5 Habits of

Highly
Creative
Teachers
MOOC Experience Report
Alice Wyman
EDEL 522
June, 2014
Course Overview:
The What, The How, and The Why
When I started this assignment, I had no idea
what a MOOC is. After doing some research, I
was embarrassed that I didnt know about it
sooner! For my research, I looked at
www.mooc-list.com and www.coursera.org. I
then looked for Educator Courses on Mooc List,
and after browsing a few decided on 5 Habits
of Highly Creative Teachers. I chose this course
because I love being creative, yet I felt like I
needed more ideas on creative expression in the
classroom.
This course is run through Canvas Network. This
class is designed to unleash your creativity and
take creative risks. The focus is on expressing
your creativity as a person, as well as a
professional (teacher in a classroom).

https://learn.canvas.net/courses/259
Overall Experience
Overall, this was a great course to participate in. I enjoyed the way the
material was presented each week. Each week had a theme, and that
theme was divided into five days of activity. On the homepage, theres a
cool visual of the course overview (see next slide). We were encouraged
to share our creations with other members through Twitter, Google+,
and in Canvas Discussion. There was also an Idea Cloud page, where
the instructors provided links to more resources and readings on the
weeks topic. Instructors were very diligent about posting responses
onto discussion boards and commenting on our work. This class had a
very refreshing and fun undertone to it. The instructors really
encouraged us to stretch our creativity, as they often referred to us
having a growth mindset. They were also very positive and involved. The
design of the MOOC was very clear and clean. I liked the graphics
that were included and the creative quotes that the professors included
to enhance the experience. For example, in the module on Tribes, they
put this quote: When we walk authentically in our own shoes and
articulate a meaningful purpose, our tribes become shining beacons in
the dark, giving us hope, cheering us on, and giving a kick in the
(leather) pants when we need it. (Melissa Goodwin)

Course Overview
Module on Remixing
I joined during Week 2, which was on Remix:
Copy, Combine, and Transform. First lesson
was Literary cut-up assignment, where you
cut up a favorite song or poem, shuffle it in a
bag, take the lines out of the bag, and paste
them in order you took them out of the bag.
During that week we also talked about curating
projects (Create or Consume?), where we used
the internet to find things that represent a
theme or idea, putting these images together
using Pinterest or Tumblr. The discussion went
around answer the question Is Remixing
Stealing? and "What makes remixing different
from copyright infringement? This was
definitely an interesting topic that lead to a
somewhat heated discussion. We created a six
word essay which was cool because we did
this during our Distance Ed course. In this
module, I also learned about Zeega which is
a cool tool that allows you to interactive videos
made with combinations of images, videos,
and audio tracks. The resulting videos convey
emotions and tell stories. They are basically
mash-ups of original content and existing
images.
Favorite Poem to Remix
CLOUDS (Translation)

Clouds in the skies above, heavenly wanderers,
Long strings of snowy pearls stretched over azure plains!
Exiles like I, you rush farther and farther on,
Leaving my dear North, go distances measureless.


What drives you southward? Is it envy that covertly
Prods you or malice whose arrows strike openly?
Destiny is it? A crime hanging over you?
Or friendship's honeyed but poisonous calumny?


No! O'er those barren wastes heedlessly journeying,
Passion you know not or anguish or punishment;
Feeling you lack, you are free - free eternally,
You have no homeland, for you there's no banishment.

My favorite poem happened to be one I learned as a child growing up in Armenia.
It is written by a Russian poet, Mikhail Lermontov. I had it memorized as a child, and I still remember
it today, as it left a big impression on me. As I did this assignment, I realized how this poem in a way
represents where I find myself from time to time. Because I grew up in Armenia and moved to the
United States, with its completely different culture, I often find myself stuck between two very different
worlds. Sometimes I wonder where my homeland is.
Module on Tribes
Like other modules, this one started
with an opening video. The message of
this module is that all ideas need a
tribe. Tribes are same as colonies, and
through tribes, we connect to other
that fit in our tribe. We visited a cloud
with some videos on tribes, which
directs its focus on PLNs (Professional
Learning Networks). We explored
ourselves, and what qualities are in our
tribe. We created a Wordle of
ourselves, and created lists of things
about us, which lead to a fun
LISTOGRAPHY assignment where I
learned how to use Mural.ly to create
my listography. Mural.ly is a visual
collaboration tool that is pretty fun to
use! By sharing our traits, we were
able to find other members that fit in
our tribe.

My Tribe collage:
I remixed my characteristics to show whats
important to me when it comes to teaching.
My Listogrphy created on Mural.ly
Reflection
This assignment opened up a whole new world for me. I
have never heard of MOOCs, and I was really excited about
gaining knowledge on this type of web based learning
opportunity that was freely available to people around the
world. MOOCs are able to educate more people in a more
efficient ways, especially in times when higher education
costs are making education unavailable to many. I can see
MOOCs being used as PD opportunities at schools that
otherwise cant afford to offer PD to their teachers. Also,
most teachers are intrinsically motivate to learn and better
their practice. This is a great opportunity for them to do so.
I learned things in two weeks that I am definitely going to
take with me into my classroom come next year. I can also
see introducing students to MOOCs. In a way, students can
use MOOCs as electives. They can choose what they want
to learn more about at their own pace. We have many
students that claim to be bored. Why not direct these
students to appropriate MOOC courses, where they can
direct their own learning? Overall, this was a great
experience, and I am so glad that I learned about this
amazing resource!