Heli connecting ideas

I cannot stop my journey with the article of Jenny and Carmen, published in IRRODL Jan 2012 until I handle diversity and openness, the last ones (connectivism principles). Please read Carmen’s blogpost from yesterday. I proceed from one principle to another in order to understand what I can learn about the findings. When I have described every principle I get rid of pieces and think about the whole process. This article is Very Important opening to psychology, therefore I do this journey.

I have a diagram again. Diversity from the left column is combined with competence (SDT) and conscientiousness.

Diversity in education is opened to mean all measurable differences among learners (gender, race, culture, socioeconomic status, intellegence etc).

In terms of self-determination the factor of competence is defined as feeling effective in interactions and having the opportunities to enact this effectiveness. Competence empowers individuals to further endeavors. This sense of competence can be affected by many things, including language ability, overall learning and technology skill level, and the ease of user interface and connection.Unconscious influences may also affect expectations and interpretations.

Active MOOC participants are individuals high in the psychological trait of conscientiousness, geared toward duty and achievement, For example, regular attendance at MOOC sessions, consistent public writing, and public collegial exchanges. So I am conscientious just now Spontaneous participation is different and it is a part of MOOCs too. – Actually I was astonished about Big Five that this was considered one of those five. I have to use vocabulary in order to check the meaning.

Openness (connectivism) is defined largely in the context of sharing resources, ideas and expertise, and communicating and creating new information and insights through networks.Participants will be able to freely enter and leave the system, and there ought to be a free flow of ideas and artifacts within the system. Privacy vs tyranny of openness is considered here.

Openness in self-determination expands as a factor in personality and autonomy: to perceive ongoing experience accurately, without distorting or attempting to avoid the experience, and a willingness to assimilate novel experiences into self-structures. When individuals function autonomously, they are open to experience what is occurring in the current discussion. It can be called mindfulness: a  fully functioning person is able to encounter experience honestly.

This inner state of openness offers a significantly expanded perspective from the much more externalized “sharing” definition of openness and the “no barriers” definition currently also introduces a potential connection between creativity and connective learning. The personality trait of openness to experience is linked to curiosity, exploration, creativity, and unusual ideas.

I loved that description of psychological openness above. I hope that I didn’t spoil Jenny’s and Carmen’s text by shortening it awkwardly. I am so glad that you have opened this discussion toward psychological concepts in MOOC participation. I have been lazy myself and only pondered in my mind – you have already published the article. What next, then?

You have done enormous work by describing /analyzing all the key concept. Now it is easier to choose some parts and dive deeper. Thanks to Jenny and Carmen and congratulations!

Tags: carmen, jenny, mooc