[Opensim-users] Distributed Open Collaborative Course

[Sharon Collingwood]

This is a cross-post, and I hope it's OK to post it here, as the venue is Second Life. But I think it's of interest to a lot of people on this list.



I'm organizing a discussion group around the upcoming DOCC on women and  new technologies  (see the press release below, website is here: http://femtechnet.newschool.edu/docc2013/)

It will be up to the group to decide, but there will be introductory videos for each section of the DOCC, so I'm thinking we could discuss the videos.  I could also provide a reading list.

The list of videos is here: http://femtechnet.newschool.edu/video-dialogues-topics-schedule/

Information and a teleport will also be posted in the Ada Lovelace Library, just inside the door.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Minerva%20OSU/85/148/54

and on the Minerva calendar. https://www.google.com/calendar/render?pli=1&gsessionid=uQ8ziRaj9u8oTTTvDOY5mA

We don't have a time for the discussion group yet, but it will probably be on the weekend.

If you want to keep up with us, join the group MINERVA GUESTS.




For Immediate Release

Feminist Digital Initiative Challenges Universities’ Race for MOOCs

Columbus, OH, August 21, 2013: FemTechNet, a network of feminist scholars and educators, is launching a new model for online learning at 15 higher education institutions this fall. The DOCC, or Distributed Open Collaborative Course, is a new approach to collaborative learning and an alternative to MOOCs, the massive open online course model that proponents claim will radicalize twenty-first century higher education.

The DOCC model is not based on centralized pedagogy by a single “expert” faculty, nor on the economic interests of a particular institution. Instead, the DOCC recognizes, and is built on, expertise distributed among participants in diverse institutional contexts. The organization of a DOCC emphasizes learning collaboratively in a digital age and avoids reproducing pedagogical techniques that conceive of the student as a passive listener. A DOCC allows for the active participation of all kinds of learners and for the extension of classroom experience beyond the walls, physical or virtual, of a single institution. FemTechNet’s first DOCC course, “Dialogues in Feminism and Technology,” will launch fall 2013.

The participating institutions range from small liberal arts colleges to major research institutions. They include: Bowling Green University, Brown University, California Polytechnic State University, Colby-Sawyer College, CUNY, Macaulay Honors College and Lehman College (CUNY), The New School, Ohio State University, Ontario College of Art and Design, Pennsylvania State University, Pitzer College, Rutgers University, University of California San Diego, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Yale University.

DOCC participants, both online and in residence, are part of individualized “NODAL courses” within the network. Each institution’s faculty configures its own course within its specific educational setting. Both faculty and students will share ideas, resources, and assignments as a feminist network: the faculty as they develop curricula and deliver the course in real time; the students as they work collaboratively with faculty and each other. 

At Ohio State, the course will be taught in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies by Dr. Christine (Cricket) Keating. The course, “Gender, Media, and New Technologies,” will be offered on the undergraduate level. Keating is a recipient of the 2011 Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching.  This course takes as its starting point the following questions: How are gender identities constituted in technologically mediated environments? How have cyberfeminists used technology to build coalitions and unite people across diverse contexts? How are the “do it yourself” and “do it with others” ethics in technology cultures central to feminist politics? Juxtaposing theoretical considerations and case studies, course topics include: identity and subjectivity; technological activism; gender, race and sexualities; place; labor; ethics; and the transformative potentials of new technologies. The course itself is a part of a cutting-edge experiment in education, culture, and technology. It is “nodal” course within a Distributed Online Collaborative Course (DOCC). In this course, we will collaborate with students and professors across the U.S. and Canada to investigate issues of gender, race, and techno-culture.

These dialogues are also anchored by video curriculum produced by FemTechNet. “Dialogues on Feminism and Technology” are currently twelve recorded video dialogues featuring pairs of scholars and artists from around the world who think and reimagine technology through a feminist lens. Participants in the DOCC — indeed, anyone with a connection to the web — can access the video dialogues, and are invited to discuss them by means of blogs, voicethreads and other electronic media. Even as the course takes place, students and teachers can plug in and join the conversation.  Through the exchanges and participants’ input, course content for the DOCC will continue to grow. From this process emerges a dynamic and self-reflective educational model.



Dr. Sharon Collingwood
Department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
The Ohio State University
286 University Hall, 230 North Oval Mall
Columbus, Ohio 43210-1311

Blog: Exploring the Virtual Classroom
http://www.elliebrewster.com

Second Life, Open Sim: Ellie Brewster
Twitter: @EllieBrewster

Minerva's Cafe
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chilbo/241/40/93

Feminist Cyberspaces: Pedagogies in Transition
http://academia.edu/1394625/Feminist_Cyberspaces_Pedagogies_in_Transition

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