[Xmca-l] FW: An introduction to BOOC

Mon Aug 19 11:53:07 PDT 2013

Dan has published from a Vygotskian perspective in the past:

Dear Peter,

I'm writing you today to tell you about a new online education project I've been working on this summer. With the help of a grant from Google, I've been developing a Big Open Online Course, or BOOC. BOOCs are free and open, similar to MOOCs, however, they use current Learning Sciences methods to offer more interactive and personalized experiences and deliver more efficient learning outcomes.

Starting September 9th, I will be offering a BOOC called “Educational Assessment: Practices, Principles, and Policies”.  This eleven-week course builds on the “Assessment in Schools” course I have been teaching online for many years.  The BOOC will help teachers, faculty, administrators, researchers and others address the challenges of assessing student learning in classrooms, online, and in informal settings.  Participants will learn (a) to select and use common formative and summative assessment formats, (b) key principles, like validity and reliability, and (c) current and enduring assessment policy issues.  Those involved with K-12 schools in the US will be able learn about the new Common Core educational standards and Race to the Top accountability policies.  My IU colleague, Cassandra Guarino, will share her expertise with the new “value-added” teaching evaluation models that are now being introduced across the country.

This BOOC will utilize Google's "Coursebuilder" app, which is part of Google's larger suite of online tools. In order to offer a highly interactive course involving up to 500 students, I've hired a team to develop custom User Interface, API and platform widgets. The BOOC will award digital “expertise” badges for completing each section and an “assessment expert” badge for completing the course via Mozilla’s Open Badges Initiative.  Participants who need evidence for professional development purposes will be able to request an instructor-verified certificate that validates participation for 30 hours.  There is also an option of enrolling in a regular 3-credit graduate-level course at Indiana University (requires tuition and includes additional assignments and weekly interaction with me).

Please consider this email as my formal invitation to join us for our first BOOC starting September 9, 2013, and it is my request that you share this invitation with anyone who might be interested.  With anticipation of accommodating all those who are interested, we have created a "Pre-Registration" system that allows us to invite people before the course starts. Because the BOOC is capped at 500 official participants, Pre-Registering will guarantee we will notify you when " Registration Confirmation" is open, which is required by all those interested in taking the course.

You can visit: https://booc-iu.appspot.com/register <http://indiana.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a66faf3753b5fd612b2103d4f&id=6a22a157d2&e=50e09784b9> to sign up.
For more information on the course, our website is: www.indiana.edu/~booc<http://indiana.us7.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=a66faf3753b5fd612b2103d4f&id=711dcc6970&e=50e09784b9>

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Sincerely,

Daniel T. Hickey, PhD

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Our mailing address is:
BOOC in Center for Research on Learning & Technology
1900 East Tenth Street, Bloomington, IN
Indiana University
Bloomington, IN 47408

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