Tomorrow the canvas.net server will publish the LeaderMOOC course and our big adventure will start. We have an 8 week journey ahead of us, and to make that visually clear we paid a graphical designer some money to create this roadmap:
Selection of our metaphor: the roadmap
While a MOOC must allow for 'free range learners' to find their way and get to their own insights together with the network of other participants we also got many tips at the start of our project warning that a MOOC structure must be clear for people from day one. We brainstormed various metaphors for LeaderMOOC and eventually settled for the roadmap and GPS. Our logo shows a map, illustrating that this course wants to offer people guidance on their personal development route. We see our MOOC as a path where each week we explore one of the fundamentals of leadership. Our tagline is 'leadership for real' because we want people to take their own insights into small 'baby step' actions in their own context - as a manager, a student, member of a rural community, project manager, team leader, youth leader, etc.
So in that sense the roadmap visual becomes the path we give people and the clear structure for the 8 weeks. It is the green path in the visual. Every week has a topic and every week centers around a key question we want people to be able to answer for themselves at the end of that week.
But the topics of the weeks are very broad, eg influencing, communicating, etc. They have to be because we have a widely varying audience of 3000+ people starting the MOOC. So within the overall fixed path we wanted people to not only make sense of the topic for their own context, but also to take one action to improve on that aspect. To that end, we created a 5-page downloadable roadmap document that people can fill in as the weeks unfold. For every week we have two questions: one on a key insight, and one on a simple goal they'll take. These questions are also part of the 'roadmap assignment' every week. At the end of every module, people are invited to submit their answers to both questions and these will be peer reviewed by 3 class members. Of course, as in any MOOC people are free to 'drift off' by themselves or in little groups to go outside of the 'green path' by the many links for further reading and exploration we'll offer.
Giving recognition: the LeaderMOOC badge
There is a lot of talk about how MOOCs can be used for accreditation in a way that diplomas do for regular courses. That has never been on our mind for the simple reason that there is no such thing as a 'certified leader'. But we did want to reward achievement and offer a way to recognize the hard work people put into the MOOC experience. So we will give out a LeaderMOOC badge at the end of the MOOC (November). We'll use the Mozilla Open Badges framework for that.
How can you earn this lovely badge? By successfully passing each of the roadmap assignments described above. So that means every week you'll need to complete your answers on the two questions of that week (one on insight, one on an action in your personal context) and get a 2/3 peer rating.
Note: The icons we use for the weeks are taken from this excellent and royalty free library: Syncfusion Metro Studio. The badge was created with the free tool openbadges.me.
Previously:
- What can MOOCs mean for the corporate world?
- Behind the scenes: platform choice and registrations
- Behind the scenes: video killed the e-course star
- Behind the scenes: getting enough people for a Massive OOC
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