By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. H1 2015 International Learning Technology Investment Patterns
Sam Adkins, Ambient Insight, 2015/07/28

Ambient Insight has released a report describing a huge increase in investments in ed tech. "In the six month period between January and June 2015, $2.51 billion was invested in learning technology companies across the globe. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Here's How 20,000 Reddit Volunteers Fight Trolls, Spammers, And Played-Out Memes
Steven Melendez, Fast Company, 2015/07/28

Interesting article not only because it describes how Reddit's community of volunteers manages to filter the discussion forums, but also because it makes it clear the impact of unmoderated speech. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Rethinking 'What Counts'
Audrey Watters, Hack Education, 2015/07/28

This is a reprint of an Audrey Watters article that appeared in a paywall site back in April. She writes: "Learning is not a counting noun," says Dave Cormier, "so what should we count?". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web.  The #blimage challenge spreads
Steve Wheeler, Learning With Es, 2015/07/27

It has been quite a while (years, really) since we've seen such an outburst of fresh writing in the edublogosphere. The current deluge is courtesy of the #blimage (blog image) challenge issued by Amy Burvall, which she explains in a video: one person sends the other an image, the other writes a blog post about education related to the image. HJ.DeWaard explains more. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Trouble with Pinker's Argument about 'The Trouble With Harvard'
Cathy Davidson, HASTAC, 2015/07/27

What does elite education provide, and why do the rich do whatever it takes to gain entrance into top tier institutions? If we don't understand this, we don't understand what we need to provide for everyone else. Here's the full study. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Higher Education: Access Denied
Graham Brown-Martin, Medium, 2015/07/27

This is a small thing, but illustrative: the correct expression is "struck a chord", not "struck a cord". Why does that even matter? The former shows that you understand what the words mean, while the latter shows that you are parroting by rote. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Open teaching and learning
Jenny Mackness, Learning, Open teaching, 2015/07/27

It can be more difficult to teach in an open environment. Janny Mackness observes, "being ‘in the open’ raises security alarm bells for some tutors. What if their students post the less than perfect (in their eyes) videos they have made on Facebook. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Memory is more than Ebbinghaus
Donald H Taylor, 2015/07/27

Good post which to me shows why we can't simply rely on mechanical generalizations to understand learning. Donald Taylor writes on Herman Ebbinghaus's 'forgetting curve', which basically shows how memories decline over time. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Join the Nano Open Online Courses (NOOCs) Adventure!
Zaid Ali Alsagoff, ZaidLearn, 2015/07/24

The idea of a nano-MOOC is that it is a very short MOOC. Zaid Ali Alsagoff writes, "Instead of having to do the whole course, I can now focus on the juice (I want), get assessed, and be certified (or Badged) on it. Yes, a NOOC is more granular, chunked, digestible, meaningful (evidence) and juicy!" More...