#FLMobiMOOC: Using Pastebin to share your source code

In this blog post I am going to describe you how to use Pastebin.com to share your code. At the moment FutureLearn is in Beta release and it does not provide the facility to share code snippets (also called sections of source code, parts of programmes etc) by pasting it to comments. But when we move on to Week2 onward on the MOOC we will be doing bit of coding, which unfortunately can go wrong and leave us with errors to correct. If the code that gives the error can be shared with us we would be able to resolve the issues more easily so in this blog I will describe using Pastebin as a workaround for the time being.

Step 1:
Go to www.pastebin.com

You will see an interface like this.

Step 2:
Now copy the code segment that gives you errors in your programme. Highlight the statement(s) and copy them to clipboard (you can press CTRL and C keys to copy). Now paste this code in the box highlighted in the below diagram. (You can press CTRL and V keys to paste).

Step 3:
I am going to paste some code and show it in the next illustration.

Unlike the code we see in Eclipse IDE this code block does not have syntax highlighted. But it is much easier to read code when the syntax is highlighted. So let's make the syntax highlighting now.

Step 4:
Click the down arrow in Syntax Highlighting. A drop down menu will appear. From this select 'Java'.

Step 5:
Leave other options as they are and click 'Submit'

Step 6:
Submitting the code will take you to a screen similar to this. Notice that the code you have pasted has its syntax highlighted. Now copy the URL by highlighting and pressing CTRL and C

Step 7:
In your comment on FutureLearn paste the URL copied from Pastebin

Now by clicking the given Pastebin URL participants and helpers can access the code.

Hope this guide helps you in using the tool Pastebin to share your code with others.

#FLMobiGame: Our MOOC facilitation team

University of Reading's first MOOC Begin Programming: Build your first mobile game on FutureLearn platform commenced on 28th October 2013. There are almost 10,000 people in the course and already we have seen thousands of posts in the virtual class. This looks like a truly global virtual class with participants from all continents: from Oceania, Europe, South and North Americas, Asia, Middle East and Africa. We will be able to share more details of the demographic distribution of our participants when we get the details from FutureLearn.

This being a programming course for beginners and first week dedicated for setting up software, we have so many queries and help requests from our participants. In facilitating our MOOC, we have a fantastic team of student helpers from upper years of the School of Systems Engineering, University of Reading supporting our learners.

Weekly we are meeting on Wednesdays to formulate a plan of activities and to discuss our experience with the MOOC. On our Week 1 meetup  Prof. Shirley Williams, who is overseeing the MOOC, brought us chocolate brownies to make sure we keep our energy levels high :)

I thought it is best to share a group photograph of our fantastic team. I am sure our participants too would like to see who is helping them in the virtual classroom.

(From the left: Front row - Maitreyee, Tharindu (me), Shirley, Agnieszka Second row - Charles, Karsten, Marcus, Alex, Last row - Plamen  and Ravi)

#FLMobiGame: Using FutureLearn Platform - Viewing Comments

In this blog post I am going to share some tips about using FutureLearn platform comments. These I found to be useful in keeping an eye on what is happening in the MOOC.

Edit : This post was edited January 2015 to accommodate the changes in FutureLearn user interface

Viewing all recent activity:

Click on 'Activity'.

Click on Activity

Once the Activity is clicked it will show all recent activity in the course. So this view is what I use mostly to keep track of all help requests and other comments made.

Viewing all comments made by you:

Well.. almost all comments (as of 20th Nov 2013 only 100 comments are shown).
Click on your profile on the top right corner.

This will give a menu and from this menu select 'My Profile'

It will show all posts you have made in the course

This will be easier way to keep track of your posts.

Viewing replies to your posts:

Click on Replies

Click on replies

#FLMobiGame: Download Begin Programming MOOC's Videos

Edit Oct 2014 -The FutureLearn Platform has been upgraded and the blog on newer instructions can be found here

Begin Programming: Build Your First Mobile Game MOOC offered by University of Reading went live yesterday. We had lots of comments from our participants. Many of them felt it would be useful to download our videos, especially with slow internet connections it can be very frustrating to watch videos online.

We requested FutureLearn and they have given us the functionality already. So in this blog I am going to explain how you can download videos from our MOOC.

In order to do this you must be logged into your account with FutureLearn.

Step1:
Go to the video you want to download. In this example I am using the first video in activity 1.1 - Welcome to Week 1.

Step 2:
Select 'Download this video' link to download it. If you want to save it, right click and select 'save as'.

Now your connection speed will determine how quickly you can download the video :)

Statement of Accomplishment - What does it mean to you?

After participating in many MOOCs, to be precise five MOOCs: Edfuture (CHFE), Learning Design for 21st Century Curriculum (OLDS-MOOC), Open Education (H817), Moons a Short Introduction (accidentally registered on Futurelearn Alpha) and Learn to Program- The Fundamentals on Coursera, I received my first "Statement of Accomplishment".

Statement of Accomplishment for Learn to Program: The Fundamentals MOOC

I feel satisfied to have received this "Statement of Accomplishment" even though I know that I may never use it (for those who didn't know, I have prior experience in software industry as a software engineer). It made me think about why I feel satisfied with this piece of evidence that I fail to see any potential use (at the moment).

I have always been a late starter in MOOCs. In this particular MOOC though I managed to join in week two I didn't realize that there were deadlines each week for Exercises (something similar to home work). This being my first Coursera course I was not familiar with the terminology and I didn't realize I had to look at 'Course Logistics' to know what I was supposed to do. Only when I realized in week 6 that the assignments and final exam in itself did not add up to 70%  I started doing the Exercises. So for me, this 'certificate of accomplishment' came as a surprise by just managing to achieve the grade required. So perhaps it made a difference.

