Excuse me, I think I just did a MOOC.

I stumbled across this description of a MOOC when reading this OT blog last week.

Blimey. I thought. That’s what I’ve been looking for. In fact, that’s what I’ve been doing!

In fact, I haven’t. Not by a long chalk. Helen has been participating in an incredible event, called #eduMOOC2011, which is an eight week course now into it’s fifth week. So it’s not exactly what I’ve been doing, but rather, something I wish I’d been doing…

It really is a great concept aiming to develop networked learning. This reminds me of how knowledge is spread through insect colonies.

In a bee hive, for instance, the various worker bees go out to find food. On their return , they perform little bee dances to tell the other hive members about what the food is, where it is, how far you have to fly, and all the other stuff bees like to know. Excuse my rather vague handle on this- I’m no entymologist!

My point is, that this is how social media works. Like the bees, we tell others in our networks where the good information is, and others then follow our pointers to events, to URLs, to engage in “clicktivism”, whatever.

Gradually we develop trusted networks for curation of content and they become a short-cut- we know we can trust their opinion on how useful the content is.

(Question- do bees ever tell lies about food? or do they have better and worse bees/colonies for successfully transmitting information? I would love to know!)

Over time, we develop networks of people who are looking for similar content. Like the bee hive, we are greater than the sum of our parts, because we can utilise far greater “processing power” by collaborating together online than we can as individuals.

Okay, I’m going to leave the analogy there, and talk about MOOC.

As the video above explains, MOOC is just a way of describing the process of acquiring knowledge which, in previous times, may only have been available through learned institutions, and through diligent attention to books, journals, or lectures. People without access to these forms of learning could therefore be left behind. But as this clip from RSA shows, how we conceive of education now has to change, for several reasons.

• Cost. University education is now very expensive. For people who do not wish to become endebted, it could be the case that this form of learning is an effective way to continue to develop and learn without attending university. Perhaps universities will spot this and offer a discounted rate for people to sit qualifications without access to their limited spaces in lecture theatres?
• Social exclusion. People who experience stigma because of mental illness or other reasons could find that they are able to learn removed from the pressures of the social environment of a university? I wouldn’t want to recommend this as an adaptive response to social phobia or fear of stigma, but I can imagine circumstances (Asperger’s?) where this would make accommodation for someone’s particular needs or sensory sensitivities.
• Lifestyle. People who are looking after children or other family members may wish to work from home, in hours of their own choosing. This could offer a solution for those groups, much like the OU does, but again, at less cost.
• Bad experiences in formal education. So many people have felt excluded from education due to their bad experiences at school. Some of them may not have been diagnosed with learning difficulties such as dyslexia, dyscalculia or dyspraxia until later in life, and suffered bullying in school from pupils or staff. Many people who have had poor experiences could be encouraged to gain basic skills, or update their knowledge ahead of trying out more formal routes of education, in a supportive network of people.

So what is my point?

What I am thinking of, as ever, is the application of this understanding to my OT practice and to the possibilities for growth it represents.

• I love learning. I intend to continue learning all my life. I am determined to engage with the idea of a MOOC, just to see where it takes me.

• I would love to see an OTMOOC event shape up- perhaps after this year’s virtual exchange we could plan one to culminate in next year’s virtual exchange? However, for the time being, I’m going to MOOC about using the online resources I already have.

1. My network of OT blogs that you can see on the right hand side is a good place to start——–>
2. And if you are dipping your toes in the water of online technology as an OT, I would strongly urge you to complete this short survey to provide us with more of an evidence base about how our profession is using online tech (add your email at the end if you want to be entered into the prize draw for an iPod!)
3. Also, are you aware of the OT4OT blog? It’s a good place to share information about how OTs are using online technology.
4. Coming up is the 24 hour OT Virtual Exchange- widely billed as the conference you can attend in your pyjamas- on 26th October 2011, 24 presentations from around the world highlighting a range of different OT approaches available at a computer near you, and at absolutely no cost. Check out the facebook group.

• As ever, we need to remember that there are possibilities for practice within this model.

1. One of the roles of the OT is in health education. We can offer our unique occupational perspective through this technique as much as any other.
2. Education about aids and adaptations can be hugely useful. I have lost count of the numbers of people I have shown products to through websites when they would never have set foot into a mobility showroom. We could make great strides in ensuring our service users have access to this information online.
3. Perhaps videos of people who are doing Occupational Therapy, to show how this benefits them? (With all appropriate consents etc.)

Once more, this doesn’t solve the problem of digital exclusion. That has to be tackled. But as more and more people have access to technology such as smartphones, we can hope that the day is not far off that we can ensure fair and equitable access to information.

On that day, we can all MOOC together.

I like the sound of that. Do you?

