Showing posts with label MOOCs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MOOCs. Show all posts

Sunday, 21 July 2024

My Postgraduate 2.0 Studies Page

The following is the studies page that was originally accessed via the page tab under the banner for the Ways 2 Interface blog. 

The studies page listed all the MOOCs I was studying between 2013 and 2015 as part of what was then known as my postgraduate 2.0 studies. 

It also included my education prior to my postgraduate pursuits.

My postgraduate 2.0 studies later morphed into my MTA Portfolio which is now housed on its own website: ibuiltmyown.education. 



 My Studies: thinking outside of the box 

What follows are mainly all the MOOCs/online courses I have been taking since October, 2013. Additionally, there are details on my education prior to undertaking my MOOC studies and other independent research.

Some courses were completed in a fixed time period and others I am still dipping into on a self-paced basis.
Current priorities...

University of Maryland on Coursera, 01/12/2014 - present
Entrepreneurship: Launching an Innovative Business
A specialisation sequence comprised of:
  1. Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies: The First Step in Entrepreneurship, 01/12/2014 - 12/01/2015 & 23/02/2015 - 29/03/2015, completed with distinction: verified certificate awarded
  2. Innovation for Entrepreneurs: From Idea to Marketplace, 05/01/2015 - 15/02/2015 & 25/05/2015 - 05/07/2015, completed with distinction: verified certificate awarded
  3. New Venture Finance: Startup Funding for Entrepreneurs, 09/02/2015 - 22/03/2015 & 29/06/2015 - 09/08/2015
  4. Entrepreneurship Capstone, 28/09/2015 - 08/11/2015

 Yonsei University on Coursera, 28/07/2015 - present
Emerging Technologies: From Smartphone to IOT to Big Data
A specialisation sequence comprised of:
  1. Smartphone Emerging Technologies
  2. Big Data, Cloud Computing & CND Emerging Technologies
  3. Internet Emerging Technologies
  4. Internet of Things & Augment Reality Emerging Technologies
  5. Wireless Communication Emerging Technologies
  6. Emerging Technologies Capstone

 University of California Irvine on Coursera, 03/06/2015 - present
Career Success
A specialisation sequence comprised of:
  1. Project Management: The Basics for Success
  2. Work Smarter, Not Harder: Time Management for Personal and Professional Productivity
  3. Finance for Non-Financial Professionals
  4. Communication in the 21st Century Workplace
  5. High-Impact Business Writing
  6. The Art of Negotiation
  7. Fundamentals of Management
  8. Effective-Problem Solving and Decision-Making
  9. Essentials of Entrepreneurship: Thinking & Action
  10. Career Success Capstone Project

In addition to all of the research and work I am conducting around these specializations, I consider these programs of study to be equivalent to the effort I would have put into undertaking a traditional masters degree, hence why these are my current study my priorities.


 Dabbled & Ongoing...

Loughborough University on FutureLearn, 25/07/2015 - present
Numeracy Skills for Employability and the Workplace

 Wesleyan University on Coursera, 05/06/2015 - present
Social Psychology

 Headspace, 14/02/2015 - present
My Headspace Mindfulness Meditation

 Copyblogger, 18/02/2015 - present
My Copyblogger Training
A copywriting course comprised of:
  1. Copywriting 101: How to Craft Compelling Copy
  2. How to Write Magnetic Headlines
  3. How to Create Compelling Content that Ranks Well in Search Engines
  4. Content Marketing: How to Build an Audience that Builds Your Business
  5. The Business Case for Agile Content Marketing
  6. A Content Marketing Strategy that Works
  7. How to Create Content that Converts
  8. How to Effectively Promote Your Content
  9. Content Marketing Research: The Crucial First Step
  10. How to Build Authority through Content and Google Authorship
  11. Email Marketing: How to Push Send and Grow Your Business
  12. Keyword Research: A Real-World Guide
  13. Landing Pages: How to Turn Traffic into Money
  14. 10 Rock Solid Elements of Effective Online Marketing
  15. Internet Marketing for Smart People: Classic Edition

 The Open University on FutureLearn, 19/08/2014 - present, incomplete and open
Managing my Money
#FLMyMoney15

University of East Anglia on FutureLearn, 06/04/2014 - present, incomplete and open
The Secret Power of Brands
#FLbrands

