July 14th, 2010
Edublogger Review
A "mash-up" of postings from nine engaging educational
and e-learning bloggers.
When Technology Doesn’t Help
Source: http://suburbdad.blogspot.com/2010/07/when-technology-doesnt-
help.html
By Dean Dad on July 14th, 2010
Joshua Kim’s piece yesterday reminded me of a basic, but
widely ignored, truth.
In most industries, new technology is adopted because it’s
expected to lower costs and/or improve productivity (which
lowers costs over time). It doesn’t always succeed, of course,
and the usual vagaries of faddism are certainly there. But by
and large, the point of adopting a new technology is to make
the underlying business stronger.
But that doesn’t apply in either higher education or health
care. In both of those, institutions adopt technology to meet
rising expectations, whether it helps with cost or not. Much of
the time, it actually leads to increased costs.
For example, take the typical college library. Libraries don’t
bring in much revenue on their own, if any; they’re pretty
pure ‘cost centers’ for most colleges. They’re central to the
educational mission of the college, to be sure; I’d suggest
that in the context of a commuter campus, that’s even more
true than elsewhere. But income is tied to credit hours, and
libraries don’t generate credit hours of their own.
In the past, typical library costs included labor, acquisitions,
utilities, and not much else. Tables, desks, chairs, and carrels
could be expected to last decades (and judging by some
of the graffiti I saw at Flagship State, they did.) Yes, you
might find microfilm or microfiche, but even there the space
requirements were minimal and the purchases could last for
decades. (For younger readers: microfilm was sort of like
cassette tape...no, wait, you wouldn’t know that...it was sort
of like movies watched really slowly...no, not like dvd’s...ah,
screw it, I’m old.) It wasn’t at all rare for the highest-tech thing
in the library to be the coin-operated photocopier.
Now, students expect/demand that the library offer plenty of
computer workstations with high-speed internet access, good
wifi everywhere, all manner of ‘assistive technology’ for the
visually or otherwise challenged, and access to proprietary
(paid) databases for all sorts of materials. There’s nothing
wrong with any of that, but none of it displaced what had come
before, and none of it came with its own revenue sources. And
that’s before mentioning the price pressures that publishers
have put on traditional acquisitions.
Published by: philosophyandrew
As a result, the library is far more expensive to run than it
once was. It isn’t doing anything wrong; it’s just doing what
it’s supposed to do. The problem is that the technological
advances it adopts -- each for good reason -- don’t, and won’t,
save money.
Something similar holds true in the health-related majors.
As medicine has adopted more high-tech equipment and
methods, we’ve had to adopt them, too, to train the students
on them. But we don’t get any of the gains from that. We have
to pay for it, but the productivity gains, if any, accrue to the
industry rather than to us. Worse, many of the purchases are
so complex and high-maintenance that they require dedicated
staff, thereby adding higher labor costs to the equation.
There are excellent societal reasons why that’s a good idea. I
like the idea of the rookie Nursing student making his first
medical mistakes on simulators, rather than on people, for the
same reason that I like pilots to use flight simulators before
they first fly planes. Fewer casualties that way.
But the college doesn’t capture the gains from that. It’s saddled
with the costs, heaven knows, but not with the other side of the
equation. And in an era of declining state support, there are
only so many places to go to find the difference.
I agree that certain applications of technology can save colleges
money, and that colleges should take those opportunities
seriously. But to assume that it will only be deployed where it
saves money, or even that it will be a net financial gain, strikes
me as reaching. We train people on the latest stuff because we
have to, whether it saves money or not.
Managing in Complexity
Source: http://www.jarche.com/2010/07/managing-in-complexity/
By Harold Jarche on July 14th, 2010
Formal training just won’t cut it any more as the primary
means by which we prepare and adapt in order to get work
done. Training isn’t dead, it’s just not enough, and cannot be
the only tool in the box.
