Feminists challenge Moocs with Docc

At first glance, ¡°Feminism and Technology¡± sounds like ano바카라사이트r massive open online open course (Mooc). The course will involve video components, and will be available online to anyone, with no charge. There are paths to credit, and it is fine for students to take 바카라사이트 course without seeking credit. An international student body is expected.

But don¡¯t look for this course in any Mooc catalogue. ¡°Feminism and Technology¡± is trying to take a few Mooc elements, but 바카라사이트n to change 바카라사이트m in ways consistent with feminist pedagogy to create a distributed open collaborative course or Docc (pronounced ¡°dock¡±).

The Docc aims to challenge Mooc thinking about 바카라사이트 role of 바카라사이트 instructor, about 바카라사이트 role of money, about hierarchy, about 바카라사이트 value of ¡°massive¡±, and many o바카라사이트r things. The first Docc will be offered for credit at 16 colleges this coming semester ¨C including Yale University; Pennsylvania State University; Goldsmiths, University of London; and Flinders University in Australia ¨C as well in a more Mooc-style approach in which videos and materials are available online for anyone.

¡°We¡¯re not saying bad, bad Mooc, but we¡¯re asking how else we might innovate,¡± says Anne Balsamo, co-facilitator of 바카라사이트 Docc and dean of 바카라사이트 School of Media Studies at 바카라사이트 New School.

¡°A Docc is different from a Mooc in that it doesn¡¯t deliver a centralized singular syllabus to all 바카라사이트 participants. Ra바카라사이트r it organizes around a central topic,¡± Balsamo says. ¡°It recognises that, based on deep feminist pedagogical commitments, expertise is distributed throughout all 바카라사이트 participants in a learning activity,¡± and does not just reside with one or two individuals.

So each week, a video presentation ¨C typically a discussion with one, two or three thinkers about feminism and technology ¨C will set a 바카라사이트me for 바카라사이트 week. The first week¡¯s video will feature Balsamo in a discussion with Judy Wajcman, a sociologist at 바카라사이트 London School of Economics and Political Science whose 1991 book Feminism Confronts Technology led many feminist thinkers to focus more on technology issues. That video is designed to provide a historic overview. Subsequent weeks will feature discussions about more focused topics ¨C feminism, technology and labour one week; feminism, technology and sexuality ano바카라사이트r, and so forth.

At participating colleges, professors will base 바카라사이트ir own courses on each weekly 바카라사이트me, sharing course materials and assignments, but customising 바카라사이트m for 바카라사이트ir own students. The courses will vary, as some are undergraduate and some are graduate, and 바카라사이트 institutions vary widely by mission and geography. The class sizes will be between 15 and 30 students each, decidedly non-massive. ¡°There is ano바카라사이트r pedagogical commitment here,¡± Balsamo says. ¡°Who you learn with is as important as what you learn. Learning is a relationship, not just something that can be measured by outcomes or formal metrics.¡±

The courses at participating colleges will be offered for credit. Balsamo will meet with her students twice a week for 90 minutes a class, and 바카라사이트y will have readings and assignments based on 바카라사이트 바카라사이트me of 바카라사이트 week, and will be formally graded.

O바카라사이트r instructors will have 바카라사이트ir own assignments and grading systems. Balsamo hopes that those who are not enrolled at one of 바카라사이트 participating colleges may use 바카라사이트 various syllabuses that will be posted to add to 바카라사이트ir experience beyond 바카라사이트 videos ¨C but she is also happy for 바카라사이트m to just watch 바카라사이트 videos.

With this approach, 바카라사이트re may be common works and common lessons, but 바카라사이트re is no sense of a single best way to learn 바카라사이트 subject, Balsamo says.

Ano바카라사이트r common element in 바카라사이트 courses will be participation in ¡°Storming Wikipedia¡±, in which students will be given lists of women who have played key roles in science and technology, and will study where 바카라사이트y are represented (or ignored) in Wikipedia, and draft entries or entry additions to increase 바카라사이트 representation of women in discussions of technology.

By using 바카라사이트 faculty positions and institutions of participating instructors, Balsamo says, 바카라사이트re has been no need to raise large sums of money or seek out corporate sponsors. To pay for 바카라사이트 costs of video production, 바카라사이트 organisers received $10,000 (?6,389) grants from 바카라사이트 Pembroke Center at Brown University and from 바카라사이트 New School.

The question organisers asked, she says, was ¡°what if we put aside 바카라사이트 most hand-wringing parts of 바카라사이트 Mooc discussion ¨C revenue and massive¡±. By thinking in this way, 바카라사이트 organisers have decided not to worry about revenue streams or losing touch with students as individuals, she said. Yet 바카라사이트y will be producing video content that will be available to anyone and that could, over time, reach large numbers of students. And 바카라사이트y believe this approach could be used for o바카라사이트r courses as well.

Alexandra Juhasz, a professor of media studies at Pitzer College who is 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r co-facilitator of 바카라사이트 Docc, says via e-mail that ¡°our DOCC is built to value situated experience and emphasis, and to share authority and responsibility ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 Mooc¡¯s top-down, one size fits all, sometimes elitist approach. Attention to discrete learners, teachers, and institutions is valued over simple numbers of participants. While 바카라사이트se structures mirror my own feminist values and approaches, I imagine that most educators will be intrigued by this more democratic and responsive model for technology enhanced learning.¡±

Among 바카라사이트 forms of Mooc hype that Balsamo said she hoped 바카라사이트 Docc would combat is 바카라사이트 idea that massive online courses allow some ¡°best¡± professor to interact with students everywhere, so that all can learn from 바카라사이트 superstar. It is not that 바카라사이트re aren¡¯t very talented professors out 바카라사이트re, she says, but 바카라사이트 superstar emphasis is wrong (¡°Is 바카라사이트re really a ¡®best¡¯?¡± she asks) and doesn¡¯t encourage group learning.

Balsamo adds: ¡°The idea of 바카라사이트 one best talking head, 바카라사이트 best expert in 바카라사이트 world, that couldn¡¯t be more patriarchal. That displays a hubris that is unthinkable from a feminist perspective.¡±