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Ed-Tech's Inequalities

Ed Tech is far from the great savior of the human race that many make it out to be. There are major inequalities that still exist within Ed Tech, the technology that supports Ed Tech, and the ideas that propel it forward. Watters takes a detailed look at many of the questions we should all be asking ourselves.

Sir Ken Robinson: 'Creative' With The Truth?

I have always found that those TED talks on creativity by Sir Ken Robinson were off. Something in the back of my mind told me that the research didn't support what was being said. Donald Clark runs through why the creativity videos are wrong (and really, really wrong in some places). Also surprised to see how brainstorming actually doesn't work very well, either. Interesting educational concepts to read about even if you could care less about TED talks.

Why My MOOC is Not Built on Video | MOOC Report

Even though this focuses on MOOCs, the same ideas can be applied to any online course. Sometimes video is not the answer.

Shark Bites, Plumbing, and Syndication | bavatuesdays

This post takes a good look at why projects like Known are important: they help simplify more complex processes so that learners can focus on learning rather than setting up tools.

Social Networking as Peer Surveillance by Ashe Dryden | Model View Culture

More important thoughts on what we are sharing online; especially about how it may affect certain parts of society. Also important to read to get a sense of how dangerous the online world is for some people.

The PAH Continuum: Pedagogy, Andragogy & Heutagogy | Heutagogy Community of Practice

I like the way this article frames the progression of learning through a continuum, not as an "either/or" fight. It really shows how various forms of learning are needed in modern educational situations.

The Case for Open Courses in Higher Ed: Q&A with Connected Learning Educator Kim Jaxon | DMLcentral

This interview makes a great case of open learning. It really has nothing to do with cost, but valuing community, the voice of your students, and connecting with a larger world surrounding any given subject.

Grasping for the Holy Comment Grail - CogDogBlog

This is an issue I have been considering a lot recently, also. Many of my comments I could care less about, but some of them I would really like to keep and dig into later.

Connected Courses: It's Time to Reclaim Your Domain | bavatuesdays

The debate over the LMS is heating up, and Jim Groom again brings a gun to a knife fight. In a good way. The supporters of the LMS just don't seem to realize how low their expectations have become.

Why Students Should Own Their Educational Data - Wired Campus - Blogs - The Chronicle of Higher Education

While this article does get to what the title refers to, it takes a winding path to get their through misunderstandings of learning, MOOCs, and data. Many great points along the way.

Beyond the LMS | Hack Education

This is an important summary about what went wrong with the LMS, why it went wrong, and how MOOCs are following the same path. This is of course another angle on the owning your own data idea, an important one in today's educational landscape that is mostly ignored by the powers that be.

Pushing the Known Syndication Hub Beyond RSS | bavatuesdays

Very interesting experimental work from Groom and company. Ed Tech needs to get caught up on what is possible through APIs.

Is this the "dark horse" of online education? - eCampus News | eCampus News

Interesting analysis, although I think they get the real need for competency based learning wrong. They still seem to want to dictate what students need to learn. Heutagogy would be a better goal - teaching learners how to learn, set their own competencies, etc.But anything that takes a step away from "sage on the stage" approaches is a good step in my book.

Beginning two school years concurrently: Koan School and UNT | Through stories

Interesting initial thoughts on starting a new school idea from scratch. The interesting thing about this article is that it takes a look at the holistic approach to school reform that is most needed but usually ignored by reform efforts.

The University of API - White Paper

APIs are changing the web, and Universities need to get on board. This is a bit more in-depth white paper for people seriously considering APIs - but those that aren't convinced might get a good idea of what they are missing, too.

Are Courses Outdated? MIT Considers Offering 'Modules' Instead - Wired Campus - Blogs - The Chronicle of Higher Education

While the idea of breaking courses into modules is not new, MIT has just heard of it so we must act like it is new. Use of music metaphors must stop, because the reason consumers don't buy albums as much is because in general most hit albums contain a couple of good songs and a lot of boring filler.

Paying Closer Attention to MOOCs : A Recent Visit and Tour of HarvardX | Virtual Gadfly

Peggy Semmingson gives a quick update on her tour of the HarvardX. Interesting feedback on what they are doing there.

#YesAllWomen and Ed-Tech Conferences, or Why ISTE is Unsafe

This is an issue that gets ignored far too much. Things like this should not happen in the tech conference world, and I wish organizations would take a tougher stand on these issues.

The Stump Speech for Higher Ed's Relevance that Wasn't | bavatuesdays

Good thoughts on the future of Education from Jim Groom.

elearnspace › Bundling and Re-bundling

All of the rhetoric around the disruption of education seems to be missing the point quite often. George Siemens takes a good look at one of many misunderstandings.

