English, with some material available in Italian as well.
Course Content
Online education in the framework of distance education.An historical perspective of distance education.Genesis of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC).Taxonomy of MOOCs. Visiting some exemplary cases.Learning how a MOOC works by true experience.Enrollment in a live MOOC: Programming in Scratch - https://www.edx.org/course/programming-scratch-harveymuddx-cs002x-1. Computational thinking in nowadays education. Scratch and Logo: computational thinking at school. Basic contruct of Scratch.
- A.R. Formiconi, La tortuosa via della didattica online all’università, Studi sulla formazione, 1-2016, pag. 101-125. <http://www.fupress.net/index.php/sf/article/download/18564/17266>
- M.G. Moore e G. Kearsley, Distance education: A systems view of online learning. Belmont, CA, USA, Wadsworth, 2012 3 , pp. 23-43.
L. Ragan,
- 10 Principles of effective online teaching: Best practices in distance education. Faculty Focus Special Report, Madison, Wisconsin, Magna Publications, 2011. Disponibile al seguente URL <https://www.mnsu.edu/cetl/teachingwithtechnology/tech_resources_pdf/Ten%20Principles%20of %20Effective%20Online%20Teaching.pdf>
- S. Downes, New Technology Supporting Informal Learning, 2009. Blog post disponibile al seguente URL <http://halfanhour.blogspot.it/2009/04/new-technology-supporting-informal.html>
- G. Siemens, Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age, in «International Journal of Instructrional Technology and Distance Learning», 2(1) 2005. Disponibile al seguente URL <http://er.dut.ac.za/bitstream/handle/123456789/69/Siemens_2005_Connectivism_A_learning_theory_for_the_digital_age.pdf?sequence=1>
- A. Calvani, Connettivismo: nuovo paradigma o affascinante pot-pourri?, Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society, 4(1), 2008, pp.121-125.
- Conferenza dei Rettori delle Università Italiane, MOOCs - MASSIVE OPEN ON-LINE COURSES - Prospettive e Opportunità per l’Università italiana, http://www.crui.it/images/demo/crui_web/pubblicazioni/crui_mooc_2015.pdf
Learning Objectives
Knowledge of categories of online education, with emphasis on MOOCs. Understanding basic differences between MOOCs and conventional online courses. Applying such knowledge and understanding through the participation to a live MOOC about coding. Ability to judge the role of educational context. Communicating in a MOOC vs. conventional educational settings. Knowledge of the Scratch programming language; capability of writing simple educational programs.
Prerequisites
No previous knowledge needed, except some basic math knowledge (primary school level). Fair English knowledge needed (B2).
Teaching Methods
Frontal lectures (videorecorded and offered in the institutional system). Forum discussions in the institutional Moodle system. Enrollment and participation to the Programming in Scratch MOOC – https://www.edx.org/course/programming-scratch-harveymuddx-cs002x-1. Upload in the Moodle institutional system of some MOOC homework. Seminars in the computer lab when needed (problems, further explanations).
Further information
The course will be given in English, according the a number of internationalization initiatives fostered by the University of Florence. A small part of the contents will be aivalable in Italian. Students having problem with the English language will receive some support to achieve the final result.
Type of Assessment
Evaluation will take into consideration: results of the continuous monitoring of activities, some of homeworks done, and the final score achieved in the MOOC. The final verification will consists in a discussion of the whole experience in order to assess the attainment of the declared objectives.
Course program
The course will last 6 weeks, one lecture of three hours per week. All the meetings will be videorecorded and made available in the institutional site.
Week 1. Lecture: introduction to distance education, online education, MOOCs (history, exemplary cases); the Programming in Scratch MOOC (https://www.edx.org/course/programming-scratch-harveymuddx-cs002x-1) is presented and everybody is invited to enroll as soon as possible; some very basic considerations about coding at school and computational thinking are anticipated; students are instructed to use the forum as primary way of sharing and discussing ideas as well as any kind of problems.
All contents will be available in the institutional Moodle system, as downloaded materials or link to appropriate places in the Internet. During the week, students are supposed to study the given materials, to enroll in the MOOC and to begin the activities, and, last but not least, to share any kind of problems in the forum. The participation in the forum will be traced and it will contribute in a relevant way to the final evaluation.
Week 2. Lecture: role of computational thinking at school; coding strategies to develop the computational thinking, the Scratch and Logo environments, basic programming constructs. Problems arisen during the first week are discussed in the classroom. If needed, meetings in the computer lab are planned.
Week 3-5. Problems are discussed in the classroom. If needed, meetings in the computer lab are planned. This three weeks actually embed the MOOC, which, following the author, Prof. Colleen Lewis, could be done in three weeks: 12 hours per week the first 2 weeks and 6 hours the last one. However, since students will be invited to enroll at the beginning the three weeks of MOOC will be spread over the total of 6 weeks of this course.
Week 6. Wrap up and planning of a strategy to support those needing help.