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This will highlights some of the Perspectives on Disability MOOC interactions.
Low faculty participation on discussion boards was intentional by design, due to the nature
of a MOOC and its potential for large numbers. Staff took great care to respond to "help"
questions. However, as stated here: "if you know the answer to a question posted here,
feel free to answer it. This course is built on a spirit of sharing and support."
Participants that did not wish to post their questions could do so through email.
In Navigating the Course, the discussion forum is introduced as a primary mechanism for posting
questions, as well as responding to peers. Participants were asked to be respectful to
each other, and cautioned that inflammatory or disrespectful posts would be eliminated.
In Week 1 participants were asked to introduce themselves on the discussion "Introduce Yourself"
and each following week a new discussion opened up to allow participants to share work and
interact with each other. Typical of most MOOC, participation was high
in the beginning and decreased over time. However, the Help Forum questions turned out
to be very low, hopefully due to the clarity of supporting videos and documents.
The weekly discussion forums allowed participants to share their work, receive feedback and
to respond to each other. In this thread, the participant is reflecting on the lesson
regarding hidden and visible disabilities. There were a total of 9 posts in this thread
and peers responded supportively.
As one of the activities participants were asked to provide any additional resources
they'd like to share. This 7 post thread is an example of sharing resources. Participants
found this helpful, as it seems many of them are educators for people with disabilities.
Not only did the participants share resources, but some of their own stories.
Another option for an activity was to "Teach" others about disability. The participants
appeared to have more competence and they were encouraged by their peers.
In the last week, participants were asked for their final thoughts. Most expressed their
thanks and appreciation for the experience.