University of Southampton on FutureLearn, 11/02/2014 - present, incomplete
Web Science: How the Web is Changing the World 
#FLwebsci 

 The Hague Institute for Global Justice on iversity, 10/12/2013 - present, incomplete 
Public Privacy: Cyber Security and Human Rights

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid on edX, 17/02/2015 - presentDocumentary: New Trends, New Formats

McGill University on edX, 25/02/2015 - present
The Body Matters

 The University of Chicago on Coursera, 23/02/2015 - present
Understanding the Brain: The Neuroscience of Everyday Life

Filmmaker IQ
Filmmaker IQ Courses

 The University of Sheffield on FutureLearn, 29/09/2014 - present, incomplete and open
Exploring Play: The Importance of Play in Everyday Life
#FLplay

National Film and Television School on FutureLearn, 02/02/2015 - present
Explore Filmmaking: From Script to Screen
#FLExploreFilm

University of London on Coursera, 26/06/2015 - present
The Camera Never Lies

Completed...
Ball State University on Canvas Network, 05/06/2015 - 03/08/2015, completed: certificate awarded
TCM Presents Into the Darkness: Investigating Film Noir

 Yonsei University on Coursera, 24/07/2015 - 28/07/2015
Emerging Smartphone Technologies

 University of California, Irvine on Coursera, 22/07/2015 - 25/07/2015
Fundamentals of Management

 University of California, Irvine on Coursera, 13/06/2015 - 18/06/2015
Effective Problem-Solving and Decision-Making

 University of California, Irvine on Coursera, 03/06/2015 - 10/06/2015, Passed
Finance for Non-Financial Professionals

 Wesleyan University on Coursera, 02/02/2015 - 11/03/2015, completed: certificate awarded
The Language of Hollywood: Storytelling, Sound and Colour

 Wageningen University on edX, 08/01/2015 - 16/03/2015, completed
Introduction to Nutrition: Food for Health
#NUTR101x

 RMIT University on Open2Study, 05/01/2015 - 03/02/2015, completed: certificate awarded
Foundations of Psychology
#IntroPsy

 RMIT University on Open2Study, 05/01/2015 - 03/02/2015, completed: certificate awarded
The Art of Photography
#phot

 University of Southampton on FutureLearn, 17/11/2014 - 12/12/2014, completed
Understanding Language: Learning and Teaching
#FLlanguage

University of Auckland on FutureLearn, 10/11/2014 - 15/11/2014, completed
Academic Integrity: Values, Skills, Action
#FLintegrity

University of Southampton on FutureLearn, 14/10/2014 - 30/10/2014, completed
Digital Marketing: Challenges and Insights
#FLdigital

The Open University on FutureLearn, 13/09/2014 - 25/11/2014, completed
Introduction to Cyber Security
#FLcybersec

University of California, San Diego on Coursera, 09/10/2014 - 09/11/2014, completed
Learning how to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects

Coursera, 28/09/2014 - 22/12/2014, completed with distinction: certificate awarded
Internet History, Technology and Security

University of Leeds on FutureLearn, 18/09/2014 - 29/09/2014, completed
Innovation: The Key to Business Success
#FLbizinnovation

Open2Study, 15/09/2014 - 15/10/2014, completed: certificate awarded
Big Data for Better Performance
#BigData

Open Training Institute on Open2Study, 11/08/2014 - 09/09/2014, completed: certificate awarded
Strategic Management
#StratMgt

Sydney Institute on Open2Study, 11/08/2014 - 09/09/2014, completed: certificate awarded
Financial Planning
#FinPlan

 University of Leeds on FutureLearn, 19/08/2014 - 23/08/2014, completed
Starting a Business: Realise Your Vision
#FLstartup

 University of Southampton on FutureLearn, 07/07/2014 - 18/08/2014, completed
Developing Your Research Project 
#FLcuriosity

 Loughborough University on FutureLearn, 10/06/2014 - 18/08/2014, completed
Innovation and Enterprise
#FLinnovation

University of London on Coursera, 02/06/2014 - 04/07/2014, completed: certificate awarded
Understanding Research Methods

The University of Nottingham on FutureLearn, 21/04/2014 - 02/06/2014, completed
How to read a mind (cognitive poetics)
#FLread

