By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Yikes! Turns Out Even Teachers Think Girls Are Bad At Math
Katherine Speller, MTV, 2015/07/16

When I was in grade 10 I took one of my drafting assignments, erased the grade, put someone else's name on it, and handed it in again. No, this was not in an effort to cheat (I also gave the teacher a sealed envelop describing the plan so this would be clear). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The role of personality in education
Martin Weller, The Ed Techie, 2015/07/16

Martin Weller wrote this about a week ago and as of now it has 54 comments, suggesting he has struck a nerve. There has been "a long tradition of removing the personal from teaching material," he writes, but "then along come MOOCs, and they’re all about the personality." cMOOCS, in particular, ", have a very strong cult of personality driving them." More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. How Textbooks Can Teach Different Versions Of History
Laura Isensee, NPR Ed, 2015/07/15

One of the things I like about the use of internet resources in education is that we are no longer constrained to a single view of the world as we were in the textbook age. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. BeLearning: Environments for Expanding Knowledge
Juan José Calderón Amador, e-learning, conocimiento en red, 2015/07/15

This is really interesting and embodies a lot of the sort of approach I favour: "BeLearning used new technologies through a blend training combining meeting, working and researching involving virtual spaces, digital tools and online platforms in a rich mix of interactions with traditional media: presentations, workshops, classes." More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Houston, I think We have a (Disengagement) Problem
Kelly Christopherson, Educational Discourse, 2015/07/15

You need engagement in education only when you're trying to get people to do things they don't want to do. Our insistence on this has bred the creativity out of them. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Stop Blaming ‘The System’
Dan Haesler, 2015/07/14

This is one of those posts where I'm half in agreement and half in disagreement. The essence of Dan Haesler's comment is that we should stop blaming what we can't change and start working on what we can change. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Some (further) thoughts about ‘agile’ learning design
Tony Bates, online learning and distance eductaion resources, 2015/07/14

If you want to learn about agile learning design, you are probably better off learning about agile software design - from which it is derived - than from reading about agile learning designe. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Introducing the Open Badges 101 course! [pre-alpha]
Doug Belshaw, 2015/07/14

It took me about ten minutes to go through the entire course as it is, which is basically a series of useful images linked in a linear path (next... next... next... - start here). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Bologna With Student Eyes 2015
European Students' Union, 2015/07/14

This is a long document and takes some time to work through. In a one-sentence nutshell, though: the ambitious plans outlined in the Bologna Plan have not been realized, largely because of inconsistent application across the member states. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Six Ways Continuing Education Can Close Canada's Skills Gap
Marie Bountrogianni, Huffington Post, 2015/07/14

Here are the "six continuing education trends that can help to close Canada's training gap," according to the Dean of the Change School, Marie Bountrogianni. More...