Thinking Deeper about DS106

This weekend, a video conversation was posted in which the main facilitators/organizers of DS016 (Martha Burtis, Alan Levine, and Jim Groom) were being interviewed for an award DS016 is receiving around open learning. I was curious because I actually don’t know much about the history or intent of DS106, other than it is a wonderful way to engage in digital storytelling and creativity. I decided to put the video into Vialogues, so that I could comment and make notes as I listened to the three discuss the ethos underpinning the creation and nurturing of DS106, and its history.

I liked a lot of what I heard, from the open nature of the assignments to the desire to push the boundaries of digital storytelling as far as they will go, to understanding that the Web offers both limits and unlimited potential for creative minds, to the current state of educational organizations dipping their toes into online learning — only to replicate traditional learning. They imagine a digital humanities hub of work and exploration, with directions for learning yet unknown. I also liked how they connected this to agency and digital identity.

One point of the rich discussions that struck out at me, though, and I am not sure why I keep pondering it.

All three consistently refer to DS106 as a “course,” and that now makes sense to me — the site and idea was launched at a university, and has been and is used in college classes, and adapted for other university experiences. And – duh — there is the Headless Course that I am taking part in. Of course, it is a course. But I admit: I never knew that it was actually a college course and I never conceived of it that way, and listening to Jim, Martha and Alan use that word “course” to define the experience now has me rethinking DS016. It situates me differently inside the DS106.

And I am not sure why that bothers me slightly, and yet it does.

Perhaps it is because they are pretty adamant that DS106 is NOT a MOOC. And maybe it isn’t. But, well, maybe it is. My idea of a collaborative, open learning space is how I think about MOOCs in the best possible ways (acknowledging that the term is being taken over by corporate interests), and the DS106 experience feels a lot like that, for me. Maybe this is one of those times when words and language are really important when trying to explain something to the outside world, and hearing that word “course” conjures up a certain way of thinking about the University experience.

I suspect the three of them wish to change that kind of thinking with DS106, so that learning experiences are not a lecture, four-walls, textbook experiences. Maybe they need a new word there.

Peace (in the thinking),
Kevin

 

4 Comments
  1. Kevin, I am guessing the word ” course” is bothersome because your experience does not feel very course-like. There is no tuition, grades, football team (!) etc. You show uo when you want to, and do the work you want to.

    But when offered at UMW and elsewhere, ds106 is very much tried to a traditional course, where students register, have participation requirements, get graded, buy textbooks, credits towards a degree etc. That is why we call ds106 a course (which honestly refers to that portion of it).

    At the same time, when taught as a course at IMW, we break a few conventions- there is no texybook, and when taught online, we had no lectures.

    And while your open experience is not very course-like, it likely would not exist without us first having done it was a course. So the question is not “Is ds106 a course” but “Can it be both?” which is the way we have built it.

    The MOCCs you hear about try to provide the same experience to all participants. We do not.

    If you can provide us a better word, we are ready for it!

    • Alan
      Thank you.
      I hear you and understand it all, and am glad that even when it is a course, it is not a course.
      🙂
      I liked the way you re-framed my question, too.
      Alas, I don’t have a better word right now.
      Rock on with the DS106, though. It’s great.
      Kevin

  2. A view from the other side to help a dialogue. I thought it so refreshing that they refer to it as a course. In my world ( business schools) we talk about anything but courses. As if it added more value to ‘engage’ in a ‘programme’ or ‘participate’ in an ‘event’ or ‘profound learning experiences’. And as if referring to the educators as ‘facilitators’ ‘developers’ ‘learning advisers’ gave us a greater standing than just ‘teachers’. I have disappeared up my own backside, discussing the subtle differences between ‘course’ and ‘programme’ or ‘participants’ and ‘students’…now I am getting old and wrinkly I see that it is the spirit with which we engage that makes an experience not how much I argue with my admin staff that what I run are not courses but learning events. I think it is Alan who says in the video that if you have to keep telling the world that what you do is innovative/special or unique, then it is unlikely that the thing is any of those things. The CEO of a well known car company said to me once: if we were already doing this we would not need a company philosophy brochure. I fear that the open education world (outside of DS106) spends too much time with normative debate or claiming the latest buzz word and not enough time just getting on with educating people in line with whatever values they hold dear. Those of us who just do it, may not get talked about as much, but have the satisfaction of seeing that our espoused theories and our theories in use – about what it means to educate- are more closely aligned than some. Just a view. Thanks for the thoughtful post – made me think. #talkingheadless106

    • Your last points, about “Those of us who just do it, may not get talked about as much, but have the satisfaction of seeing that our espoused theories and our theories in use – about what it means to educate- are more closely aligned than some” — that really hit home with me, reverberating on a number of levels. Thank you for the insights, and for being part of my ever-expanding network/community of folks I can get creative with.
      Kevin

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