—
1
July 14th, 2010
As Jay Cross stated in a recent interview:
Formal learning can be somewhat effective when
things don’t change much and the world is predictable
… Time Alliance blog;
Today’s world is the opposite in every way
imaginable …
Things are changing amazingly fast …
There’s so much to learn …
Today’s work is all about dealing with novel
situations …
This image, from Cynthia Kurtz’s post, Confluence, clearly
shows the challenge we face in our networked organizations
competing and collaborating in complex adaptive systems.
The challenge is getting organizations that are used to dealing
with the Known & Knowable to be able to manage in Complex
environments and even Chaotic ones from time to time. As
can be seen in Kurtz’s graphic, that means weaker central
control which is, of course, scary for traditional management.
This is not a training problem but rather a management
issue. How can you be less directive and enable distributed
work, and therefore distributed (and undirected) learning?
Actually there are historical examples, including guerrilla
groups; religious movements; and social organizations. We
need to look back as well as into the future. There are lessons
and examples that can help us once we cast off some of our
industrial management assumptions.
Taylor’s Principles of Scientific Management (1911) inform
many of our current practices but there are other models and
frameworks available. The first step is seeing that we have
a problem and our current models are inadequate. This is a
conversation that all business managers and organizational
leaders need to have. We should be ready to have many
informed conversation about managing in complexity and put
forward some plausible options. For further reading:
General framework: Wirearchy
Background & Models: Gary Hamel: Future of Management;
Thomas Malone: The Future of Work; Andrew McAfee:
Enterprise 2.0
Published by: philosophyandrew
Ideas & Methods: Working Smarter Fieldbook; State of
Learning in the Workplace
More conversations: The Smart Work Company; Internet
Wikis and Learning – 60
Resources
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ElearningTechnology/
~3/2SuABlYyMKQ/wikis-and-learning-60-resources.html
By Tony Karrer on July 14th, 2010
I’m involved in several discussions around how to use Wikis
as part of learning solutions. I wanted to collect a few
resources around this topic for use in these discussions. So,
of course, I went to eLearning Learning and I looked at Wiki,
Collaborative Learning with Wikis, Wikis and eLearning 2.0,
Wikis Corporate eLearning, Social Learning with Wikis, Wiki
Security and a few others. Here’s some of what I found:
1. Why a Wiki?- Experiencing eLearning, July 27, 2009
2. Wikis at Work- eLearning Technology, February 25,
2007
3. Control and Community: A Case Study of Enterprise
Wiki Usage, May 4, 2009
4. Blog or Wiki?- Kapp Notes, January 20, 2009
5. Wiki activities 5 stage model, April 7, 2008
6. Control and Community: A Case Study of Enterprise
Wiki Usage, May 4, 2009
7. Really Cool "3-Minute e-Learning" on Social Networking
- Wiki, Social Networking, Social Bookmarking, RSS,
October 10, 2007
8. Wiki working, June 19, 2009
9. Wiki: Intro to Emerging Tech, July 18, 2009
10. Could A Wiki Be Your Next Talent Management System?,
October 23, 2008
11. Using Toolkits to Aggregate Learning Resources,
February 6, 2009
12. Enterprise Wiki as Intranet - a success story, September
20, 2007
13. Lurking and loafing, March 9, 2010
14. Activities, Workflows and Structured Wikis (Augmented
Social Cognition), February 9, 2009
15. Wikis for Improving Productivity- Experiencing
eLearning, June 10, 2008
16. Wiki's For Professional Development-
Learnadoodledastic, September 26, 2007
17. One more time: what's the difference between a blog and
a wiki?- Clive on Learning, April 13, 2007
18. Wikis: Ways to use them for a more Collaboration and
Interaction- Dont Waste Your Time, August 28, 2009
19. Do wikis work for any topic? How about math?-
eLearning Acupuncture, March 25, 2009
2
July 14th, 2010
20. eLearning Tools - Wikis, Blogs and More- eLearning
Technology, April 2, 2007
21. Wiki – Day 2 – How Wikis are Used- Engaged Learning,
December 1, 2009
