9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The massive online open course is a response to the challenges faced by organizations and distributed disciplines at a time of information overload. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It used to be that when you wanted to know about something, you could do a few things. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You could ask someone, you could buy a book, you could try to figure it out yourself, or you could go to school. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 course, the thing you're trying to figure out, you could go there and take it! 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You could get access to information about a topic. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 An instructor at ... and books to pull the information together from a library. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You might even find others are also interested in the same things that you are. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The MOOC, is built for a world where information is everywhere. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Where social network obsessed with the same way as you are is a click away. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A digital world. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A world where an internet connection gives you access to a staggering amount of information. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This video will introduce you to how a massive open online course is one way of learning in a network world. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A MOOC is a course, it's open, it's participatory, it's distributed, and it supports lifelong network learning. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In one sense, a massive online course is just that. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's a course. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It has facilitators, course materials, it has a start and ending, it has participants. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But a MOOC is not a school, it's not just an online course. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's a way to connect and collaborate while developing digital skills, it's a way of engaging in the learning process that engages what it means to be a student. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It is, maybe most importantly; an event around which people who care about a topic, who can get together and work and talk about it in a structued way. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The course is open. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 All of the work gets done in areas accessible for people to read, reflect and comment on.