ICMS on Open2Study,  22/03/2014 - 22/04/2014, completed: certificate awarded
Management for a Competitive Edge
#MgtEdge

MGSM on Open2Study, 22/03/2014 - 22/04/2014, completed: certificate awarded
Negotiation and Conflict Resolution

MGSM on Open2Study, 22/03/2014 - 22/04/2014, completed: certificate awarded
Leadership: Identity, Influence and Power
#LEAD

Polytechnic West on Open2Study, 07/02/2014 - 10/03/2014, completed: certificate awarded
Principles of Project Management
#ProjMgt

Open2Study, 07/02/2014 - 10/03/2014, completed: certificate awarded
Online Advertising
#OnlineAd

Macquarie University on Open2Study, 07/02/2014 - 10/03/2014, completed: certficate awarded
Financial Literacy
#FinLitrc

University of Birmingham on FutureLearn, 27/02/2014 - 13/02/2014, completed
Good Brain, Bad Brain: Basics (Neurobiology)
#FLbrain

 Maquarie University on Open2Study, 03/01/2014 - 06/02/2014, completed: certificate awarded
Becoming Human: Anthropology
#BeHuman

Open2Study, 03/01/2014 - 06/02/2014, completed: certificate awarded
Food, Nutrition and Health
#FoodHlth

Open2Study, 03/01/2014 - 06/02/2014, completed: certificate awarded
Writing for the Web
#WriteWeb

iversity, 25/09/2013-24/12/2013, completed: awarded certificate 
The Future of Storytelling
#storymooc
Abandoned...

 Creative Coding

 Scandinavian Film and Television

 Human Rights

 Origins: Formation of the Universe, Solar System, Earth and Life

 Northwestern University on Coursera, 04/06/2014 - present, incomplete and closed
Understanding Media by Understanding Google

 MGSM on Open2Study, 11/08/2014 - 09/09/2014, incomplete and closed
Diagnosing the Financial Health of a Business
#FinHlth

University of Glasgow on Coursera, 07/11/2013 - 09/12/2013
E-Learning and Digital Cultures
Traditional education...

First Class BA (Hons) Creative Writing with Film and Screen Studies
Modules:



A-Level Film Studies (B)
A-Level Photography (C)
A-Level Philosophy (D)
AS-Level Media Studies (A)
GCSE Mathematics resit (C)


GCSE Art (A)
GCSE English Literature (B) 
GCSE English Language (B)
GCSE Geography (B)
GCSE Food Technology (C)
GCSE Religious Studies (C)
GCSE Physical Education (C)
GCSE Mathematics (D)
GNVQ Applied Business (BB)
GNVQ Information Communication Technology (C)
GNVQ Science (C)

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Saturday, 3 October 2015

Posgraduate 2.0 Studies & PeterOBrien.me - October, 2015 Update



Every good day, every bad day; complex and simple at the same time - that's very me, that's PeterOBrien.me.

Considering that my last blog post was posted towards the beginning of August, I felt it was time to provide a brief update in regards to my ongoing studies or postgraduate 2.0 studies, as I have now come to call them. 

This new title for the combined online learnng via MOOCs that I have enrolled myself in, since graduating from my BA (Hons) in the summer of 2013, has come about as a result of finally getting my personal website, PeterOBrien.me, of the ground.

It is still being constructed, but it is now live.


The primary purpose of my personal website was to establish a personal brand identity under which I could bring together and unify all of my other focuses and online endeavours.

One key aim of the purpose behind PeterOBrien.me was to create a space where I could showcase my online learning achievements which is how the Postgraduate 2.0 Studies page on PeterOBrien.me came about. 

It's really strange seeing yourself objectified into a website!


I figure that Postgraduate 2.0 Studies is a good name, my studies are postgraduate and they are online.

As a result, I have shifted my focus away from Ways 2 Interface while I have been building PeterOBrien.me and organising everything that I have going on. One key implication that has now become clear as a result of this organisation is that PeterOBrien.me will unload the burden of my Postgraduate 2.0 Studies on this Ways 2 Interface blog.

As I continued to study new MOOCs (now over eighty) and add them to my portfolio, the study page on this site was getting ridiculously out of hand. It was a problem I had previously encountered on my LinkedIn profile where I would add each new MOOC to my education section and watch my profile struggle to load as a result.

