[Asis-l] Transliteracy and Metaliteracy explored in MOOC

[Tom.Mackey at esc.edu]

A new Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) offered by SUNY Empire State 
College will feature a module on "Transliteracy and Metaliteracy: Emerging 
Literacy Frameworks for Social Media.?  The MOOC is free and open to 
everyone so feel free to share the link with colleagues and students and 
join us for this innovative open online format!  Registration is required 
to attend: http://www.cdlprojects.com/cmc11blog/. 
Information about the "Transliteracy and Metaliteracy" module is available 
via my blog:  http://commons.esc.edu/cdldean/.  Feel free to join us for 
this one module or the entire MOOC!
Additional information about the MOOC is available via the press release:
MOOC Launched at SUNY Empire State College
SUNY Empire State College President Alan R. Davis today announced that the 
college is offering its first massive open online course, or MOOC, this 
fall.
?MOOCs are an example of open learning at its best,? said Davis. ?With 
MOOCs, it is the process of networking and making connections with others, 
which leads to communication, learning and then to greater knowledge and 
understanding.?
Free and open to anyone, anywhere in the world, with interest, a computer 
and an Internet connection, the MOOC?s formal title is ?Creativity and 
Multicultural Communication,? and the short-form name is CMC11.
The starting point for CMC11 is a Web page. From there, participants can 
choose any number of social media tools, such as Twitter, Facebook, Second 
Life, as well as individual blogs and email, to establish personal 
learning networks.
Registration is accomplished by completing an online form.
Dr. Betty Lawrence, interim associate dean at the college?s Center for 
Distance Learning, and CDL instructor Carol Yeager are facilitating the 
MOOC.
?The experience of the open learning environment provided by a MOOC is an 
example of SUNY Empire State College moving toward a vision as New York?s 
open university,? said Lawrence.
The course will run for 13 weeks. For those interested in taking the 
course for college credit, the course runs for 15 weeks and undergraduate 
tuition rates will apply.
?A MOOC is far more than a content delivery system. Although there are 
usually weekly presentations and suggested readings, the soul of the MOOC 
is in the interactions that emerge and flow throughout its learning 
environment. These exist through the integration of multiple technologies 
such as the course blog, Twitter feeds, individual blogs, Facebook groups, 
Moodle discussions and Second Life meetings,? said Lawrence.
The topic of creativity and multicultural communication emerged from the 
shared experiences of Lawrence and Yeager.
The facilitators describe how the course works, writing, ?CMC11 is an 
unusual course. It does not consist of a body of content you are supposed 
to remember. Rather, the learning in the course results from the 
activities you undertake, and will be different for each person.
?In addition, this course is not conducted in a single place or 
environment. It is distributed across the Web. We will provide some 
facilities and presentations on various topics. And we expect your 
activities to take place all over the Internet. We will ask you to visit 
other people?s Web pages, and even to create some of your own.?
MOOCs have been in existence for four years, facilitated at other 
institutions by George Siemens, CDL?s conference keynote speaker in 2009, 
and Stephen Downes, the keynoter at the 2011 conference.
The MOOC currently offered at the University of Illinois at Springfield, 
?Online Learning Today?and Tomorrow,? is being facilitated by Ray 
Shroeder, CDL?s keynoter in 2010.
Both Siemens and Downes have agreed to be presenters for this MOOC in 
discussions of connectivism and personal learning environments/networked 
knowledge, as these theories will form the foundation for the MOOC 
learners.
Dr. Tom Mackey, interim dean at CDL, will discuss the metaliteracy 
framework he developed with Trudi E. Jacobson at the University at Albany, 
as well as transliteracy and how these concepts connect with digital 
learning and communication.
Sessions are planned to address deliberate creative problem-solving 
concepts and the role of creativity in learning, and to provide specific 
examples of applications and projects that exhibit creativity in 
multicultural environments.
About Betty Lawrence
Lawrence has been teaching and mentoring at the college for more than 30 
years. Recently, she has been involved in the HP Catalyst Grant initiative 
and is an active participant in the HP Multiversity Group facilitated by 
the Sloan Consortium.
She has served primarily as a mentor/coordinator in the area of 
mathematics and has facilitated the development of more than 20 online 
math courses. Her research interests center on the facilitation and 
assessment of mathematics learning online.
About Carol Yeager
Yeager, with more than 20 years of service to the college, recently 
completed a second master?s degree in creativity and change leadership 
through the ICSC (International Center for Studies in Creativity) program 
at Buffalo State College.
She has been offering studies in creativity at the college?s Metropolitan 
Center in New York City and the Center for Distance Learning, and has 
facilitated sessions in creative problem solving for several large 
organizations, including the Nassau County Library Association and Johnson 
& Johnson.
About SUNY Empire State College
Celebrating its 40th anniversary throughout 2011, SUNY Empire State 
College was established in 1971 to offer adult learners the opportunity to 
earn associate, bachelor?s and master?s degrees from the State University 
of New York. Students learn through independent studies, online courses, 
seminars and residencies. Learners also may earn credit for prior college 
level learning from work and life experience.
The college serves more than 20,000 students worldwide at 35 locations in 
New York state and online. Its 63,000 alumni are active in their 
communities as entrepreneurs, politicians, business professionals, 
artists, not-for-profit agency employees, teachers, veterans and active 
military, union members and more.
For additional information, visit www.esc.edu. For more on the 40th 
anniversary, please follow this link.

Thomas P. Mackey, Ph.D.
Interim Dean
Center for Distance Learning
SUNY Empire State College
113 West Avenue
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
518-587-2100 ext. 2790
fax 518-587-2660
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