#edcmooc Teaching and Learning in a new world (1)

The future has begun : more and more schools, universities have courses on line, more teachers and professors are uploading their materials on line, more and more have a web-site and a blog. The world is connected and we try to be in touch with our students and teachers all over the world.We can decide how, when and what to study on line. Most of the courses which are offered on line are in English, but if we check directories we will see that other languages are used, it depends on the type of institutions.

So far I have been studying by following COURSERA, EDX.ORG and FUTURELEARN. All these platforms are run in a different way but they provide courses for different learners and different topics and subjects. They are mainly free, but if you want to show what you have done or achieved it is better to follow a verified path and you must pay, you will get a certificate if you pass parts of the course. So the world of education on line is changing and offering different types of courses.

SELF-DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS ON LINE

The new tool is you tube but also internet in general , here are my favourite web-sites

https://www.teachingchannel.org/professional-development-videos

http://www.classroom20.com/

http://blogs.kqed.org/education/

http://www.webenglishteacher.com/index.html

http://www.lepidascuola.org/

MOOCS

They are open on line massive courses, they are offered to people without checking their previous knowledge, thus in some cases people give up and do not finish the course. They are planned by professors and offer a wide range of courses on line from science to literature, history, writing fiction and teachers' development courses. They are loved because learners choose what they are interested in. One problem is the pre-requisites : do all people know English or another language to be able to follow on line and to do the activities?

The level of engagement varies: I did courses I enjoyed a lot but in others I had to read so much that I took more time to finish the activities. Now I am a lover of MOOCs because I am doing a lot of new things on line while I am sitting in my bedroom while surfing the net. I do study in my free time and can be in touch with other people who share similar interests.