22. Wikis – Day 3 – Privacy & Adoption- Engaged Learning,
December 2, 2009
23. Wikis – Day 4 – Overcoming Bad Stigmas- Engaged
Learning, December 3, 2009
24. Top 10 Ways Social Media Will Impact Employee
Development and Training in 2010- Learning Putty,
October 29, 2009
25. Conference Wiki Examples- eLearning Technology,
November 25, 2008
26. Use of Wikis as Compared to Other Tools- eLearning
Technology, February 23, 2007
27. 22 Social Learning Strategy Questions to Answer Before
Your Next Lesson- Learning Putty, July 1, 2010
28. TCC09: Wikis that Work: Effective Wiki Practices for
Virtual Learning Communities- Experiencing eLearning,
April 15, 2009
29. Wiki as repository for a virtual community- Joitske
Hulsebosch eLearning, January 21, 2009
30. How Wikipedia Works and Wikis in the Enterprise -
HBS- eLearning Technology, July 23, 2007
31. Wikis - Public vs. Controlled - Why There's No eLearning
Wiki- eLearning Technology, September 14, 2006
32. 10 Social Media Tools For Learning- The eLearning
Coach, November 16, 2009
33. Collaborative Learning Using Web 2.0 Tools - A
Summary- eLearning Technology, May 16, 2006
34. Benefits of Collaborative Learning- Dont Waste Your
Time, July 8, 2010
35. Enterprise 2.0 - Community Spaces can lead to Walled
Gardens- Free as in Freedom, March 27, 2010
36. Examples of eLearning 2.0- eLearning Technology,
September 22, 2008
37. Collaborative Learning « Social Enterprise Blog, June 3,
2009
38. A Learning Paradigm Shift: Cybergogy, April 9, 2010
39. Learning space mashups, July 13, 2009
40. Case studies of corporate (social) learning, March 12,
2010
41. Using SharePoint- eLearning Technology, December 16,
2008
42. SharePoint 2010: The New Employee Gateway?-
trainingwreck, January 23, 2010
43. Social Learning Strategies Checklist- Social Enterprise
Blog, January 11, 2010
44. Extending elearning?- Learnlets, November 30, 2008
Published by: philosophyandrew
45. SharePoint Social Learning Experience- eLearning
Technology, February 1, 2010
46. Time for “new” training approaches- Daretoshare,
February 28, 2009
47. Checklist of Social Learning Strategies- Engaged
Learning, January 12, 2010
48. The Future Of Learning Design- The eLearning Coach,
November 23, 2009
49. Wiki Owner- eLearning Technology, March 19, 2009
50. Social Learning Tools Should Not be Separate from
Enterprise 2.0- eLearning Technology, April 7, 2010
51. SharePoint 2007: Gateway Drug to Enterprise Social
Tools :: Personal InfoCloud, March 16, 2009
52. Driving the Informal with the Formal, February 10, 2010
53. groundswell - confirming my e-Learning 2.0 ideas,
August 27, 2008
54. TELUS Case Study - Using Sharepoint to embrace social
computing and streamline formal learning , May 15, 2010
55. Driving Change: Selling SharePoint and Social Media
Inside the Enterprise, January 30, 2009
56. How to Find the Right Wiki for Your Project or
Organization, February 15, 2009
57. From formal courses to social learning- Learning
Conversations, November 26, 2009
58. Requirement to Social Learning Adoption #1 - Relative
Advantage- Engaged Learning, February 23, 2009
59. Characteristics of Emergent Communities- Social
Enterprise Blog, April 14, 2009
60. Promoting Social Learning- eLearning Blender, May 23,
2009
eLearning Technology
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Massachusetts State Colleges
Want University Status
Source: http://keptup.typepad.com/academic/2010/07/massachusetts-
state-colleges-want-university-status.html
By StevenB on July 14th, 2010
The Massachusetts House of Representatives voted 124 to
21 Thursday to allow the nine state colleges to rename
themselves universities. Supporters of the bill, which now
goes to the Senate, say the change would allow schools to
earn more grants, draw more applicants, and make students
more attractive to employers. Detractors say it would do
little to improve the quality of education and could be costly
if professors ask for university pay. So far, 45 states have
transformed their state college systems into state university
systems. Read more at:
3
July 14th, 2010
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/ http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15480908?
