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An "Explorer in Universe" contributing thoughts, seeking feedback, building syntropy
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An "Explorer in Universe" contributing thoughts, seeking feedback, building syntropy
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About Posted on 22 October 2010 by cjfAbout the Syntropy BlogThe second law of thermodynamics discloses that entropy is always locally increasing. Syntropy is negative entropy. Thus, syntropy refers to an energy-consuming process in Universe where structure and order is increased. Living organisms and Earth itself are two of the principal examples of syntropic systems. I have been using syntropy as part of my on-line identity for a long time. I have been inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s use of the word in countradistinction to entropy (Erwin Schrödinger was the first to use the word “syntropy” in this context). For me syntropy inspires the concept that Universe may have local ordering processes that counters the normal effects of thermodynamics to break systems down. My sense of responsibility suggests that Humanity ought to be diligently working to aide such processes. Indeed many of us are. I hope to help. In this blog I will attempt (sometimes quite indirectly) to support increasing syntropy in local Universe (mostly for the little SpaceShip called Earth where I currently live). When those lofty aspirations fall short (and I’m sure they will from time-to-time), my thoughts will simply contribute to the muddle and the babble that normally rages on the Internet 🙂 About CJ Fearnley
In addition, CJ Fearnley has applied his organizational and leadership talent to building Buckminster Fuller’s legacy. CJ published an essay Reading Synergetics: Some Tips to help students of Fuller’s magnum opus, Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, wade through that complex, multi-dimensional tome. He started maintaining The R. Buckminster Fuller FAQ on the Internet in 1994. His work on Buckminster Fuller was featured in an extensive interview published by Dome Magazine in 1999. In 2002 CJ started building the Synergetics Collaborative (SNEC) as an organization to bring together people with an interest in Synergetics’ methods and principles in workshops, symposia, seminars, and other meetings. Major events include a symposium on “Synergetics and the Arts” at the Noguchi Museum, symposia on “Morphology” and “Design Science” at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and a special event “Revisit Bucky: Exploring Synergetics” held at American University. CJ serves as Executive Director of the Synergetics Collaborative. CJ is an experienced group conversation organizer, facilitator, and mentor. He has organized more than 130 events exploring diverse topics for the Greater Philadelphia Thinking Society and more than 50 for Math Counts. He is a co-organizer for both groups. He is also helping to organize The Philadelphia Eco-District. CJ received his BA in Mathematical Sciences and Philosophy from Binghamton University in 1989 where he was a Regents Scholar and has done graduate work at Drexel University. CJ has continued his education with a lifetime of reading on-line and off and taking more than 80 free on-line courses (mostly in an audit / edutainment mode, but he as earned 13 honor-code certificates of completion and has studied another 7 courses in depth). CJ was named to the Philadelphia Business Journal’s 2006 “40 Under 40” List as one of the region’s most accomplished young professionals.
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CJ Fearnley was an early leader in the adoption and implementation of 
Dear Sir,
I am a MOOC Researcher and from your excellent blog found you completed several MOOCs.
Can you please answer the following
What is your Motivation for MOOCs ?
What is the Learning form MOOCs done by you?
Is the experience of MOOC learning tough?
What you liked in MOOC ?
What you did not like in MOOC?
Suggestions for improvement in MOOCs
MOCC Reseracher , India
What is your Motivation for MOOCs?
I am deeply curious about how the world works, how civilization works, what scholarship has to say about various subjects. To explore my interests I have so far “completed” 59 free on-line courses from 32 institutions of higher learning. MOOCs are NOT my only interest. I prefer courses where the material is permanently archived so I can share it with my friends. Although I value deadline-driven courses, I feel I can only take one such course at a time and so most of the courses I take are on an audit basis where I skip doing the assignments.
What is the Learning form MOOCs done by you?
I have earned honor code certificates or statements of accomplishment in the following 14 MOOCs:
I have audited many others.
Is the experience of MOOC learning tough?
Sometimes. Some of the courses were very easy for me. Several of them have been very challenging. Lately I have been taking more challenging courses such as the Modern Poetry and Mechanics courses. I spent something like 40 hours per week on those. Of course, I could have still done well if I had spent less time on them. But if I want to really understand something I want to dig in deeply. I love that that is an option with MOOCs! I audit most courses because I often want to get an overview without investing the time needed for a deeper understanding. It is very important that the auditing option is available in MOOCs.
What you liked in MOOC?
The deadline-driven ones challenge my time management and my learning strategy skills. Although that can be stressful, I value the results. I really like the peer-graded essay format. And I like the at-your-own-pace way of working through the material. It teaches me how my brain works and how it frequently fails to work incisively. It is hard to get such feedback in other ways.
What you did not like in MOOC?
Permanent archiving is important to me and is not yet available. Maybe archive.org could provide such services. Improving the ability to create a local archive of the course would be a stand-in for my current practice of trying to manually archive courses that I take. I want to archive all of my work, all videos, all learning materials, and all discussion threads in which I participate.
Making the videos publically accessible is important to me. I often want to share one or two videos with my friends and I am often unable to do so. I love edX because their videos are permanently archived on YouTube and so I can share them with anybody. That is very important to me. Coursera has disappointed me in this regard and I have been taking fewer of their courses due mainly to this deficiency in their platform.
Suggestions for improvement in MOOCs
See my previous responses.