Who is organizing this?

Originally, CLMOOC was organized and funded by the National Writing Project and Educator Innovator.

Starting in 2017, CLMOOC has been organized by a team of volunteers. These include former design team members, make cycle leaders, and CLMOOC participants, all of whom have generously agreed to spend time on this. If you’d like to be a part of the crowd-sourced facilitation team, let us know.

What are the goals of CLMOOC?

• To engage participants in interest-driven, making-centered experiences that embody the principles and values of Connected Learning;
• To encourage a collaborative approach and a reflective stance toward the processes of making and learning; and,
• To provide an opportunity for participants to plan for an enactment of these experiences in their educational setting throughout the year.

It is also super fun!

What does “CLMOOC” mean?

CLMOOC stands for Connected Learning MOOC – a massively open online collaboration. Ours is completely open and free of charge to anyone who wants to participate. We will provide many opportunities for participants to connect but your learning will be directed by you.

“What is a MOOC?” courtesy of Dave Cormier

How will CLMOOC work?

We have established places for sharing during CLMOOC, and if you already blog or have your own space for writing and sharing, you can write about your experiences there as well. You can work where you are most comfortable. If you are new to working in open online spaces, you might check out of guides to social tools.

Where can we share?

Check out @clmooc on Twitter as well as Facebook. In various spaces, you can search for CLMOOC related posts and tag your own posts with the hashtag: #clmooc.

Is there an instructor?

Not really, but there are teams of facilitators, coaches, and make cycle leaders, as well as other volunteers, who will be behind the scenes supporting CLMOOC and its community. We believe in peer learning and will work to support and encourage connections and exploration.

How much time will CLMOOC take?

During structured offerings, CLMOOC runs in the summer and is often organized in weekly make cycles that allow you to come and go or stay to participate in all the cycles. This open design is intentional and we hope that everyone will feel comfortable customizing the experience to their own needs. At other times of the year, the structure is even more open and you can participate as you like. Having said that, CLMOOC can take as much or as little time as you want to spend with it.

What is Connected Learning?

Connected Learning is a research and design-based approach to education. It is based on the learning principles of being interest-powered, peer-supported, and academically-oriented. It is based on the design principles of being production-centered, openly-networked, and shared purpose. And it espouses core values of equity, social connection, and full participation.

What is up with all this “making?”

A “make,” as we use the term, is any project or work where you are creating something. In CLMOOC, we draw heavily from ideas from Connected Learning which emphasize creating and production-centered learning. Possible makes in CLMOOC could include something you write (a story, poem, play, etc.) or draw (painting, comic, etc.), a web page or app you create, something you bake, or a social network or connection you form. We’ll be connecting makes to the Connected Learning principles, and while we’ll suggest some makes you might do, we really hope that participants will come up with their own ideas that are meaningful to them. Our suggestions for makes are merely that – suggestions.

Read more about make cycles as well as visit our Make Bank to learn more.

If this is free, who is paying for it?

Originally, CLMOOC was organized and funded by the National Writing Project and Educator Innovator.

Beginning in 2016, the MOOC has been generously supported by a team of volunteers.

Is credit being offered for this MOOC?

No formal credit is being offered through CLMOOC, however, you can explore local options for obtaining credit through your district or other institution.

Am I late? Why are so many people already using the #CLMOOC hashtag?

Whenever you connect with CLMOOC, you are exactly on time. That is because CLMOOC is designed as a set of iterative cycles and you are welcome to come and go as you please.

Historically, CLMOOC ran for the first time in the summer 2013 and the hashtag #clmooc was established then. That tag continues to be used beyond the summer so we encourage you to follow and add it to your own posts if you are interested.

If I participated in CLMOOC in past years, how is it going to be different this year?

Like CLMOOC in previous years, the timeline will be structured by make cycles and we’ll be using Connected Learning principles as the foundation for our learning and reflections. Also similar to last summer, participants will be able to customize their experience to fit their own needs and learning goals.

If you’ve been here before what you know that is the Connected Learning principles and the concept of make-to-learn creates a virtual infinite number of experiences, allowing this summer to be uniquely different from what came before. So please don’t hesitate to jump right back in.

Also, while the structure and intention of the MOOC will be similar, there are several things that will make for a different experience. For instance, this year’s CLMOOC will be shorter, and we’ll be emphasizing multiple ways to engage. Also, this year’s CLMOOC is being entirely run by volunteers (including many organizers from previous years of CLMOOC…we just couldn’t stand to see it end).

We will be welcoming many new colleagues and partners who didn’t participate last summer and we will also be engaging in different making activities from last summer. There will also be a new set of opportunities to take your work to the next step with support of experienced CLMOOCers and we invite you to also consider how you might make, share, and lead this year in new ways.