articles/2010/07/10/ IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-
whats_in_a_name_plenty_say_backers_of_renaming_state_colleges/
www.mercurynews.com&nclick_check=1
Build Your PLN
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=52868
July 14th, 2010
Good set of examples describing how to build a
personal learning network (or environment, depending on
your point of view. Note to Miguel: something called
b.scorecardresearch.com is wrecking your page on my Firefox
- and what are you doing running a tracking service like this
anyways?). A search tells me that " scorecardresearch is part of
a larger organization, www.fullcirclestudies.com , and have a
partner further up the food chain http://www.comscore.com/
." It has been hanging Firefox recently. Miguel Guhlin ,
Moving at the Speed of Creativity , July 13, 2010 6:00 p.m.. [
Link ] [Tags: Networks , Research ] [ Previous ][ Next ]
Comments
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At Stanford No One Wants To
Leave
Source: http://keptup.typepad.com/academic/2010/07/at-stanford-no-
one-wants-to-leave.html
By StevenB on July 14th, 2010
Many workers yearn for retirement — the goodbye parties, the
golf course, maybe even a gold watch. But Stanford University
has the opposite problem: Nobody wants to leave. Hoping to
create more space for young scholars, Stanford has revamped
its generous "Retirement Incentive Program" — for the second
time in a decade — to nudge more old-timers toward the door.
With the brightest students, best libraries and labs, and lighter
teaching loads than at most state schools, professors at elite
research universities have little reason to retire. Read more at:
Published by: philosophyandrew
Second nuking
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=52867
July 14th, 2010
I feel D'Arch Norman's pain. "I was asked to turn in the iPhone
last month. Due to the contract setup, it couldn't be cancelled
right away, so I was able to borrow it for an additional month.
That month is up, so now I just finished nuking the iPhone
again so I can turn it in. I've likely saved the University
hundreds of thousands of dollars by advocating and using
free and open source software for nearly a decade. But that
$50/month will probably be what finally saves the University
from budgetary destruction. Phew. Disaster averted." I had a
Blackberry - but apparently it was unreasonable for the NRC
to allow its e-learning expert a mobile device. So they took
it away, and I now learn about mobile learning by intuition.
D'Arcy Norman , D'Arcy Norman dot net , July 13, 2010
5:48 p.m.. [ Link ] [Tags: Online Learning , Open Source ] [
Previous ][ Next ]
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them here you agree to license under the same terms as this
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cannot post links and will have their content screened - certain
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make sure it makes sense.
Don't Listen To Those Who
Claim Not Everyone Needs A
College Education
Source: http://keptup.typepad.com/academic/2010/07/dont-listen-to-
those-who-claim-not-everyone-needs-a-college-education.html
By StevenB on July 14th, 2010
For many young people, college aspiration is a powerful entry
point for the American Dream. It's a goal that structures their
sense of themselves, and their vision of their future in our
society. But there's a movement afoot to discourage teens
from aspiring to higher education. Stoked by economists and
pundits tapping into the anti-intellectualism of our political
4
July 14th, 2010 Published by: philosophyandrew
culture, this movement says simply that college doesn't Ditto for the "teamwork" canard. One doesn't have to "beat"
pay. Proponents of this view note that college costs have other humans to learn teamwork. Teamwork can be learned --
skyrocketed, and they point to nationwide figures showing that and probably better learned -- in a coöperative environment.
a degree doesn't offer the salary premium it once did. But our The only competition humans should engage in is competition
goal should be to encourage more, not fewer, young people to against our own faults and follies. Strive to be better than one
aspire to higher education. Read more at: is, not better than someone else.
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/
opinion/20100708_College_education_doesn_t_pay__naysayers_claim.html#ixzz0tCnN6cVr
Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else It is truly horrifying that we teach this aggressiveness to
children, and no surprise that later in life that aggressiveness
is often expressed in rioting, fist fights at games, and support
11 Models that are Better for military adventures (particularly the type where one uses
for Childhood Learning than overwhelming firepower to crush other human beings with
little or no threat to oneself).