Unfortunately, this is the reality of Big Data that human beings are now having to face.

"Big data is a broad term for data sets so large or complex that traditional data processing applications are inadequate. Challenges include analysis, capture, data curation, search, sharing, storage, transfer, visualization, and information privacy." 
- Wikipedia

What to do with it all and where to put it?

However, the configuration of PeterOBrien.me has now solved this problem, as I believe the layout of the Postgraduate 2.0 Studies page is much better suited to present a vast array of information in a concise form.

It has two slideshows...

A slideshow for the courses I have enrolled myself in.













And a slideshow for the courses for which I was awarded a certificate.




Simple.


There is also a traditional list at the bottom of the page numbering all of the MOOC I have enrolled in with hyperlinks to their respective course pages. 

Therefore the Studies page on Ways 2 Interface will soon be disappearing. 
Make the most of it while it is still here.


Additionally, while I will still continue to blog about my studies on this site, the content of those posts will be focused more towards being in relation to my larger transdisciplinary research project, for which the Ways 2 Interface website was originally established.

For more general MOOC reviews, reflections, recommendations, insights, etc., the blog of PeterOBrien.me will take of these. 

As PeterOBrien.me will demonstrate, the only way in which I can organise my life and my focuses, while retaining my sanity, is by compartmentalising everything; this is why I have various different online platforms (or filling cabinets) for different purposes...



... and PeterOBrien.me is the main hub (or office) that brings them all together into a unified overview.

Crucially, as the name of my personal website should indicate, they are all me, everything that I have created online is me, so I am going to insure that I keep a firm grasp on it all. 

Another key aspect of myself, or the digital extension of myself IS all of the MOOCs I have enrolled myself in, these are parts of myself as well, and, in particular, clusters of related MOOCs naturally come together to represent specific focuses of my career focus and wider interests. 

It is for this reason that if you examine PeterOBrien.me you will note that in addition to my Postgraduate 2.0 Studies page, there are additional pages devoted to specific MOOC and study focuses.

I have individual pages for...


It is should be noted that one of my focuses is Digital Marketing and this is not accidental. 

Digital Marketing is something I wanted to get to grips with ever since graduating from my BA (Hons) and it is not accidental that I have spent the last two years exploring and defining myself in order to construct an appropriate unified brand to encapsulate it all. 

A value driven brand is essential for success in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship is the primary objective of my postgraduate 2.0 studies, everything is working for everything else, that is the point.

"Entrepreneurs are competing for resources and opportunities that enable them to tell their story and build their reputation. If you’re an entrepreneur who isn’t actively branding himself, rest assured that your competitors will waste no time in branding you, which may hurt your image, company valuation and bottom line." 
- Michael Georgiou, Entrepreneur

PeterOBrien.me is a fusion of personal and professional and my key driving impulse in making it was to produce 'an online portfolio to end all online portfolios'.

A similar phrase, 'the film dissertation to end all film dissertations', worked in producing my award-winning undergraduate theoretical dissertation, Ways of Being: The Spectator and the Spectacle (the progenitor for Ways 2 Interface), so I do not see why it will not work for producing a personal website that utilises the entirety of my professional portfolio and personal life experiences as a combined visual-centric portfolio of my values, my character, my strengths, my skills, myself.

If you do not know what you are, then how will you know what to do with yourself?



With the design of PeterOBrien.me, the idea is that you click on what appeals to you and within that page there will be details and links to other relevant and related components of my overall portfolio.

Or you can just have the brief visual-centric storyboard overview of my overall portfolio on PeterOBrien.me's main page.

Every good day, every bad day; complex and simple at the same time - that's very me, that's PeterOBrien.me.

However, going back to my Postgraduate 2.0 Studies and as they are now organised and collected on PeterOBrien.me, I am no longer going to be providing periodic progress updates or MOOC by MOOC reflections on Ways 2 Interface.

There are two reasons for this...

