Why this MOOC: focus & intention

As explained in the above video, our ultimate goal is that this course will act as a foundational ‘space of possibility’ capable of sparking change in the nature and degree to which the various realms of scholarship practiced are guided and informed by an ethics of care. In pursuit if this, from our side we dearly hope that the content and connectivist-inspired design of this care-full scholarship MOOC will:

• motivate passionate and inclusive debate, resulting in a creative mix of pre-conceived and emergent course content;
• attract a diverse cohort of learners bringing with them a plurality of knowledge, ambition and experience;
• prompt the establishment of a care-full learning community, which participants will feel inspired to sustain over time;
• provide an accessible and stimulating, but also safe learning environment, which is enjoyable and deeply thought provoking
• offer a flexible mode of learning, combining intentionally bite-sized lesson pages with exercises which encourage slow scholarship and deep self-reflection as a basis for achieving transformative learning
• enable you, the learner, to decide on your level of engagement and order of learning, as dependent on your individual needs and interests
• encourage you (should you so wish) to directly contribute to the future shaping and content of the course

In order to achieve this somewhat ambitious list, and with it plant some seeds of change, we are dependent on your help in furthering understanding of how an ethics of care practice can be mainstreamed within everyday life of the academy – and beyond; that is, individually, collectively and institutionally. Accordingly, we sincerely hope your experience of engaging with this course, and more particularly with the community of learning which it is intended to spark, proves worthy of your given energy and time. We hope it encourages and supports you in being critical, mindful and reflexive in problematising the ‘what’, ‘how’, ‘why’ and ‘for whom’ (including ‘for self’) dimensions of practicing care-full scholarship; but also, we hope that you find it to be creative, memorable and fun!

We thank you in advance for any ideas and comments you provide, as well as any feedback you are minded to give during the course. From our side we remain committed to maintaining this Care-full Scholarship MOOC as a living educational resource for as long as we possibly can. Integral to this, in future iterations of this course, we will endeavour to curate and incorporate much of the creative input shared by enrolled participants.