Applying Constructivism in Instructivist Learning Cultures, Multicultural Education & Technology Journal, 2011

Interesting study that really lays a lot of good philosophical groundwork for the different epistemologies in education.

Teacher Experiences and Academic Identity: The Missing Components of MOOC Pedagogy

Some interesting concepts explored in this paper, but it seems that all questions in Ed Tech HAVE to come back to either the LMS or the teacher. In reality, the MOOC in this study is an xMOOC because the power still rests with the instructor.

There's no such thing as 'Formal Learning' | aconventional

I'm sure many will argue the conclusions in this article, but many good points are made. Is it really "learning" if "learners" are just clicking through, memorizing for the test, etc? Heutagogy is really applicable hear. One idea behind Heutatgogy is the blending of formal and informal learning. But in reality it is taking more of an approach like this blog post suggests - there is only learning, and most of what we do that is labeled "informal learning" is really were learning happens.

Taking Notes by Hand Benefits Recall, Researchers Find - Wired Campus - Blogs - The Chronicle of Higher Education

I don't doubt the findings of this report. Taking notes by hand usually does require you to think more. The bigger question that the researchers are not looking at is "what is the best way to use notes"? We are still looking primarily at empirical/behaviorist stimulus and response here. The instructor passes out a stimulus (lecture), and students have to prove in their response (test) that the correct information was received. When we have all of the information that we need online, and when even students that score well will forget most of what they learned in a few hours... why do we need to use information this way? I would be more interested in what they can do with those notes on a real world project, or even more so in a group project. If you let the students taking notes on the laptops socially construct something new based on those notes - I would bet it would blow those test results out of the water.

How the Web was Ghettoized for Teaching and Learning in Higher Ed? | bavatuesdays

Detailed look at the evolution of university/college spaces on the web from the mid-90s to the present. Kind of a "how did we let this all go wrong" summary - but an important one to consider if you want to be part of the future of open learning.

Live Motion GIF Screencasts: With a name like LICEcap, It Has to Be Good : Ted Curran.net

Interesting way to create screen capture tutorials. I haven't tried it, but I like the idea of using a simpler technology when convening a simpler idea (obviously wouldn't work for complex processes that require narration).

UMW Domains-Now with More Community! | bavatuesdays

More deep thoughts into the ideas of personal learning environments.

Interface Design for Learning Book Review - Learnlets

"Learning is visual, learning is social, learning is emotional, and learning is mobile." Something that many classes forget is interface design. Putting this book on my must read list.

Domain of One's Own is ALL BUSINESS | bavatuesdays

Groom asks "Why isn't everyone considering something like this?" and that is my question also. Why aren't we giving more students and faculty the ability to do this? Take control of your online identity.

Higher education technology predictions for 2014 | Mark Smithers

Interesting look at the next year in Ed Tech. A bit long, but there are several predictions worth taking note of in this list. Ultimately, I think 2014 will be the make or break year for MOOCs and data analytics - will they emerge from a "trough of disillusionment", or will they just die a painful hype-term death?

elearnspace › The vulnerability of learning

Siemens touches on a side of learning that is often ignored in many educaional circles - learning how we learn by processing our feelings about learning. Heutagogy covers similar ground.

Having Hard Conversations in your Personal Learning Network | TedCurran.net

Interesting thoughts about the differences between informal learning and formal learning, personal learning networks and classrooms, etc.

Distinguished Adjunct Professor | bavatuesdays

"Running your online course with an alternative identity is just one example of interrogating digital identity online through an experimental pedagogy of uncertainty"

"It's the Poverty, Stupid": Why Ed Reform and Social Reform Need Each Other : Ted Curran.net

This article touches on something that few seem to get: people trapped in poverty often aren't lazy. They are trapped by a system stacked so high against them that they often can't see over or around the obstacles.

elearnspace › The Failure of Udacity

Many people, myself included, called this death of hype a long time ago. Siemens looks at what the last big news in the MOOC market really means. Who failed? What wasn't working? Was anything working at all?

Will Shuttleworth Reclaim Your Domain? | bavatuesdays

The "big picture" on why having a domain of your own is important. Of course, if you have ever tried it out yourself, you have noticed that the tools to control your online identity are lacking. This project should fix all of that in the future.

All Aboard!!! | bavatuesdays

A much better way to look at technology groups on college campuses. Makes me wish I worked for this one!

Traditional Education Beats Online in Key Areas, Opinion Poll Finds - Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Polls like this one are interesting, but they also show just how far we have to go as educators to get the public on board with the realities of online learning.

ds106 Assignment Bank 2.0 | bavatuesdays

Open assignment creation for courses. This is true revolutionary thinking in education.