  1. I do not need to provide periodic progress updates because the MOOCs as arranged and detailed on PeterOBrien.me speak for themselves. If I do provide a periodic update I will do it on the blog of PeterOBrien.me and I will only do it on Ways 2 Interface if that progress update is immediately applicable to the research concerns of this platform.
  2. It is becoming impossible to provide periodic updates and reflections on each MOOC because I study so many! I rarely find the time to provide updates or to author reflections; unless, of course, those reflections are required exercises of the MOOC I am studying, such as is currently the case with the DigitalMarketing.me blog I had to create for my Digital and Social Media Marketing MOOC. I do not underestimate the power of reflection and of getting your head in order by objectifying it, but I also always respect the concept of time and realise that I only have so much of it! However, I have now started to produce video reflections and reviews of my MOOCs as evidenced within my 365 FRAMES 2015 project, which is a quick, easy and spontaneous way of generating reflection material. As a result of this, I will continue to produce these videos instead of lengthy, time-consuming written reflections, such as I am doing now!
However, I will provide one final and very brief MOOC progress report right now.

I am currently enrolled in...

Priority:
  • Digital and Social Media Marketing - as part of the iversity Marketing Toolkit
  • Logical and Critical Thinking
  • Understanding Video Games

Secondary

  • The Importance of Money in Business
  • What is a Mind?

Tertiary

  • Mindfulness for Wellbeing and Peak Performance
  • Introduction to Big Data - as part of the Coursera Big Data Specialization
  • Quantitative Methods - as part of the Coursera Solid Science Specialization
  • Marketing in a Digital World - as part of the Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization
  • Fundamentals of Neuroscience, Part 1: Electrical Properties of the Neuron
  • The Mind is Flat: The Shocking Shallowness of Human Psychology

Finally, I will very shortly be reconfiguring the Ways 2 Interface website to be bring it into line with the changes I have cited in this blog post and some additional ones I have not detailed.

In particular specific changes concerned with the transdisciplinary research of Ways 2 Interface and how that will play into the content of Breaking Cinema, the podcast I have been developing.

But more on this later...


Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Friday, 17 April 2015

Proactive Adaptability: Online Learning and MOOCs - Where to start?


Embrace the maze and mess and multifaceted realm of online study that WILL continue to change and that WILL continue to be recognised by employers, educators and new students.

 I have been studying online since October, 2013 and after taking part in close to fifty MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and various other online resources I can safely say that the best place to dive into this realm of collected knowledge is...

.. anywhere.

That is the simple answer.

There is no point even attempting to provide yourself with an overview before embracing the online learning arena because new MOOCs are being launched weekly and the parameters of this revolution (and it really is a revolution) continue to expand and change.

 Therefore, this blog post is not an overview, it is an approach to getting started.

In a nutshell - just dive in and find your way as you go.


The importance of nurturing proactive adaptability through your studies in order to attain career fulfilment

The first MOOC I undertook was The Future of Storytelling which was recommended to me by one of my tutors shortly after I graduated from university. 

An online course that dealt with how storytelling is changing in relation to the introduction of new technologies in many ways picked up where my studies at university  in Creative Writing with Film and Screen Studies had left off and, therefore, was a very good place for me to begin my online learning odyssey.
My very first Statement of Accomplishment.


However, even if I was familiar with some of the foundation knowledge, the actual experience of sitting in front of my computer, taking notes from video lectures, participating in discussion forums and submitting electronic exams was a completely new experience for me.

And it took a great deal of adjustment, but the best way to become accustomed to this type of experience is to just stick with it, which is exactly what I did. I just stuck with it, completed The Future of Storytelling, undertook another MOOC, completed it, undertook another, so on and so forth...

 Now learning online is just the norm for me.

Moreover, through the course of this persistence, I have acquired an invaluable skill that a structured course of study would be hard pressed to teach and install within its students.

 This skill I refer to as proactive adaptability.

The ability to positively embrace change and quickly re-adjust yourself to the introduction of new parameters and processes. 

If you are studying for career advancement with the aim of gaining job security then I promise you that proactive adaptability is a skill that will serve you very well in the long run.

Those safe little careers of yesteryear that would hold your hand until you were 65 are all going to a land far, far away to live happily ever after... without you.

Job-hopping is becoming the new career norm simply because it is more cost effective to hire short-term and acquire expertise on an assignment-by-assignment basis.

And successful job-hopping requires proactive adaptability. 

Job-hopping is the new career security and proactive adaptability will ensure that you always have more jobs to hop to. 

Therefore, embrace the maze and mess and multifaceted realm of online study that WILL continue to change and that WILL continue to be more and more so recognised by employers, educators and new students.

