Why Design a xMOOC / cMOOC Hybrid? LTCA Theory
Matt Crosslin, EduGeek Journal, May 8, 2014

Matt Crosslin follows up an earlier post with an explanation of why he thinks it would be a good idea to build a cMOOC/xMOOC hybrid. He writes, "the idea of MOOC layers is really looking at a four pronged approach to the idea of teaching and learning as communicative actions using LTCA theory." This theory, he writes, is  being created by Scott Warren at North Texas, based Jurgen Habermas, and breaks learning down in to four majopr activities, some of which are subsumed by xMOOCs and some by cMOOCs. To quote Crosslin at length:

• "Normative communicative actions are those that communicate knowledge based on past experiences, such as statements in class instructions that lay out expectations for student activities.
• "Strategic communicative actions are the most familiar educational communicative actions – these occur most often through lectures, textbooks, and other methods where specific reified knowledge is transferred to the learner.
• "Constative communicative actions are debates, arguments, and discourses that allow learners to make claims and counterclaims. Constative communication is also where social constructivism connects with LTCA theory, as students come to agreement over constructed knowledge through these communicative actions
• "Dramaturgical communicative actions are those that allow for expression. Learners can reflect or create artifacts that express the knowledge they have gained as well as who that knowledge makes them as a person."

For my part, I don't think that taxonomies make good theory. Yes, if we look at the full range of existing practice, we see these forms. But what would we see if we looked only at (say) effective practice?

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Economics students call for shakeup of the way their subject is taught
Phillip Inman, The Guardian, May 8, 2014

The students, I think, understand more than their professors. Economics students are saying that "the dominance of narrow free-market theories at top universities harms the world's ability to confront challenges such as financial stability and climate change" and are calling for a change in how economics is taught. "The crisis has laid bare the latent inadequacies of economic models. These models have failed to make sense of the sorts of extreme macro-economic events, such as crises, recessions and depressions, which matter most to society." Not to mention things like climate change and pervasive surveillance, to name a couple. Here is the students' manifesto. Via Sheri Oberman (thanks!)

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More on Connectivism: a response to Stephen Downes
Jon Dron, Athabasca Landing, May 8, 2014

Jon Dron has replied to my earlier response to him. There may be some good in it, but it is buried in layers of rudeness, pedantry and continued misunderstanding of my work. I don't have to respond to claims that my work is  "more of a specious attempt at sophistry than a serious attempt to further understanding," especially from the same person who commented he only "skimmed" my work, rather than reading it. I hope others find use in Dron's post; meanwhile I direct Dron to Connectivism and Connective Knowledge where he will learn what I actually think (for example, that the 'Groups versus Network' distinction has nothing to do with strong and weak ties).

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