Decentering Syndication or, a Push Away from RSS | bavatuesdays

Know what the weakness of the current PLE tools is? They still rely on a hub at the center of all the student nodes doing all of the work and looming large in every learner's window. This idea finally equalizes that equation, make the learners as important as the class hub and allowing you to push content out to the course rather than the other way around. Brilliant.

Arne Duncan on NPR: Lacking in imagination to work on educational challenges | Through stories

There is really only a little bit about Arne Duncan and a lot on what can be done to change education. Not an exhaustive list of course, but the idea is that we are not doing what is necessary to really improve schools. While the situations are very complex and difficult to change, we also know many things that work that we aren't doing.

Google and edX Create a MOOC Site for the Rest of Us

"YouTube" for classes seems like an interesting idea - but what tools will they use? How open will they really be? If there are ways to share content, interact with other classes, and cross boundaries, that would also be interesting. Would also like to see some deconstructed courses that allow learners to take certain parts, skip the ones they know, and re-take ones they need more help on.

elearnspace › How Large Systems Change

Are universities dying? Not according to the data. George Siemens makes an excellent case that universities are not dying at all, but entering a "golden age."

Survey Finds Only Limited Public Awareness of MOOCs - Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Interesting hoe public awareness of MOOCs is much less than it was for Second Life or Google Wave, two other so-called "disruptive" technologies for education. I'm starting to wonder if we really understand what "disruptive" really means. Maybe what happened in the music/movie industry was just a random event?

Syndication-Oriented Architecture: a Solution to Problem of Coherence

A bit behind on reading, but this article looks at some important issues that are getting lost in the MOOC-obsessed world. Digital archives, controtlling your digital identity, etc.

UMW's Innovation isn't Technical, it's Narrative | bavatuesdays

Food for thought - are we focusing too much on what is wrong and not what others are doing that is good?

Students Might Not Be 'Academically Adrift' After All, Study Finds - Faculty - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Interesting - maybe all the obituaries about the death of the University were premature?

Scholars Sound the Alert From the 'Dark Side' of Tech Innovation - Technology - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Even if you don't agree with all of the conclusions, these are some good questions to always ask... especially of the things we love to praise. Question everything.

A Domain of One's Own to Community Syndication Hubs | bavatuesdays

For my money, this work by Jim Groom and others is much more interesting and important than anything coming out of the xMOOC front.

Is there value in defining mobile learning and classifying mobile devices? - Janet Clarey

Interesting discussion. There seem to be about 3-4 ideas or technologies that are supposed to disrupt or revolutionize education, but I am thinking the CD comment in this article is probably more likely what will happen. You usually don't see disruption coming. It really can't disrupt if it does.

Khan Academy Redux - Casting Out Nines - The Chronicle of Higher Education

This is sadly how educational criticism goes - someone dares to question the savior of education, and then they get slammed by people that think their solution is perfect. We need critical voices like this, even if they disagree with our pet tool.

Where xMOOCs and Adaptive Analytics Both Fail (For Now) |e-Literate

I think this post nails the point about where MOOCs fail and why we (should) always need teachers.

Octalysis: an Actionable Gamification Framework from an Industry Pioneer | Gamifeye

Interesting look at how games draw people in. No research to back it up, but a lot of interesting information to dig into and research.

Is Coursera Facebook, Amazon, or Pets.com? | e-Literate

Interesting look at where all of the MOOC hype may end up going - for good or for bad.

Pearson Project Will Let Professors Mix Free and Paid Content in E-Textbooks - Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Interesting concept - I have heard of several of these "mix-and-match" ideas, but the ability to access the vast Pearson library and get a quote on a custom book is a step in the right direction. I just hope they don't over price e-books like other companies tend to.

San Jose State U. Says Replacing Live Lectures With Videos Increased Test Scores - Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education

This is declaring victory a bit too early, but the results will be interesting no matter happens. I am especially interested in the opinions of the students on taking a flipped classroom approach to learning.

Questions About the Future of Higher Education

Some interesting questions are asked in this article. I'm not convinced we will see all of the changes mentioned here. For example, I remember in the 80s when we were told that grade schools would stop having breaks over the summer and go to a year-round model by 2010. Here we are and that looks to still not be happening any time soon. Sometimes we keep structures the way they are is because we like them as a culture.

Open Architecture: Our Course Could be Your Life | Keep Learning

Jim Groom discusses current directions in online learning, why those are going wrong, and where they should go in the future. Universities keep giving control of their systems and content to other institutions.

Designing and Running a MOOC

Interesting overview, but the real meat of this presentation is the last section that gives a how-to guide on running a connectivist MOOC.

elearnspace: MOOCs, Learning Points

Short but good article about some of the key differences between the two emerging models of MOOCs.

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