Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Am I a Lurker? #edumooc

Despite following the OERu group's discussion of lurkers in regard to crafting their survey for eduMOOC participants, I really don't know how one determines which levels of participation constitute a lurker, an active participant, etc.

However, I feel that along any hypothetical continuum portraying levels of participation, I am sliding from "somewhat involved" (posting this blog, commenting on others' blogs, following groups and wikis with Google Reader, checking and occasionally posting on Twitter) to a new level, closer to lurkerism.

It mostly comes down to two factors: time and expertise. I spend a great deal of time following links, bookmarking and reading blogs and articles, etc. I am also not an educator in the sense that many eduMOOCers are; 3 years as a paraprofessional fulltime reading tutor, volunteer teaching a few years ago in a GED prep class, plus ad-hoc corporate training of co-workers back when I was employed, don't qualify me to comment on the learned dispositions of professional educators.

However, by participating at any level in the eduMOOC, my pool of knowledge, and hopefully my network, are growing. I plan to review the archived material from the PLENK MOOC, and have already signed up for a MOOC on "change" this fall. I truly enjoy and appreciate the intellectual stimulation I am getting here, even as I slide into the murky lurker cohort.

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