Schools'
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=52866
July 14th, 2010 The third item with which I take issue, possibly, is the job.
It depends on what one means by a job. If one means taking
I like this list so much I'll just print the whole thing
on responsibility to accomplish something for the benefit of
- 11 Models that are Better for Childhood Learning than
humanity, then that is a wonderful calling. But if it means to
Schools': - Summer Camps: Be engaged outdoors, not coerced
insert oneself into the world of "work" -- that soul-numbing
indoors - Libraries/YMCA: Pick what interests you today -
activity in which one again learns one's "place" in the hierarchy
Internships/Volunteering: Spend time with smarter people
and to obey authority and compete with others for hoarded
and do meaningful work - Family Trips: Go on journeys with
resources and power -- then that is a terrible thing to do. Note
the people who matter most - Pick-up Sports: Experience
that when I say "for the benefit of humanity" I do not mean
existential play and find balance - Organized Sports Leagues:
that it cannot be for the benefit of one's self or one's group,
Raise your own game through competition - Meaningful Jobs:
but simply that it cannot be at the expense of others. The idea
Understand what work is - Self Study: To explore a passion
is not to reinforce tribalism, but to act locally in an effort to
- Tutor with small class or individual/ Music class: Learn at
contribute to the welfare of all.
the right pace - Community theater: A common goal for a
disparate group - Book clubs/ discussion groups: Learn to be
as well as learn to know Clark Aldrich , Unschooling Rules ,
Some will say that this is overreacting and that there are good
July 13, 2010 5:40 p.m.. [ Link ] [Tags: Schools , Gaming ] [
things that come from sports. That is fallacy. If I hand you
Previous ][ Next ]
a plate of food laced with pesticide, you cannot defend the
Comments food by saying that it is full of nutrients. The same plate sans
chas, July 13, 2010 7:38 p.m. pesticide offers the same benefits. There is nothing gained
by competitive sports that cannot be gained -- without the
In all, this is a good list. And so true. Schools, after all, are
detrimental effects -- in coöperative activities.
meant to teach conformity and obedience to authority, which
are antithetical to true learning. That is why the schools are
so bad. It's not a lack of control (or lack of money) that
Furthermore, it is also untrue that these issues are too small
makes them so -- it's the desire to break humans that creates
to be worth worrying about. "Oh, it's just a baseball game"
the resistance and, thus, the need for ever more stringent
does not justify competitive behaviors. All of the immense
discipline to overcome the child's innate sense of self worth.
and seemingly intractable problems faced by humanity are
Illich and others made that clear long ago.
immense and intractable precisely because they are not
addressed when they are small and tractable. You drive around
But there are two -- maybe three -- items on this list with
in your car polluting the environment and you think, "It's OK,
which I must take issue. The first two are the sports picks.
I'm only making short trips." But everyone else thinks the
The point of competitive sports is to teach people to act
same thing, and all those short trips add up to environmental
aggressively toward others (as long as there are "rules," of
catastrophe.
course -- just like we make rules for war, which makes war
more likely and more palatable), and to make themselves feel
better by making others feel worse. These skills will come
We have to make the connection very clearly between our
in very handy in the corporate world, where it's all about
everyday actions and the immense and very possibly fatal
hoarding resources and power at the expense of others. They
problems facing us. Everything we do counts, and every single
also make life easy for the government (essentially the same
action, no matter how small and seemingly unimportant, is
thing as the corporate world) by teaching martial attitudes
worth doing correctly. It is also true that the beliefs, habits,
and skills. Competition doesn't make winners, it makes losers.
desires, fears, etc. that we instill in ourselves early in life tend
Coöperate and everyone wins.
to shape the course of our entire lives. Just as an error of
a fraction of a degree at the source might mean missing the
target by 1000 miles, we must consider that every deviation
5
July 14th, 2010
at an early age holds the likelihood of missing the target by a
significant distance later in life. We should probably also think
much more carefully about what those targets are and should
be.
