"Moocdemic" is an online game in which users fight a virtual pandemic using their mobile devices. The game is running in tandem with Penn State's MOOC "Epidemics: the Dynamics of Infectious Diseases."
More than 29,000 people are signed up for a massive open online course (MOOC) titled "Epidemics: the Dynamics of Infectious Diseases" that opened this week. During part of this course, thousands of participants will be simultaneously fighting a virtual epidemic on their cellphones and tablets.
The course, offered by Penn State University's Eberly College of Science, "is different from all the other massive open online courses out there in a number of ways," said Marcel Salathe, the assistant professor of biology and of computer science and engineering who leads the team of eight Penn State faculty members teaching the eight-week course. "This is a multi-faculty course, meaning learners are exposed to the material from a leading expert in the field. On a weekly basis, we will release a video discussing questions that the learners have posted in the forums, making the course much more interactive than traditional MOOCs. Finally, a virtual epidemic will be unfolding during the course, and the learners will be able to determine the fate of the epidemic with their mobile device."
The location-based game "Moocdemic" simulates the spread of an infectious disease, and lets players spread it and attempt to control the outbreak. It is playable from any mobile device with a Web browser. More...

By Cindy Londeore. In September 2013, Hybrid Pedagogy published an e-book of graduate student essays focused on student experiences in MOOCs -- from EdX, Udacity, and other xMOOCs, to improvisational MOOCs created by the students themselves using open web resources. The full collection, Learner Experiences with MOOCs and Open Online Learning, was published via GitHub. The following article from Cindy Londeore is one of the essays from that volume. You can read more about the e-book in George Veletsiano’s introduction, “How Do Learners Experience Open Online Learning?”
Dropout. It’s such a nasty word. The high school dropout rate is held up by reformers to bolster their argument that the American public school system is failing. Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have an expected 90% dropout rate which is not considered a problem. This juxtaposition begs the question; when is dropping out not a big deal? More...

The World Bank has signed an agreement with Coursera, a leading provider of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), to help meet the demand for practical solutions-oriented learning on pressing issues in developing countries.  Ending extreme poverty within a generation and boosting shared prosperity among the bottom 40 percent of the population in developing countries are the goals guiding the World Bank Group's work.
These Massive Open Online Courses will be offered as part of the new Open Learning Campus being built by the World Bank, where practitioners, development partners, and the general public can more systematically access real-time, relevant and world-class learning. The Bank has offered e-learning successfully through its e-institute in critical areas of development, such as health, education, urban development and climate change, and is now planning to scale up its offerings through the Campus and through partnerships with regional and country-based institutions and via innovative delivery vehicles. This partnership with Coursera will give people across the globe easier access to valuable, evidence-based knowledge on complex development problems. Working together with 91 educational institutions across four continents, Coursera now offers more than 450 free online college-level courses to 5 million students around the world. More...

How does the design of social networked language learning communities have an impact on the way evidence based research is conducted?
This paper critically examines the degree to which the design of data accessibility and data ownership impact the research activity and the challenges faced by researchers who take these communities as object of analysis. To illustrate these challenges, I take as example web 2.0 language learning communities, the most well-known being Babbel, Busuu and Livemocha, among all possible types of informal, social network based language learning. This study illustrates the tension between on the one hand, the need for a more evidence based understanding of the under-explored field of informal social network based learning, and on the other hand, the obstacles to this scientific exercise. Finally, I discuss how this tension is situated in the current landscape of global research activity that calls for more open, transparent and participatory structures for data sharing and collaborative research.
PDF Document: In-depth_34_4.pdf. More...

Le CARIF Espace Compétences vous rappelle le détail de ses prochaines journées outils prévues d`ici la fin 2013 :

Matinale d`information sur la Validation des Acquis de l`Expérience, le 29 octobre à Hyères à 9h00
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The European Union is working on a legislation which will make it easier for students and researchers from India to visit Europe.
"We are working on a Europe-wide legislation which will help us (EU) to welcome Indian students and researchers. Within the next few years, we are going to see a much greater ease of access for bonafide students and researchers in European Union," H.E.Joao Cravinho, Ambassador and head of delegation of EU in India, told reporters here today. More...