It's still early days for online education, but, be under no illusion, it is not going anywhere and it is a disruption that enables anyone with an internet connection to gain entry to knowledge and expertise that would have once cost them thousands and thousands of pounds.

I gave up undertaking a £6000 masters course simply because I had covered the masters' curriculum within many of the MOOCs I had undertaken.

I do not have a masters degree, but I have the knowledge and a proactive adaptability that only cost be some time and persistence.

And considering how much undervalued degrees have become with employers and in general, possessing the knowledge and proactive adaptability in regards to my career focus (in my case entrepreneurship) is worth much more than possessing a masters degree that would have just put me into additional debt.

Do not write off online learning, because it really is worth it! 


Anywhere is too much - My advice on where to start
Firstly...

Sign up to the free self-paced course:


In short this course will benefit you even outside of online learning as it teaches you various invaluable techniques on how to break down vast arrays of knowledge as well as how to ensure that you retain that information. 

Learning how to Learn - trailer
You know all those supposed techniques of learning you had hammered into you at school - delete them!

Learning how to Learn teaches you how to learn the smart way and it is all drawn from the latest neuroscience research being conducted into learning and memory, so you will be in the hands of educators who know what they are talking about.

Therefore buy yourself a notebook and take plenty of notes, but rewrite the lecture points out in your own words, as your brain will much more likely to retain the information - this was a tip I acquired from the course, so it obviously works!

 I only wish I had undertaken this course BEFORE I undertook the many other courses I have undertaken. 

 Oh, well, you live and learn - that is the point of proactive adaptability.
Secondly...


Find your own way, sign up to MOOCs based on what your projected career focus is or just what are your general interests.

MOOCs Addicts is a good facebook group to join if you have question, want some guidance or need some MOOC suggestions.

 Or just type "your interests/focus MOOC" into google and see what comes up.


Finally...

 While they are not the only MOOC hosting platforms out there, the following list indicates some very good platforms to begin with... 



Offers free and signature track paid courses with Statement of Accomplishments issued on the successful completion of most free courses and Verified Certificates issued on the successful completion of all paid signature track courses.



Offers exclusively free courses that come with Certificates of Achievement on the successful completion of a course.



Offers free courses, with new courses being added monthly, and a Statement of Participation can be purchased on the successful completion of a course.



Offers free courses that issue Statements of Participation on the successful completion of a course; with the option to pay for a verified route of study that will issue you a verified Statement of Accomplishment on the successful completion of a course.



One of the first online learning platforms. This platform has all of the earning materials for its paid degree courses freely available to access, but no statements of completion. This platform relies much more on a proactive learning habit, as there is less direction in regards to how to absorb all of the materials; it really is just a case of getting stuck in and finding your own way.



No idea, as I have not used them yet, but I keep reading good things about them, so what I would say is exercise a bit of proactive adaptability and find out for yourself.


Podcasts + YouTube

Do not underestimate these platforms, as they give you access to ever expanding knowledge. 

Listening to over one hundred different podcast shows and well over four thousand hours of content has completely reconfigured my world-job-personal-everything-view... but that is a whole other blog post.
My approach

 Start with Learning how to Learn.

 Really invest your time and attention to gaining the most out of completing it.

 Then sign up to another MOOC that is concerned with your area(s) of interest or career focus(es) and then just take things from there.

 If it does not quite work, just try something else.

 That's the great thing about online content, there's always additional stuff out there.

Ultimately, all of this ever expanding and (mostly) free education content - you would have to be stark raving mad not to exploit it.

 So get proactive and adapt!

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Thursday, 16 April 2015

Building, crediting and utilising your learning

On building...

While I have undertaken somewhere in the region of fifty online courses, I am not suggesting that you do the same, unless you want to.

Only study as much or as little as you think is necessary and/or your MOOCs/studies indicate you should, but this is where online learning really comes into its own, because it offers you the opportunity to build your own program of study... a program that others can guide you on, but ultimately only you can figure out how much or little you need to cover.

The reason I have undertaken so many is because I have been pro-actively building my own program of study to satisfy the areas of knowledge I know I need to acquire if I want to achieve success as an entrepreneur - as my current specialization in entrepreneurship should demonstrate - based around the business practice of my multi-faceted focus. 