It is easy to dismiss the above -- to click away and forget what
is written here. It is sad that we all know the truth -- that we
haven't much longer on this planet if we do not change our
behaviors -- and yet we continue to do nothing, and to plan for
tomorrow and the next day as if they will come without fail and
be very similar to today.
In truth, the last generation of humans may already walk the
earth. Can anything be more important than this? Should this
not be our highest priority, constantly in our awareness and
shaping our every action? The problems seem insurmountable
when viewed en toto. The secret to success is to correct the
"little" things while they are still little. And to do so every single
time, with no excuses. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous]
[Next]
chas, July 13, 2010 7:44 p.m.
In all, this is a good list. And so true. Schools, after all, are
meant to teach conformity and obedience to authority, which
are antithetical to true learning. That is why the schools are
so bad. It's not a lack of control (or lack of money) that
makes them so -- it's the desire to break humans that creates
the resistance and, thus, the need for ever more stringent
discipline to overcome the child's innate sense of self worth.
Illich and others made that clear long ago.
But there are two -- maybe three -- items on this list with
which I must take issue. The first two are the sports picks.
The point of competitive sports is to teach people to act
aggressively toward others (as long as there are "rules," of
course -- just like we make rules for war, which makes war
more likely and more palatable), and to make themselves feel
better by making others feel worse. These skills will come
in very handy in the corporate world, where it's all about
hoarding resources and power at the expense of others. They
also make life easy for the government (essentially the same
thing as the corporate world) by teaching martial attitudes
and skills. Competition doesn't make winners, it makes losers.
Coöperate and everyone wins.
Ditto for the "teamwork" canard. One doesn't have to "beat"
other humans to learn teamwork. Teamwork can be learned --
and probably better learned -- in a coöperative environment.
The only competition humans should engage in is competition
against our own faults and follies. Strive to be better than one
is, not better than someone else.
It is truly horrifying that we teach this aggressiveness to
children, and no surprise that later in life that aggressiveness
is often expressed in rioting, fist fights at games, and support
for military adventures (particularly the type where one uses
Published by: philosophyandrew
overwhelming firepower to crush other human beings with
little or no threat to oneself).
The third item with which I take issue, possibly, is the job.
It depends on what one means by a job. If one means taking
on responsibility to accomplish something for the benefit of
humanity, then that is a wonderful calling. But if it means to
insert oneself into the world of "work" -- that soul-numbing
activity in which one again learns one's "place" in the hierarchy
and to obey authority and compete with others for hoarded
resources and power -- then that is a terrible thing to do. Note
that when I say "for the benefit of humanity" I do not mean
that it cannot be for the benefit of one's self or one's group,
but simply that it cannot be at the expense of others. The idea
is not to reinforce tribalism, but to act locally in an effort to
contribute to the welfare of all.
Some will say that this is overreacting and that there are good
things that come from sports. That is fallacy. If I hand you
a plate of food laced with pesticide, you cannot defend the
food by saying that it is full of nutrients. The same plate sans
pesticide offers the same benefits. There is nothing gained
by competitive sports that cannot be gained -- without the
detrimental effects -- in coöperative activities.
Furthermore, it is also untrue that these issues are too small
to be worth worrying about. "Oh, it's just a baseball game"
does not justify competitive behaviors. All of the immense
and seemingly intractable problems faced by humanity are
immense and intractable precisely because they are not
addressed when they are small and tractable. You drive around
in your car polluting the environment and you think, "It's OK,
I'm only making short trips." But everyone else thinks the
same thing, and all those short trips add up to environmental
catastrophe.
We have to make the connection very clearly between our
everyday actions and the immense and very possibly fatal
problems facing us. Everything we do counts, and every single
action, no matter how small and seemingly unimportant, is
worth doing correctly. It is also true that the beliefs, habits,
desires, fears, etc. that we instill in ourselves early in life tend
to shape the course of our entire lives. Just as an error of
a fraction of a degree at the source might mean missing the
target by 1000 miles, we must consider that every deviation
at an early age holds the likelihood of missing the target by a
significant distance later in life. We should probably also think
much more carefully about what those targets are and should
be.
