your MOOC.<\/p>\n

For #clmooc<\/a> and other connectivist MOOCs, our goals were centered around connected learning and creating a learner-centered, participatory environment. We also had a stated goal of being open in the broadest sense possible. Clearly articulating those values was critical to choosing a platform.<\/p>\n

For #clmooc, we chose to go with multiple platforms. Our main two platforms were WordPress<\/a> and G+<\/a>. We also used and supported Twitter<\/a> and a blog hub<\/a>. Finally, we built in flexibility to use different platforms as we went and to let the community determine which platforms would be primary.<\/p>\n

Overwhelmingly, our participants selected G+ as their platform of choice for this MOOC.<\/p>\n

Here is a short summary of how we used each platform and the pros and cons of each .<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Platform<\/b><\/td>\nUse in #clmooc<\/b><\/td>\nPros<\/b><\/td>\nCons<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
WordPress<\/td>\n\n
    \n
  • Central participant registration<\/li>\n
  • Site for facilitator blog posts and announcements<\/li>\n
  • Site for about page, FAQs, help guides, calendar, links to other platforms<\/li>\n
  • Way we sent email newsletters (Wysija)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

     <\/td>\n

\n
    \n
  • One central location<\/li>\n
  • Easy for multiple developer\/facilitators to manage<\/li>\n
  • Highly customizable<\/li>\n
  • Strong support community<\/li>\n
  • Control of license (open CC BY in our case)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

     <\/td>\n

\n
    \n
  • Not very interactive<\/li>\n
  • Email open rate was low (as is typical)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
G+<\/td>\n\n
    \n
  • Main location for participant posting and group interaction<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
\n
    \n
  • High use<\/li>\n
  • Very interactive and social<\/li>\n
  • Very easy to use<\/li>\n
  • Nearly everyone has a Google acct. so barriers to participate were low<\/li>\n
  • Open in the sense of publicly viewable<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
\n
    \n
  • Proprietary platform; not open licensed<\/li>\n
  • Subject to Google\u2019s whims<\/li>\n
  • Hard to find old posts<\/li>\n
  • Not easy to track analytics<\/li>\n
  • No tie to other platforms<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Blog hub<\/td>\n\n
    \n
  • Place where we aggregated participants\u2019 blogs if they submitted them<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
\n
    \n
  • Allows much longer format reflections<\/li>\n
  • Participant-driven and owned<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
\n
    \n
  • Not everyone has a blog; not easy to set up<\/li>\n
  • Requires bigger time commitment by participants<\/li>\n
  • Lower use<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Twitter<\/td>\n\n
    \n
  • Weekly Twitter chats<\/li>\n
  • Sporadic #clmooc discussions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
\n
    \n
  • Immediate<\/li>\n
  • Very interactive and social<\/li>\n
  • Open in the sense of publicly viewable<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
\n