The #edcmooc theory? of the Big Bang

Image: Greg Morss

Weeeeeeell.. E-learning and Digital Cultures began a couple of days ago.

And all hell broke loose.

Why? Because of all the overwhelming amount of information that's flooding everywhere. The first impact after the explosion is that following the course will be like trying to find a needle in a (giant) haystack.

Too much information is shared everywhere, through all the given tools, mainly via social networks and groups (Facebook, Twitter, G+... I lost the count) built by the students for the students. A huge, inmense amount of content created by the participants every day, every hour, every minute.

Oh dear, and more will come. 

This sudden emerged factory of planets is neither a good nor a bad thing per se. The problem is not about dealing with the quantity but to have a clear idea of what needle each of us has to look for.

And that needle has a name: digital artifact. Or so is how the Creators have named the final project: the small planet to be created by the students; we, current unspecified masses morphing into a digital artifact by which we will be assessed.

BranchOut

BranchOut works as an app in Facebook but its aim is slightly different from the regular FB applications. What we usually have in mind when thinking about Facebook apps are those designed to help us deal with our free time, are entertainment oriented and in general, become amusing applications to kill the time with.

But this one is different. BranchOut is the Facebook answer to Linkedin or Xing, and its aim seems to connect people for professional purposes, starting with your own Facebook friends network. Very much the same as the other two mentioned platforms. Oh, and you can even import your profile from Linkedin.