Truth As Theme - CCK11

A new experience in Connectivism for me is taking other courses along with it. On Thursday and Friday, I took a 2 day seminar on a subject that I wouldn't expect to have common themes with CCK11. It was offered by Trinity Wall Street on "Reading Scripture Through Other Eyes"

I was enormously surprised on Wed. Elluminate session in Connectivism that "What is True" became a subject of interest. My philosophical thoughts about "What is True" began and ended with an introductory philosophy course that met at 8:00 a.m. Monday, Wed & Friday and maybe 18 year olds attended on Wed. In the Scripture course, one of the discussion points was whether or not the truth in scripture can be discovered until all voices have been heard including the powerless, the imprisoned, the abused, the illiterate, etc.

One would think that as the world becomes more and more connected, a filtering process would occur that would allow people to concentrate solely on the voices of the world's most respected scholars. While the barriers of access to scholarly lectures has disappeared along with it has arisen a desire in those scholars to actively seek out the voices of the disenfranchised, the illiterate, the oppressed to discover how the material is seen in a wider array of contexts to thicken their knowledge base.

The metaphor for truth in the connected age is more like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle. People are searching harder because the discernment of truth is seen as the way to save ourselves from fear, ignorance, mistrust and hopefully global destruction. No matter how elegant individual pieces of truth may be,it's easier to know where the colorful, stunning pieces fit as opposed to the blues of the sky and the sea or the browns of the mountains, animals and soil. Without the hard work of discovering the unique place of all the blue and brown pieces, the picture can't be completed. The puzzle of truth will remain incomplete, frustrating, unsatisfying, of limited value if one person's piece is missing, hidden, tossed aside, treated carelessly. MOOCs are a bring together of the elegant and the common.

I'm a traditional grandmother - a bit of water or a bit of soil. If after reading the introductions you wonder if you belong in a MOOC - yes you do.