Pre-Conference Workshop A1
Setting Up And Using gRSShopper in a Box to Create MOOCs and Personal Learning Environments
Date Wednesday, Dec 6 Time – Room Charlottenburg 2 Price: 165.00 € Status: places available
Stephen Downes
Research Officer, National Research Council (NRC), Canada
Stephen Downes works for the National Research Council of Canada where he has served as a Senior Researcher, based in Moncton, New Brunswick, since 2001. Affiliated with the Learning and Collaborative Technologies Group, Institute for Information Technology, Downes specializes in the fields of online learning, new media, pedagogy and philosophy.
Downes is perhaps best known for his daily newsletter, OLDaily, which is distributed by web, email and RSS to thousands of subscribers around the world, and as the originator of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). He is a popular speaker, appearing at hundreds of events around the world over the last fifteen years. He has published hundreds of articles both online and in print through two decades of research and development into learning networks and related technologies.
Prior to joining the NRC, Downes worked for the University of Alberta as an information architect, and prior to that, as a distance education and new media design specialist for Assiniboine Community College in Brandon, Manitoba. This followed a decade of teaching experience both in person and by distance with Athabasca University, the University of Alberta, and Grande Prairie regional college.
At the University of Alberta he built a learning and research portal for the municipal sector in that province, Munimall, and another for the Engineering and Geology sector, PEGGAsus. He also pioneered the development of learning objects and was one of the first adopters and developers of RSS content syndication in education. Downes introduced the concept of e-learning 2.0 and with George Siemens developed and defined the concept of Connectivism, using the social network approach to deliver open online courses to three thousand participants over two years.
Downes obtained a BA and MA in philosophy from the University of Calgary, specializing in epistemology and the philosophy of science. He also studied at the PhD level at the University of Alberta, completing all but his dissertation. Among numerous volunteer and committee positions while a student, Downes served as editor of the Calgary student newspaper, the Gauntlet, for two terms, and as president of the Graduate Students' Association at the University of Alberta, also for two terms. He served as a member of the Board of Governors, University of Alberta, and with the Athabasca University Governing Council.
After completing high school at Ottawa's School of Continuing Education while working as a concession stand worker and dishwasher, Downes studied computing science for one year at Algonquin College while working as a telephone equipment installer and (later) as a security guard. He worked for a year as a computer operator for Texas Instruments in Calgary, then as a pot washer, 7-Eleven clerk, and development education programmer for the Arusha International Development Centre. Downes has also been a newspaper carrier, waiter at a race track, hot dog vendor, building cleaner and camp counsellor. He was a candidate for mayor in the city of Brandon in 1995.
Downes was born in Montreal, Quebec, in 1959 and has four brothers (all younger). He lives in Moncton, New Brunswick, with his wife Andrea (b. Colorado Springs, Colorado; married 1998) and four cats (Bart, Polly, Lexi and Alex).
Stephen reads a lot of science fiction and books in general. He enjoys movies, television and sports, especially hockey. He enjoys playing darts and NTN Trivia (though since Moncton has no NTN locations, it's a lot harder to play). He is an avid Civilization III player and an enthusiastic photographer.
Read more about Stephen Downes' views on the next era of learning.
Links
http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/http://www.downes.ca/
Note
Participants of this workshop are requested to bring their own laptops (with a USB port).
Content
After working with gRSShopper for years to run his website, connectivist MOOCs, and various other things, Stephen is now adapting it to create a personal learning environment by linking PLEs to MOOCs to create a learning network. One drawback of gRSShopper, however, is that it has always been difficult to set up and run, so Stephen has set it up to run ‘in a box’ – that is, in a virtualized server. This is similar to the MOODLE in a Box that was recently announced. So far, Stephen already have gRSShopper on Vagrant and gRSShopper on AWS.
Participants in this workshop will explore this idea, and attendees will receive a USB with the Vagrant image on it including gRSShopper and everything else they need to run it ‘out of the box’. We will look at how gRSShopper is set up, how to use it to create MOOCs and Personal Learning Environments, and how to link them together. This will include a discussion of interoperability with other services (eg., Mastodon, ADL’s xAPI Learning Record Store, social network services, Big Blue Button, etc). The workshop will also explore virtualization and learning technology, and look at where the field is going.
Agenda
| Getting gRSShopper up and running |
| Configuring gRSShopper |
| Creating a MOOC with gRSShopper |
| Break |
| Creating a PLE with gRSShopper |
| Connecting with other services |
| Service virtualization and ideas for extensions and practical applications |
Target audience
This is a hands-on workshop, so participants should be comfortable working with their computer. Programming and development knowledge are not required. It helps to have a background in educational technology and especially to be interested in what applications are likely to replace LMSs and social networks. Innovation advisers, strategists, and development specialists will find this especially useful.
Prerequisite knowledge
No special knowledge is required, but degree of comfort with a computer would be helpful.
Outcomes
Participants will take home a copy of gRSShopper they can customize or use for their own purposes. They will gain a hands-on understanding of the thinking behind both the cMOOC and the personal learning environment. They will also be introduced to server virtualization and cloud computing.
Note
To find out more about this workshop make sure to check out this link: http://halfanhour.blogspot.ca/2017/08/grsshopper-in-box.html