Prompt: Write an updated version of your Network Participation Rubric.

Response: You can find a template for the rubric here. Below is mine — it’s changed a lot of over the past month, in part because the readings are so new to me that I want to be able to sit with them, understand the concepts I’m being introduced to, and see where exploring them takes me. Also, my original bibliography proposal is somewhat outside the scope of this half-term class; I’m hoping it will inform an independent study next term.

Learnings from first half of semester

I’ve learned as much about myself in the past four weeks as I have about the course content. When left to my own devices, I’m a fairly self-driven learner, but I also hold myself to fairly unattainable standards – well, they would be attainable if I had unlimited time. The material is so new that I’ve found it impossible to do all the readings and ruminate on them carefully enough to produce the kinds of blog posts I envisioned, and have resorted to annotating my readings thoroughly and making notes for future posts. This year, I committed to writing more on my blog in general, so I’ve started counting independent blog posts (e.g. the one on Hive) as part of my response to class because everything I’m thinking about is so inter-connected (plus, I like the idea of learning ecologies; I think I subscribed to it without knowing the term).

I also really struggled with the annotated bibliography because I’m an almost-incurable perfectionist and keep discarding sources I read as not suitable enough. Again, with unlimited time, I’d read through 30 sources and provide detailed critiques on as many as I thought relevant. (When I’m able to get out of my head, it’s a little funny to watch myself trying to be helpful to an imaginary audience…and perfectly helpful at that, not wasting my imaginary audience’s time.) As it stands, I’ve decided to simply go with what I’ve read, and not worry too much that it’s not focused. I’ve also learned a lot about how I do research – borrow a bunch of books or download a ton of articles, and started learning about the social media impact by growing my account with a SocialBoosting tool to make my content boost and get to actual real viewers.

It’s still really hard to whittle down my participation rubric to something practically do-able, and in retrospect I’m incredibly thankful for all the other classes I take which tell me exactly what to do, and give me permission to do only that. If all my classes were like this one, I’d spend all my time in the library fretting I wasn’t doing enough and eventually go stir-crazy. It also changes how I view myself as a learner – I thought I was fairly lazy throughout secondary school, and only “learned” to work hard when I got to college, which was incredibly competitive. I find instead that if I am really interested, I can’t keep up with myself.

MOOCs are in some ways a “MacGuffin” in this course – they seem to be a way to talk more broadly about social identity/inclusion, and general disparities in education systems. These are all things I care about a great deal, which is partly why I enjoy the class so much. One line from Claude M. Steele’s Whistling Vivaldi really moved me:

‘Martin Luther King once worried that black students in integrated schools might not always be taught by people who “loved them”.’

And that’s what I mean about MOOCs themselves being a MacGuffin, because an educator’s love of her students as well as the subject seems so crucial. Based on what we’re reading, what changes for students with identity threat or without access to resources isn’t a perfectly executed video or a better lesson plan but a small learning circle or a self-affirmation exercise. At this point, I’m not even sure I subscribe to the idea that learning at scale is possible, and I’m thinking a lot more about the kinds of learning that happen everywhere, every day, as well as learning that is personal[ised] and/vs. community-based. It’s all a bit jumbled at the moment, but in a really fruitful way.

Personal Compass (describe your personal learning objectives for the course)

• Explore and annotate readings on these three intersecting themes: self-sustained and participatory learning styles on the internet, the relationship between internet learning and social identity, and overcoming identity-based barriers to learning on the internet
• Use this research to inform recommendations that I will make on shaping the future of the Queen’s Young Leaders ‘Leading Change’ programme, a one-year online leadership course taken by 150+ young people across the Commonwealth (who have widely differing learning styles and access to the internet)
• Share these techniques with educators engaging in similar arts-based learning and teaching

Participation Commitments (briefly describe the type and frequency of activities that you will commit to doing)

• I will write blog posts that respond to a salient point made in the readings and/or in class on social inclusion, equity, and/or education design (they will likely not be weekly as the material presented in the class is very new to me, and I realised I want to spend time with the readings rather than thinking about what clever thing I can say about them, but I have been making lot of notes and will continue blogging into the summer, even after the class is over
• I will participate in weekly Twitter chats using #mitmassive, both amplifying content shared by classmates and sharing my own
• I will create an annotated bibliography that hopes to serve as a useful resource for educators for social inclusion, whether online or via other platforms

Participation Rubric

Describe a few criteria that you’d like to evaluate yourself on, and be evaluated on by the instructional team. Define what it would look like if you met your personal expectations, if you fell short, and if you did totally awesome. While some of these metrics may be quantitative (I will do X at least Y times), most should qualitatively describe your desired learning and impact.

Criteria	Exceeds Expectation	Meets Expectation	Underperforms Expectation
Annotate readings well enough to create meaningful content on blog in response to class readings and discussion at a later date	1 post per week that includes additional content and generates dialogue beyond class	1 post per fortnight; responds to class and readings, engages class	<1 post per fortnight; no engagement
Create annotated bibliography (to be shared through blog)	12+ sources exploring learning styles, social identity, and overcoming barriers that can be applied to my work for QYL and Building Bridges; sources are books as well as articles, and allow me to explore side-interests	12 sources exploring learning styles, social identity, and overcoming barriers that can be applied to my work for QYL and Building Bridges	Fewer than 12 relevant sources; does not provide meaningful ideas for academic or arts-based work
Engage with class on social media	Engage with content and amplify class content on multiple channels incl. blogs	Engage with class on Twitter regularly (tweets before class with questions and resonses; and occasional live-tweeting during class)	Minimal engagement