Creative Writing with Film and Screen Studies was the degree I studied at university and while it served as a hugely invaluable exploration of two areas I feel very passionate about - writing and film - there other areas of fascination it could not cover.

If you look at my list of studies on this blog and the various MOOCs I have undertaken, you will begin to see that my focus stretches far beyond film and writing into areas as diverse as neuroscience, entrepreneurship, anthropology, web science, big data, negotiation, conflict resolution, branding, e-learning, psychology, language learning, research methods, human nutrition, leadership, human rights, cyber security, management practice, health and wellbeing.

I have a transdisciplinary focus which is to say that I have my feet in many different waters of knowledge, precisely because they fascinate and precisely because I know somewhere in all of oceans of knowledge there is a business idea for my entrepreneurial focus.

A business idea I have been developing directly as a result of having undertaking all of these MOOCs that have been exercising my understanding in all these diverse areas.

For me, this is why MOOCs and online learning are so invaluable; a taught degree program I have always found to be way too constrictive (and very much out of date), so it was only logical after graduating from my degree I would build my own program of study to expand its focus even more so. 

This is also why I want to work for myself, because I have yet to find a job that would allow me to satisfy all of these areas. Therefore, like my education, I have to build my own one.

Admittedly, it grew far beyond what I initially anticipated, but that growth was just a natural part of the proactive adaptability have been refining. 

The point is, going into it with my first MOOC The Future of Storytelling, I did not know what was going to follow after it, I just completed it moved onto the next MOOC E-Learning and Digital Cultures 

There is still plenty more I would like to study, but for the time being my actual entrepreneurial practice is the focus; as it is being nurtured in my ongoing entrepreneurship specialization, something that is finally acknowledging all of the studying I have done for the past year-and-a-half.


On crediting...

What's the difference between a taught degree and a MOOC?

Credit.

When you undertake a degree or any university course on the successful completion of the courses various modules you acquire credits points. Basically, you need to acquire enough credit in order to actually be awarded your degree.

With MOOCs they do not (yet) award credit, so all of the MOOCs I have undertaken have not been building towards being awarded a master's degree; in fact, if they had I would probably already be well past a master's degree.

Anyhow, that is the major difference between the two: with one you accumulate credit that demonstrates you did all of the studies and with the other (if you successfully complete the course and if it awards one) you receive a statement of accomplishment that demonstrates you did all of the studies. 

Basically, credit costs a lot more than knowledge, you now, that silly little thing you can actually do something with - I know which one I would rather have!

What's more employers more and more so really do not care about the credit side of things; all they want is someone who knows the knowledge and can put that knowledge into successful action. 

Therefore, a Statement of Accomplishment can easily hold just as much weight; a collection of them can really put a credited degree in its place!


Everyone else keeps telling me how it will not work, but that's okay, they can worry for me. I do not have time to worry, I have work to do.

A 

However, if you do complete an online course while you will have the knowledge, you may not necessarily attain a completion certificate: either because you did not finish the course in time or because the course does not actually award them

A record of your accomplishments

and this platform is one way in which I am utilizing my online learning.

On utilising...

A little and very annoyingly common story in today's world... 

Not long after gradating I sat for an interview at a creative agency, I told the interviewer all about my First-Class degree and the fact that BOTH of my final dissertations had received the highest marks of their modules. 
The interviewer did not care. 
It was only when I explained that my high marks should demonstrate to him just how much time, hard work and persistence I had put into my creative endeavours that he started to show a real interest in me.  
The moral of the story: degrees count for very little today, employers want proactive, adaptive, hard workers who can demonstrate all of that knowledge and experience in a portfolio of work, either generated from previous work experience or from within an education environment.

I am cutting back, because I have had a solid year of studying and I am having a year of putting those studies into action.

That need is reflected in my choice of MOOCs 

Not only could I use MOOCs for my professional career focused development, but I could also utilise them for my personal development as an individual (again something that a traditional degree course is hard press to teach).

Hopefully by now I have established the inherent need to be proactive when it comes to successful online learning. 

That's the great thing about online learning it really is about building your own program of study and taking charge of your ideal career. 

And it's (mostly) free - you would have to be a stark raving mad not to exploit it.

 So get proactive and adapt!

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , ,
Location: Bristol, UK
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)