Running free online courses as part of the build-up to f2f conferences seems to be spreading as a powerful strategy to open up the conversation as widely as possible, and generate energy (and light!) prior to meetups. Here are two that I’m involved in, one MOOC and one forum…

With many thanks to Networked Learning 2012, I’m hosting one of the Hotseats in the build-up to the conference — a week-long discussion entitled Learning Analytics: Dream, Nightmare or Fairydust? It kicked off yesterday, and participants are now pitching into the debate after replaying an introductory presentation. It’s free to sign up, so come and join in what’s already a lively conversation!

This meshes nicely with the multi-week MOOC on Learning Analytics, also running as a pre-conference build-up to the 2nd International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge at the end of April. This evening sees the final live webinar (20:00 GMT) looking at the recently formed Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) to promote a research-oriented approach to LA adoption and use. I led last week’s discussion with an introduction to the SoLAR White Paper arguing for the need to develop an Open Learning Analytics Platform — Webinar replay (launches the Blackboard Collaborate client)

Open Learning Analytics