I have posted a draft version of my current syllabus in a Google doc along with some comments for context.
I’ve cut out some of the graded assignment language and a few other things that are only meaningful for enrolled students in the course. But I do find that this type of draft outline is actually really useful for me in rethinking readings, assignments and activities.
My two key design questions as I think through this are:
- What is a good design for the “open” part of my course (in which the goal is to integrate other enterprise social networking enthusiasts with students enrolled in my face-to-face class)?
- How to I integrate research and activities on idea management into the content of the course? I know this is a topic that deserves attention. The question is how many topics I can effectively cover, given the time constraints of a 10-week quarter.
The first question – regarding opening up the course – is intriguing to me. What I would like to explore is how to use the last 4-5 weeks of the course to engage enterprise social network enthusiasts and practitioners in an exploration of key topics. I’ve done this a little bit using Twitter chats. But my experience with designing and facilitating Exploring Personal Learning Networks: Practical Issues for Organizations #xplrpln suggests to me that there are more interesting ways to structure co-learning activities in the open.
Will be thinking where to go with that.
The overall course structure lends itself to focusing on the final 4-5 weeks.
This slide is how I represent the flow of the course to students. The first half of the course is dedicated to “seeing” knowledge flow within organizations, and understanding some of the concepts (such as communities of practice and social networks) that help us see differently.
The second half of the course is dedicated to looking at ESN in real settings, and going deeper on the challenges of actual adoption and use.
Jeff Merrell 