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 Control Room profile.
Create social media accounts on Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Google, or other sites you like to use. Introduce yourself to #humanmooc 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 #humanmooc. 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 #humanmooc twitter conversation and/or join the Google+ Community 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 any email notices or follow @humanmooc on Twitter. Updates will also be posted in the Google+ Community.
Course Updates
Important updates for the course will be sent out weekly. The main avenue for course information and updates will be the Neutral Zone, but keep an eye out for emails as well as updates shared on Twitter, Google+, and other course-related sites.
Find other learners in the Connect area and connect with them, form groups, etc. Be sure to leave comments.
Connect Area
The HumanMOOC Connect Area is a good place to share blog posts, connect with other learners, and generally dig deeper into course content. This is an area for people that are new to connected learning to try it out, as well as those that are experienced with it that just need a dedicated space for their sharing.
Blogging
Blogs are an important piece of the social learning process. You can use your blog to complete course activities, ask detailed questions, collect feedback, ponder unfinished ideas, and many other cognitive tasks. But blogs really 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.
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 activities? Try the Activity Bank. These activities can be completed on your blog and shared on social networks.
Activity Bank
Content in the Stream pathway will contain all of the activities you need to learn the content an earn badges. 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 Activity Bank will contain a range of activities rated by difficulty for you to dig into. You can also share your work in the Connect area or through your social network for additional feedback.