In addition to working through the home stretch of my PhD, an exciting project has kept me hopping for the last few months. I'm part of the team creating the University of Alberta's flagship MOOC, in partnership with Udacity: Dino 101: Dinosaur Paleobiology. If MOOC is a new acronym for you, don't worry - it was for me, too. There will be three flavours, so to speak, of Dino 101, but all will feature the same online content. Dino 101 will be available through Udacity, for free, to everyone around the world. Registered University of Alberta students who want to take the course for credit will register for PALEO 200 (online only), or PALEO 201 (same online content, but with additional in-person activities like field trips).
Working on Dino101 has been a great experience for me so far, even though it can be challenging. We're working closely with educational specialists to make sure the pedagogy is sound, and that our assessments will be rigorous. We want to make sure that real learning will occur. We've spent a lot of time thinking about the foundational aspects of the course, like what our learning outcomes will be, and what skills will be tested. I've been learning a lot about educational theory - even though the scale of MOOCs is new, there's a lot of people on board with this project who have researched the best ways to deliver and assess online content. We also have a great team working on unique interactives for the course, which should enhance the experience for students.
As we finish off scripts and move into production, I'm looking forward to seeing some of the cool ideas we have planned for teaching the basic concepts of dinosaur palaeontology come to life. I also hope that this course will serve as a springboard for people who are interested in animal biology and geology, and that everyone will come away with a better understanding of the scientific method.
I hope we'll see you in Dino101 when we launch this September!
(Check out the UofA's official Dino101 page for more information and to sign up for updates.)