Google+ has arrived

First of all, let’s get one thing straight. I am very conflicted about Facebook. On the one hand, I dislike their ownership of my content, their constant default privacy settings that are too public and I have to go in and change them every few weeks, it seems. But on the other hand, EVERYONE is on Facebook, so whether I want to connect with family overseas, or I want to extend my professional network, Facebook is where I have to go.

Cartoon by xkcd. Original here.

But now, Google+ has  arrived. And it is ever so shiny and new and out-of-the-box use-able. I admit. I’ve fallen a little in love with it this weekend. There is already plenty of information out there about how to use it, and I thought I would collate it for the benefit of OTs. I thought I would share with you some of my brainstorm about how tech. like this could change the way we work.  Because if this takes off, it’s going to transform how services are delivered, how we connect professionally, how we manage our online content. The possibilities are there, evident already (although there are still some bugs that need fixing).

Firstly, about inclusion. I think we all know that with the use of FB lists we can keep our privacy and still maintain engagement with the wider online world. But personally, I have always found FB lists to be awkward, and I have found it hard to keep up with adding people to lists when friending them. With G+, in a similar way, people are added to circles. Now, this is pretty much the same trick as a list, posts can be restricted to a certain circle or individual, or offered up to the entire interwebs. The difference is that this is much more of an iOS feel to it. People are clicked and dropped into circles, and there are sweet animations to show people adding and being taken away from circles. You may define the names of your circles, and the names of the circles are not disclosed to the people in them. This means it is easier, and more natural, to drop people into circles. And the feature is an accurate reflection of our natural social groupings, or indeed, work groups.

Hangouts is a great feature and one which FB will be working double time to replicate within the platform (rumour has it they are making a deal with Skype to be announced next week). Hangouts are video conferences which can be shared, as circles, with as closed or as open a group as you wish. There are also Huddles, which are available on Android phones currently. these are a little like FB chats, and I can see them being useful in the same way we use chats now.

Unlike FB, at any time, you are free to download all your data from G+, which is a concern for many people (me included) and means you need never worry about losing photos and video. G+ is also much more transparent about how your data will be used.

From Mashable

Initially, it seems as if the revenue stream from the advertising that Google sells will be sufficient to allow G+ to operate without annoying ads. We’ll have to see how that one pans out.

I like the way that Google have started from the principle of the social web, and superimposed the layers of functionality upon it, something that was noted by the founder of MySpace when asked about it. This means that rather than trying to code a social layer on top of the already extant web function, the social nature of G+ feels more like it should. Natural. Because humans are social creatures, it should feel natural for us to be social through this medium. (idea- perhaps some social skills training can be delivered by MH OTs online?)

G+ is delivered very naturally through Android as a mobile app. This is good, because Android smartphones are cheaper entry-level devices (than Apple), and the app stores are gaining ground on Apple all the time. But the reason that is important for us, is that if we re-frame this kit as adaptive equipment, we can see that affordability is an important feature (could we see the day a smartphone is paid for by direct payments? through Access to Work? through Disabled Student’s Allowance? through small, voluntary sector grants?)

Potentially, these features add up to a pretty unbeatable platform. And the fact that once in, it feels natural to try out other Google products that we may not have used yet could mean G+ has a big future ahead.

There are many possibilities of how we could use G+ in practice. Here, I’m going to brainstorm just a few that immediately spring to mind.

• How about a closed network of people- perhaps a journal club, or a long-arm supervisor and supervisee on an emerging role placement. They could share information through the circles feature, and have a weekly hangout meeting within G+.

• I believe that G+ could be used with service users, perhaps to maintain engagement in therapeutic programmes, such as a Recovery Group, and offer peer support between sessions.

• Perhaps G+ could be used to deliver sessions- either in an educational context a tutorials for OTs, or for service users and carers, around specific issues or for mutual support.

• The possibilities for Telecare. With this (FREE!) technology, social enterprises could be developed which check in with clients-through video as well as text, enabling people to remain more independant for longer.

• Perhaps there’s a use with people with learning disabilities who are living independantly for the first time, but need a little support as they attempt the recipe they practised with the OT last week?

You see, OTs are great. As we know, OTs are able to adapt environments to suit an individual’s strengths and needs to enable them to perform meaningful activity. And there’s no reason why the online environment is any different than any other. It just got a whole lot easier.

A quick summary of stuff I’ve read about G+ so far:

• As usual, Mashable is on the money with a quick round up of the pros and cons of G+ and has also reviewed Google+
• Katie Bacon blogs about the potential G+ vs FB battle for our screentime
• PC World blogs 10 quick tips to get started on G+
• Great easy 25 tips to help you get started- by Webtrikz
• A great plug-in by Mohamed Mansour (of RIM) which means your G+ updates can migrate to FB and Twitter, and therefore can be used like Ping, Posterous etc.