Create or update a Gravatar account to attach a personal image to the email address(es) you will use with this course.
Gravatar
Gravatar will associate an image of your choice with the email addresses you designate. This will help you form an identity on the web. You will just need to pick a square photo or icon to represent yourself online and register it at http://gravatar.com. Make sure to use the email addresses you regularly use for online activity.
Create a blog on WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, or your own site. If you will use a new or existing blog for your work, add it to your ProSolo profile.
Create social media accounts on Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Google, or other sites you like to use. Introduce yourself to #dalmooc on twitter.
Sites like Twitter can be useful tools for finding and connecting with other learners. While any site is fair game, our main focus will be on Twitter, especially using the hashtag #dalmooc. Feel free to use that tag on other sites. A great way to start the conversation is to introduce yourself on Twitter, maybe even linking to an introductory blog post.
Participate in the #dalmooc twitter conversation, like our Facebook page, and/or follow the our Google+ Page
Interacting with Others
Once you have started the conversation on Twitter and other social sites, make sure to continue the conversation. Re-tweet, share, comment, post, like, +1 the content that you like. Create original blog posts, images, videos, etc and share the link on the social sites you follow. Give other learners feedback. The main idea is to intteract.
Read your daily/weekly email notices or follow @dalmooc on Twitter. Updates will also be posted on Facebook and Google+.
Course Updates
Important updates for the course will be sent out at the beginning of the week. Daily updates featuring work of learners from various sections of the course will also be shared daily. The main avenue for these updates will be the email list, but links will also be shared on Twitter, Facebook, and other sites.
Find other learners who are blogging and follow them. Be sure to leave comments. If someone comments on your blog, check out their blog.
Blogging
Blogs are an important piece of the social learning process. You can use your blog to complete course assignments, ask detailed questions, collect feedback, ponder unfinished ideas, and many other cognitive tasks. But blogs realy don’t work all that well in isolation. So find other learner’s blogs and comment on them. If someone comments on yours, respond to them.
Participate in the weekly Google Hangouts to ask questions, interact with other learners, and dig deeper into content.
Google Hangouts
Weekly online sessions will be held for synchronous interaction with those that so choose. The sessions will also be archived for those that can’t make them or those that live in different time zones. You should be able to watch on any device that supports streaming video, but a microphone and/or web cam will be required to participate beyond viewing.
Design your own path through the course structure. You have two main paths to choose, but you can switch and customize as needed.
Custom Course Path
The main design of this course from the beginning has been focused on multiple pathways. But this is not the design where we create 30 set pathways and you choose one. We have created two main paths that you can adhere to, but you can switch or mix as needed to make your own path. How you do that is up to you, but see the Tools section to get a basic overview.
Want some advanced assignments? Try the Assignment Bank. These assignments can be completed on your blog and shared on social networks.
Assignment Bank
Content in EdX will contain all of the assignments you need to learn the content. However, you may desire to get more practice or dig deeper into specific topics. Or, you may already know the basics and be in need of more advanced problems to work through. The Assignment Bank will contain a range of assignments rated by difficulty for you to dig into. You can also share your work in ProSolo or through your social network for additional feedback.