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Google Apps for Education offers many new technologies that are not only changing the way we teach but also the way we collaborate and plan. Google Calendar in particular can allow for cloud based storage of lesson plans that can be organized and set to be readily available on any given day, year after year. Yet even the small amount of time and practice it may take to learn how to use a new technology can create a large chasm between digital natives, comfortable with exploring a new product, and those not ready to leave the comforts of familiarity and migrate to the digital world. This usability study aimed to evaluate the usability and intuitiveness of a module prototype, designed to teach educators how to use Google Calendar as a cloud-based lesson planner, in order to determine how to make the module more approachable to new learners. Participants were asked to “think aloud” as they performed a series of tasks and explored the module in an effort to gain an understanding of how users might perceive the learning module and any potential areas that might inhibit learning. Data were gathered on participants as they interacted with the module, on any frustrations, confusions, and overall impressions. The results of the study highlighted areas of concern, frustration or confusion which helped further shape the design of the module and provide possible implications or generalizations that may be made when designing future training modules.

• Dana Ishii, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Haleiwa, Hawaii, USA

The new phenomenon of MOOCS is promising to revitalize the educational landscape, shake up the key players, and reform higher education. MOOCS are a recent development in distance education and are known as Massive Open Online Course( s). They originated in 2008 with the Open Education Resources Movement ( OER) ( Open Educational Resource, Hewlett Foundation) and are courses offering lectures by world class professors with videos, quizzes, learning material, etc., now being offered by elite institutions like Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, etc., which provide free access and offer certificates of completion, but typically do not offer academic credit, or charge tuition fees. MOOCs signal a trend in the application of “connectivism” which emphasizes learning taking place in a social and cultural context with the infusion of work /life experience
(Downes, 2011).

This interactive presentation will discuss the challenges and opportunities that MOOCs present to “for-profit education.” Is self-paced learning truly successful? What is the success rate for students registered in such courses? Do MOOCs signal a trend in higher education away from degree programs requiring students to pay tuition, to the accessibility of free resources that provide proof of completion and mastery of content as being the requisite outcome necessary in today’s workplace? Will the greater transparency provided by the web, lead to greater accountability of individuals, organizations, and business practices? If the human race is to survive and thrive, accountability needs to infuse every human endeavor–from that of the individual, to nations, and to the world, at large.

References
Richard Pérez-Peña (July 17, 2012). “Top universities test the online appeal of free”. The New York Times. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
Horacio Reyes. “History of a revolution in e-learning”. Revista Educacion Virtual. Retrieved Aug 10, 2012.
Downes, Stephen “‘Connectivism’ and Connective Knowledge”, Huffpost Education, January 5, 2011, accessed July 27, 2011
^ Kop, Rita “The challenges to connectivist learning on open online networks: Learning experiences during a massive open online course”, International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Volume 12, Number 3, 2011, accessed November 22nd, 2011
“Open Educational Resources”. The William and Flora Hewlitt Foundation. Retrieved 27 March 2013.