MOOCs are disruptive to traditional higher education by allowing new ways for learning communities to form online. While MOOCs raise questions about their long-term impact on education, they provide an opportunity to study how students build connections through peer evaluation and feedback, especially regarding how place and identity shape social interactions. The presenters observed composition MOOCs firsthand and seek participant views on student responsibility and contributions to the collective force of MOOCs. They argue MOOCs should not be seen as separate from humanistic pedagogy.

1. Jason Tham • Jack Hennes
St. Cloud State University, MN

2. MOOCs are a force in higher education.

3. Both threatening and inspiring, this force promises to dissolve (rethink) traditional model
of teaching and invites new way for the ways networks build, maintain, and shape
learning communities.

4. While the experimental nature of MOOCs has some of us questioning their long-term
impact on composition instruction, there’s much we can learn from the nature of
connections that students build in these environments.

5. Namely, the role of place and identity in shaping social interaction on MOOCs, especially
during peer evaluation and feedback processes.

6. We’ll provide some first-hand observations on the nature of connections students build
in composition MOOCs.

7. We would like to gather feedback from participants regarding their views on students’
responsibility on MOOCs and their contribution to the larger, collective “force” on
MOOCs.

8. We argue that we are quick to attack MOOCs as a thing that is separate from the
humanistic elements of MOOC pedagogy.

9. TILL THEN,
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU.