Blog "Il y a une vie après le bac" d'Olivier Rollot. Rapprocher l’université Paris-Sud (Orsay), l’École Polytechnique ou encore HEC dans un grand ensemble pluridisciplinaire de dimension mondiale, c’est l’objectif du Campus Paris-Saclay, qui donnera naissance à une véritable université de 60 000 étudiants le 1er janvier 2014. À sa tête depuis 2011, Dominique Vernay a dû affronter bien des tempêtes mais est aujourd’hui résolument optimiste pour un projet qui mobilise près de 2,5 milliards d’euros.
Olivier Rollot : Depuis son lancement en 2008, la création de la grande université Paris-Saclay est tout sauf une promenade de santé. Aujourd’hui tout va bien ?
Dominique Vernay : Notre objectif est de créer une université fédérale ayant une marque forte, sur le modèle par exemple de Cambridge. Mais comment chaque établissement prend-il sa place dans cet ensemble qui sera visible mondialement ? C’est logique qu’il y ait eu des difficultés quand on veut rapprocher autant d’institutions de grand renom, qui sont souvent les meilleures dans leur spécialité et veulent préserver leur marque. Suite...

You do not need a Kindle to read the MOOC eBook. Download a free Kindle app, see here.
Inge Ignatia de Waard was born in 1967 in Antwerp, Belgium. She is currently researching mobile learning and MOOCs at the Open University of the United Kingdom. She has a background in IT and pedagogy (studied at Athabasca University, Canada) and has been an international public speaker, addressing audiences across continents on the subject of online, MOOC and mobile learning. Writing has been a consistent factor, producing articles for magazines and journals such as the Learning Solutions magazine, as well as authoring research papers and chapters.
Her professional path has been eclectic, following the grand tradition of all students that do not fit universal formal education ... only to return to it later in life. Past professions include: preparing food for film crews (resulting in startlingly new dishes that surpass tasteful palettes), cleaning offices (using the dust-under-carpet method frequently) and waiting on tables for artists and art lovers in a famous Belgian theater company (being renowned for having a morning temper matching even the most fierce of actors) ... after quick iterations as a photographer, film critic and stand-up comedian, Inge finally found a place where she could voice opinions openly while lobbying for equal rights. The Vrouwen Overleg Komitee willingly employed her, which got Inge started on organizing big events, networking across political parties and online learning while using technology to disseminate content, as well as connect with peers.
As part of a midlife crisis she sought to improve the world, so Inge changed jobs and started to work for one of the finest research centers on tropical diseases: the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belgium. After years of engaging, setting up and supporting mHealth and online projects, she decided to enroll as a full time PhD student at the renowned Open University of United Kingdom. Now she is dedicated to write up low-cost eBooks on the subject of technology enhanced learning.

By Inge Ignatia de Waard. While MOOC are of interest for any training and learning, the surplus of mobile learning or mLearning can not be underestimated. In many ways I feel that the benefits that mLearning offers would add to many MOOC environment. To me a future training platform would merge both mLearning features, as well as MOOC options to come to an ultimate online learning environment that caters intuitively (read ubiquitously) to the learner's own contexts ans needs. But before getting there a couple of hurdles need to be taken, to me the most difficult challenges are:

By Inge Ignatia de Waard. Although developing informal badges are one of the key debates in MOOCs and online learning in general today, not all institutes belief it to be worth investing. Which is a pity, as open badges in a more 'formal' (if that is possible) way might allow people to really add credentials to their name and build up a reputation (even an expertise) from there.
My first encounter with informal badges was through discussion forums where the more reputed, helpful participants got several stars next to their name, indicating their answers were worth reading. But as time went by those informal badges captured the attention of public, learning projects. One of which was the iSpot project, a UK start-up that started out as a mobile learning project to allow amateur as well as expert explorers of the wild natural environment to exchange notes, learn from each other and gain extra expertise. More...

By Inge Ignatia de Waard. And adding to the call for papers I send out earlier today, a call send out by a MOOC conference.
Name of the conference: European MOOCs Stakeholder Summit (eMOOC) 2014
Date of conference: 10, 11 and 12 February 2014
Location: Lausanne, Switzerland.
Deadline for submission of papers: 20 September 2013
More information: http://www.emoocs2014.eu/
Description of the conference:
Organised by the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and P.A.U. Education the event aims to be an opportunity to gatherEuropean actors involved in the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) phenomenon, from policy makers to practitioners andresearchers. This conference is the follow-up of the MOOC Summit 2013. More...

By Audrey Watters. MOOOOOOOOOOOOOCs
Remember in January when Udacity and San Jose State University announced a pilot program where the latter would offer college credit for classes offered by the former? Remember how Techcrunch said it would “end college as we know it?” Well, there’s MOOC-egg on some faces this week as SJSU plans to “pause” the effort, citing the poor performance of enrolled students. “74 percent or more of the students in traditional classes passed, while no more than 51 percent of Udacity students passed any of the three courses,” according to Inside Higher Ed. It’s worth noting that SJSU students taking edX classes, which are offered in a “blended” rather than “online-only” setting, seem to be doing better than those in traditional classes. More...

By Audrey Watters. Testing Sturm und Drang
“New York Fails Common Core Tests,” reads the Politico headline. “Test Scores Sink as New York Adopts Tougher Benchmarks,” says The New York Times. “New York State Stops Lying to Children – and That’s a Good Thing,” says Dropout Nation. So yeah, lots of sturm und drang this week as New York State released the results of how students performed on this year’s tests – tests that were aligned with the new Common Core State Standards. Fewer than a third passed.
The Wyoming Department of Education also released the scores for its 2013 Proficiency Assessments for Wyoming Students this week. The proficiency rates declined across all grade levels and content areas when compared to the 2012 exams. This year’s exams were partially aligned with the Common Core State Standards. More...

By Audrey Watters. The (Federal, State, and City) Politics of Education
Philadelphia School District officials say that schools in the city will open on time now that the city has promised to come up with the $50 million the district says it needs. For a look at the struggles that teachers in Philly have faced over recent years, read the recap of recent school district history by Mary Beth Hertz.
NCLB waivers are at risk in three states, Politico’s Caitlin Emma reports. Kansas, Oregon, and Washington are now considered “at risk” by the Department of Education as they haven’t sufficiently tied student performance to teacher and principal evaluations.
But Maine, I guess, is behaving nicely as the Department of Education approved this week the state’s NCLB waiver request.
Louisiana is boosting the funding for its new Course Choice program, which allows high school students to receive credits for classes taken from a variety of vendors, including for-profit companies. 4000 students have signed up so far.
The Department of Education says it will reconsider changes it made to the eligibility for Parent PLUS Loans. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, denials for loans “shot up by 50 percent for parents of students at historically black colleges and universities,” which along with members of Congress, have asked the DOE to revisit the new rules.
After closing a record number of schools, Chicago Public Schools is now requesting applications for new charter school operators for the 2014–2015 and 2015–2016 school year. Because "screw you," I guess.
New York City says it will issue scorecards on teacher colleges. Because "data," I guess.
Two people were shot, one fatally, along the Chicago Public Schools’ “Safe Passage” route on Saturday. The “Safe Passage” route has been touted by city officials as a way for thousands of students to get to and from school safely, many of whom have been affected by the recent school closures in the city and will have to walk farther this academic year.
South Korea is moving forward with its plans to use digital textbooks throughout the country. According to the Yonhap News Agency, the education minister says that “social studies and science textbooks are being developed for third- and fourth-year students of elementary schools and first- or second-year middle school students.
India has launched a national repository for open educational resources. More...

More and more international students are coming to Canada because our post-secondary tuition is less expensive than in other top education markets around the world, new research has found.
In 2013, a record 100,000 international students came to Canada, an increase of 60% since 2004, according to an HSBC Bank Canada report.
With average annual fees of US$18,474, Canada is cheaper than the U.K. ($19,291), the United Arab Emirates ($21,371), the U.S. ($25,226), and the most expensive, Australia ($25,375). More...

By David Kent. When I was in the early stages of my undergraduate degree, I thought long and hard about doing an MBA in combination with science. It seemed to me that the sector was underdeveloped in Canada and good science training was going to be essential to a successful career. I was motivated to go out and create products that were useful for people and make money while doing so. That was circa 2001 and, upon reflection, I believe that my science mentors from 3rd year undergraduate onwards steered me away from the biotech industry repeatedly and uncompromisingly – demonizing such careers as “selling out” or “not real science.” To be fair, I am quite happy with where I ended up and the scientific mentoring I have received along the way has been incredible, but some part of me wonders how much of a demographic shift in science training could be achieved if the impressions left on young minds were different. More...