This paper reports on a study of the utilization of a connectivist-style Massive Open Course, or cMOOC, to engage students in online activities that were part of a first-year School of Education course. A customized Elgg social software platform, implemented as the Curtin Learning Commons, was developed to deliver a six-week cMOOC. The cMOOC, titled Participating in the Digital Age (PDA), engaged students in activities that used a variety of social media and crowdsourcing techniques to provide educational content and experiences. The goals of this MOOC were to provide conceptual understandings and opportunities to participate in tasks exemplifying the topic. The study presents evidence that blending MOOCs with classroom-based
or online learning does provide higher education learners with personalized active learning opportunities. Further research on providing scaffolded support to enable learners to capitalize on
additional aspects of networked learning in cMOOCs would advance this use.

Keywords

Australia · cMOOC · MOOC · MOOC implementation · social media · teacher education