It is easy to dismiss the above -- to click away and forget what
is written here. It is sad that we all know the truth -- that we
haven't much longer on this planet if we do not change our
behaviors -- and yet we continue to do nothing, and to plan for
tomorrow and the next day as if they will come without fail and
be very similar to today.
6
July 14th, 2010
In truth, the last generation of humans may already walk the
earth. Can anything be more important than this? Should this
not be our highest priority, constantly in our awareness and
shaping our every action? The problems seem insurmountable
when viewed en toto. The secret to success is to correct the
"little" things while they are still little. And to do so every single
time, with no excuses. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous]
[Next]
Comment
You are not logged in. [Login]
Title
Your comment:
Enter email to receive
replies:
Your comments always remain your property, but in posting
them here you agree to license under the same terms as this
site ( Creative Commons ). If your comment is offensive it will
be deleted.
Automated Spam-checking is in effect. If you are a registered
user you may submit links and other HTML. Anonymous users
cannot post links and will have their content screened - certain
words are prohibited and your comment will be analyzed to
make sure it makes sense.
New Law Will Bring
Improvements To Financial Aid
Source: http://keptup.typepad.com/academic/2010/07/new-law-will-bring-
improvements-to-financial-aid.html
By StevenB on July 14th, 2010
Students taking out federal student loans will be confronted
with a bevy of changes when they visit their school's financial
aid office this fall. This spring, the U.S. Senate passed a student
loan bill—the Student Aid & Fiscal Responsibility Act—that
led to a major revamping of the federal student loan program,
shifting everything from how students obtain their loans to the
amount of aid doled out through such programs as the Pell
Grant. The new student aid regulations went into effect on
July 1, and college financial aid officers will be spending the
next few weeks getting students up to speed on the updated
guidelines. Read more at:
http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/jul2010/
bs2010078_518032.htm
Education As We Know It Is
Finished
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=52865
July 14th, 2010
Education as we know it is finished, says Forbes. There's a
lot to like about that - the era of industrial-age schooling
Published by: philosophyandrew
was due for an overhaul anyways. And there are all these
new technologies we can use to make learning personal and
personally relevant. The bean counters at Forbes, however,
have a different set of priorities. "With big budget cuts
looming, online learning is likely only to grow, as students
increasingly look to it to for courses they want to take
and credits they need for graduation." Or as Mike Klonsky
summarizes, "It will be much cheaper without teachers." We
need to be clear (and this is a bit of a theme for today) about
the direction learning technology will take us. I would be
very disappointed, and indeed more than a little concerned,
about the death of public education. At the same time, it is
critical that we do more to make learning more accessible, and
more relevant, to learners. We have to walk a fine line here,
between the marketers and hucksters on one side, and the
fossils and demagogues on the other. Clayton M. Christensen
and Michael B. Horn , Forbes , July 13, 2010 5:35 p.m.. [ Link
] [Tags: Schools , Online Learning , Accessibility ] [ Previous
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Web 3.0: The Way Forward?
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=52864
July 14th, 2010
Good presentation and let me be the first to name the
new web: Web eXtended (or just Web X). Can't wait for Tim
O'Reilly to claim he owns the name now. The idea of Web X is
that it combines web 2.0 (social web) and web 3.0 (semantic
web) to create what I have called, in the past, the semantic
social web. But it's more than just that, because it takes
these and moves them off the web and into your hand. And
more than just that, because it's the web of data, the geoweb,
augmented media, the 3D web, and more. The eXtended web -
the web, extended from the internet, into your life. (p.s. Steve,
something called b.scorecaredresearch.com is killing your site
on Firefox). Steve Wheeler , Learning with 'e's , July 13, 2010
5:26 p.m.. [ Link ] [Tags: Semantic Web , Research ] [ Previous
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7
July 14th, 2010
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Closing the Digital Frontier
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=52863
July 14th, 2010
More on how the shift from browsers to mobile internet also
spells the end of the era of free. "They (Apple) are operating
on the largely correct assumption that people will be more
likely to pay for consumer-friendly apps via the iPad, and a
multitude of competing devices due out this year, than they are
to subscribe to the same old kludgy Web site they have been
using freely for years." Yes, well, we'll see how happy people
are to pay (and keep paying) for every little thing. Michael
Hirschorn , The Atlantic , July 13, 2010 5:14 p.m.. [ Link ]
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Published by: philosophyandrew
Somebody Explain This to Me
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=52862
July 14th, 2010
"Would somebody please explain to me why the new reform
agenda is made up of so many unproven or failed strategies?"
