well…  yes, i do need another interest 🙂   (no, i don’t).   my fourth course in the MAIS program at Athabasca U begins this coming week, “Doing Disability Differently” – excellent reading list and excellent prof.   I was really wanting to take a semester off after working god knows how many hours at my real job and then studying and writing papers in my “spare” time – but the prof was ready to go with this brand new course, and she’s kind of amazing, and i’ve been waiting for her to be ready, so…    i’ll take the summer off instead.   and then got this tweet about a different kind of learning which fascinates me, and in this case has to do with a subject that i love:

Connectivism and Connective Knowledge is an open online course that over 12 weeks explores the concepts of connectivism and connective knowledge and explore their application as a framework for theories of teaching and learning. Participation is open to everyone and there are no fees or subscriptions required.

…

The course will outline a connectivist understanding of educational systems of the future. It will help participants make sense of the transformative impact of technology in teaching and learning over the last decade. The voices calling for reform do so from many perspectives, with some suggesting ‘new learners’ require different learning models, others suggesting reform is needed due to globalization and increased competition, and still others suggesting technology is the salvation for the shortfalls evident in the system today. While each of these views tell us about the need for change, they overlook the primary reasons why change is required.

So it’ll be interesting on a few fronts – i’ve already figured out what a feedburner is and how rss works (after avoiding both for a while) and will get to learn a number of new ways to use social media and online communications, and i’ll also get, i hope, a sense of what the bigger picture might be for education and online connectivity.   plus there are already some interesting folks who are also taking the course.   plus this is such a fascinating way to host a course – no pre-requisites, no required readings, no required assignments, no marks…   you can even keep working on the course as long as you like.