Comments on: Research data and MOOCosystems

By: Lois Evans

Lois Evans — Fri, 01 Jul 2016 15:59:28 +0000

This week I completed the course “Archaeology from Dig to Lab and Beyond”; last year the course on Hadrian’s Wall. Interlinking the work of OU, television programmes and other Universities can only be beneficial for all. NB I am not an academic

By: Linda Shuttleworth

Linda Shuttleworth — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 16:08:49 +0000

I’m currently doing a Coursera course – ‘Deciphering Secrets: Unlocking the Manuscripts of Medieval Spain’ which begins where this course ends, with the decline of the Western Roman Empire, and looks at the Middle Ages in Europe, Byzantium, and the Islamic Mediterranean. I’ve also taken another Coursera course – ‘Critical Perspectives on Management’ – where for the first two weeks we looked in depth at how the ancient city of Rome supplied itself with the food its citizens needed to survive, capitalising key markets and solving serious logistical problems to enable a vibrant trading network and grain market across the Mediterranean.

These would be two courses that I think would link well with your wonderful Portus course.

By: Brenda Burr

Brenda Burr — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 05:18:08 +0000

The thought that various MOOC courses could be interlinked through ‘advanced’ lessons would certainly be a wonderful outcome for learners and researches. The technology used in this course along with the talented staff should consider all possibilities in the future. Well done to you all for your creative and stimulating course.

By: Graeme Earl

Graeme Earl — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 21:01:23 +0000

Hi Dave. Thanks for the comment. Yes the ADS are doing extremely exciting things that impact on all aspects of this research-education intertwingling. Once the archive is lodged there will be various routes to make it more accessible. We plan on submitting a data paper for review by Internet Archaeology. Also the ADS have a SPARQL endpoint http://data.archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/page/ that developed from the cool STAR and STELLAR projects. And we have also discussed ways in which we can cross-reference extant and forthcoming printed monographs to the data. And finally any future papers that I produce on Portus will be openly accessible and linkable to the open data. All the best. Graeme

By: Graeme Earl

Graeme Earl — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 20:55:49 +0000

Hi Felicity. Thanks for the comment! Butterfly minds – I’m going to borrow that :-) I get the sense that this is all on the way. The real MOOC community (I’m only a newbie) and the OER and general education technologies communities have of course been developing and evaluating exactly these models for ages. But I think the mooc “hype” has really opened a lot of doors.

And as I have mentioned in previous posts and on twitter and the platform, you really have to be involved in one to appreciate the process and in particular the generosity of the learning community (educators and learners and everyone else involved). A big positive in turn is that it would feel really churlish, and dumb, to then forget about all of that in other aspects of university life. Again, I have been slow to practice what I preach in terms of open data and open publication but things are moving quicker and quicker now. I think the multiple layers of open learning and research that are becoming more and more entwined are getting really exciting now, and the pioneers are being very gracious about it.

I would be really happy if within a year I could see the Archaeology of Portus content embedded in learning in all sorts of contexts, and equally I will be encouraging my own students to bring courses from elsewhere to their own experiences. So in a year’s time you might be doing a course on Hadrian’s Wall, and then seamlessly skip in Portus and back out to a course on Latin and it might work. It might be a confusing mess to begin with but by providing linear routes alongside different learning styles can be supported. Similarly I really hope that the course takes on a life of its own through the additional activities and ideas spread via this blog.

If you have a chance to watch Rome’s Lost Empire on BBC 4 on Saturday feedback how you would want the course and the programme to interact in the future. Thanks again for the comment. Graeme

By: Dave Hall

Dave Hall — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 08:59:44 +0000

This is a fascinating article and it seems as if there are some interesting developments in the pipeline. This seems to give a new dimension to the arts and science debate from Week 1. Now for the question. Where the material is deposited with the ADS will any of this be in the form of Linked Open Data using RDF that Leif Isaksen referred to in his post. I feel that this Linked Open Data could become very significant and I thinking about cases of comparing how the official in charge of Portus and Ostria compares with say the Count of the Saxon Shore.

By: Felicity Brwon

Felicity Brwon — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 11:39:40 +0000

Graeme – I found this really interesting, thanks for posting. Open data, connectivity between different courses and materials and flexible interdisciplinary approaches that allow for butterfly minds (as mine is) as well as linear learning progression would be brilliant. I understand institutional proprieties (and costs) and concerns but – – –