Recently I was involved in a research project with Prof. Shirley Williams and Mr. Pat Parslow, which looked at participants perspectives of success, completion and dropout in a MOOC mainly in a Higher Education setting. We are writing up at the moment but I will soon share our findings in another blog.

In the interviews something that came across strongly was the need for a 'sense of closure'. Many participants associated the statement of accomplishment with 'closure'. Some participants confessed that they were motivated to get the 'certificate' (they were referring to the statement of accomplishment offered free of charge). Some participants confessed of being Start-End person meaning if I start something I will end it and this statement of accomplishment meant that they reached this 'end' - again sense of closure. How important do you think this sense of 'closure' in a MOOC?

Unisa Cambridge International Conference 2013 - Cape Town, South Africa

Cambridge International Conference on Open, Distance and eLearning for 2013 held in Cape Town, South Africa. Unisa (University of South Africa) hosted the event at Spier Hotel Stellenbosch, a beautiful venue for international conferences. Theme of the conference was Continuity, Change and Sustainability in Open, Distance and eLearning. This conference was very different to the conferences I have attended so far.

Image from: http://www.unisa.ac.za/ODeL2013/

There were fewer number of delegates and there was lot of time for brainstorming and group work. For example after each keynote there was a session for delegates to work in groups in exploring few issues raised in the talk, which I found very interesting, educational and fulfilling.

Prof. Asha Kanwar - President Commonwealth of Learning, Prof. Alan Tait - The Open University UK, Prof. Bakary Diallo - African Virtual University were among the keynote speakers.

Our presentation:
 'Globalization and Technology-mediated Distance Education: developing countries perspective'
was among the five presentations sponsored by the Commonwealth of Learning. The paper was based on the work of my PhD study and I am delighted to have co-authored this paper with my advisers/supervisors: Prof. Andrew Adams - Meiji University Japan, Prof. Naz Rassool -Institute of Education, University of Reading, and Prof. Shirley Williams - School of Systems Engineering, University of Reading.

In this paper we talk about the global changes that made higher education a 'necessity' for a descent job and the position of developing countries in terms of providing access to higher education for their people. We discuss the possibility of using technology mediated education and the necessity to consider specific circumstances of countries in selecting/using technology for distance education using Bates' (2005) ACTIONS framework. The lack of consideration or overlooking these aspects in selecting/using technology for distance education and their adverse consequences are also discussed taking examples from developing countries. The challenges and opportunities for developing countries are also discussed.

The paper abstract reads:

"The contemporary global economy places great value on highly educated workers but devalues workers in repetitive or low skill jobs. In order to thrive in this new economy, countries must ensure sufficient higher education opportunities for their population. However, a lack of resources is a major barrier faced by many developing countries in expanding their higher education systems. Technology-mediated distance education has the potential to be an invaluable tool in offering educational opportunities to people, if the other necessary conditions for participation are met. Although technology-mediated education was first considered to be a medium to bridge the learning divide across space, today it is feared that it could well become an inequality intensifier. Drawing on examples from developing countries, this paper considers factors regarding implementing technology-mediated distance education, including failure to address contextual issues and possible consequences. Challenges and policy implications are also discussed"

If you are interested in reading the full paper, authors' final version can be found here.

References:

• Bates, A.W. (2005). Technology, Open Learning and Distance Education, (2nd ed), Routledge: London.
• Liyanagunawardena, T.R, Adams, A.A., Rassool, N. and Williams, S.A. (2013). Globalization and Technology-Mediated Distance Education: Developing Countries’ Perspective, Unisa Cambridge International Conference on Open, Distance and eLearning, 29 September - 2 October 2013, Cape Town, South Africa

Story Behind My Engagement with University of Reading MOOC

In one of my previous Blogs I talked about Planning and Creating a MOOC. The first MOOC offered by University of Reading is Begin Programming: build your first mobile game. Despite wanting to blog about our MOOC I had to be abide by an embargo on publicizing too much information before the launch event. Since the FutureLearn launch event was held 18th September now I am free to blog about our MOOC, Begin Programming: build your first mobile game.
We had submitted our MOOC Systematic Review to IRRODL and shared it within the University among our colleagues. Actually it was Prof. Shirley Williams who initiated this sharing and discussion. At the same time the University was interested in MOOCs and because everyone now knew that we had an interest on MOOCs we got the chance to get closely involved in the University's MOOC work. Several departments/schools within the University were interested in offering MOOCs but with strong leadership of Prof. Williams the School of Systems Engineering team got the chance to go ahead with the first MOOC.

Then came the painful task of creating content, which I along with Dr. Karsten, who is the lead lecturer in our Begin Programming MOOC did. We had various templates to fill in, create content, get involved in the quality assurance process and so on. We met at least twice a month, I think, to monitor the progress and the back stage content was developed. All the time Shirley was there with us providing guidance. Then we started the video shooting. Luckily for us Luke Micallef in the Digital Development team at the University came to our aid. With the University venturing into MOOCs, he became the dedicated Open Online Course Developer at the University and we got lot of help from him. Karsten was great in front of the camera and you can see that from this course trailer. Almost all the scenes were videoed in front of a green screen as you can see here. Luke did all the nice graphics etc to make these videos.

So this is our MOOC team from the left it is Prof. Shirley Williams, Luke Micallef, Myself and Dr. Karsten Lundqvist.

(Official Group Photograph: UoR Begin Programming MOOC team)

FutureLearn is still in its Beta stage. Since launching MOOC on 18th September within a day our Begin Programming MOOC has hit the target and now the we are offering registration for 2014 to people who could not get registered in for 2013 run. Now we are looking forward to meeting our MOOC participants and facilitating their learning from 28th October 2013.