George Wood asks. "Everywhere I turn the mantra is the
same-fire teachers, close schools, start charters. Even from
people who should know better. One more thing, I also find
it interesting that some of the more powerful pushers of
these ideas are the so-called titans of Wall Street-the Broad
Foundation, Bill Gates of late, and Democrats for Education
Reform (a bunch of well-funded venture capitalists). Hey,
private capital did such a great job with the economy (and
oil wells) why not turn over our public schools to them?"
Related: the Rethink Learning Now education advocacy
toolkit. This is an excellent resource full of statistics, voting
records, resources and strategies. George Wood , The Forum
for Education and Democracy , July 13, 2010 9:49 a.m.. [ Link
] [Tags: Schools , Online Learning , Microsoft ] [ Previous ]
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Partnership to Enhance the
Discovery of Educational
Resources Using the Semantic
Web
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=52861
July 14th, 2010
IMS has announced a partnership with the Global Learning
Resource Collection (GLRC) to "help governments worldwide
set-up web-based directories of educational resources
searchable by national or state standards." According tot he
release, "GLRC supports the trans-jurisdictional mapping of
learning outcomes creating a globally connected, navigable
environment for publishing and finding learning resources."
8
July 14th, 2010 Published by: philosophyandrew
GLRC was created by JES & Co. , which took over management
of the Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM) from the U.S. Know Where: Connectivism's
Department of Education and converted it into the Gateway to Challenges for Longlife
21st Century Skills . "Since its establishment in the early 1990s,
JES & Co. has led and managed The Achievement Standards Learning and Professional
Network (ASN), The Partnership for 21st Century Skills , The
Gateway to 21st Century Skills (formerly known as GEM), the
Training in a Network Society
Source: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=52860
Dell Academy , the Intel Student Certification Program , and
July 14th, 2010
Microsoft's Partners in Learning ."
Interesting: Carla Maria Elias has created a 'Connectivism
Through these links I found iLearn Technology and, more Collage' combining images and video. The collage was created
importantly, the i:earn Technology Bloggers Alliance , a with Vuvox Collage , which I hadn't seen before now. Carla
collection of 48 educational technology bloggers. The 21st Maria Elias , elearning hoje , July 13, 2010 8:29 a.m.. [ Link ]
Century Skills bloggers - Peggy's Corner and Joann's Weekly [Tags: Connectivism , Video ] [ Previous ][ Next ]
Picks - have joined this 'alliance'. I've added all 48 to my Comments
aggregator. (This may not be new to you, but it's all new to me.)
Comment
I know people love public-private partnerships but I approach You are not logged in. [Login]
all this with some caution. Selecting a resource at random
(which I see after the fact was featured in Peggy's Corner) I Title
see that it's all about Peeps - the particular resource I looked
at was titled ' Explore Shadows ." The first link I licked in it - Your comment:
this one from WGBH , a PBS station in Boston - popped up a
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marketing survey from some research company (I closed it by
replies:
instinct and now I can't get it back). There are recommended
books , and a Peep Event Kit . According to the credits the
original Peep cartoons were created by Canada's National Your comments always remain your property, but in posting
Film Board while PEEP and the Big Wide World was created them here you agree to license under the same terms as this
by Eggbox Media, LLC . If I followed another resource, would site ( Creative Commons ). If your comment is offensive it will
it be tied with another product line? be deleted.
Press Release , IMS , July 13, 2010 9:27 a.m.. [ Link ] [Tags:
Google , Canada , Research , Web Logs , Patents , Blogger Automated Spam-checking is in effect. If you are a registered
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