By . There were at the workshop almost 150 participants from more than 30 countries, in the main part European, with over 40 selected research papers/presentations. The workshop was highly interactive, with lots of opportunity for discussion and dialogue, and formal presentations were kept to a minimum. Together with some very stimulating keynotes, the workshop provided a good overview of the current state of online, open and distance learning in Europe. From my perspective it was a very successful workshop. Read more...15 novembre 2014
The dissemination of research in online learning: a lesson from the EDEN Research Workshop
By . There were at the workshop almost 150 participants from more than 30 countries, in the main part European, with over 40 selected research papers/presentations. The workshop was highly interactive, with lots of opportunity for discussion and dialogue, and formal presentations were kept to a minimum. Together with some very stimulating keynotes, the workshop provided a good overview of the current state of online, open and distance learning in Europe. From my perspective it was a very successful workshop. Read more...A review of MOOCs and their assessment tools
By . Holy proliferating MOOCs!He starts with a taxonomy of MOOC instructional models, as follows:
cMOOCs
xMOOCs
BOOCs (a big open online course) – only one example, by a professor from Indiana University with a grant from Google, is given which appears to be a cross between an xMOOC and a cMOOC and had 500 participants.
DOCCs (distributed open collaborative course): this involved 17 universities sharing and adapting the same basic MOOC
LOOC (little open online course): as well as 15-20 tuition-paying campus-based students, the courses also allow a limited number of non-registered students to also take the course, but also paying a fee. Three examples are given, all from New England.
MOORs (massive open online research): again just one example is given, from UC San Diego, which seems to be a mix of video-based lecturers and student research projects guided by the instructors
SPOCs (small, private, online courses): the example given is from Harvard Law School, which pre-selected 500 students from over 4,000 applicants, who take the same video-delivered lectures as on-campus students enrolled at Harvard
SMOCs: (synchronous massive open online courses): live lectures from the University of Texas offered to campus-based students are also available synchronously to non-enrolled students for a fee of $550. Read more...
Knowmad Society
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Knowmad Society
John W. Moravec, Education Futures, 2014/11/09
Good diagram, overall. I don't know where it comes from, exactly; I found it on Facebook. I'm not sure how "not restricted by age" is a 'skill'. I would say "shares" rather than "invites sharing". More...
Connectivism and Composition: Toward a Networked Classroom
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Connectivism and Composition: Toward a Networked Classroom
Jason Tham, Weblog, 2014/11/09
Based on the slides this looks like an interesting talk, capturing the core ideas of connectivism. I also like seeing someone else with a proper presentation page, one including slides, audio, and eventually, a transcript. More...
Fall of the Banner Ad: The Monster That Swallowed the Web
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Fall of the Banner Ad: The Monster That Swallowed the Web
Harhad Manjoo, New York Times, 2014/11/09
The internet was originally a military and academic network designed for the free sharing of information and communications. As it began to be opened in the 1990s to allow commercial participation there was significant opposition to the introduction of advertising to the environment. These fears turned out to be well-founded, in my opinion, as much of what is bad about the web today can be traced back to the need to pursue clicks over content. More...
Beyond Borders: Global Learning in a Networked World
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Beyond Borders: Global Learning in a Networked World
Stephen Downes, Nov 10, 2014, Unbordering Education, Yerevan, Armenia
In this talk I address the phenomenon of open online learning, and in particular the massive open online course (MOOC), and discusses how it opens new frontiers in learning. Through their use of open educational resources and a student-centered pedagogy, MOOCs make learning accessible to people no matter where they live. This is resulting in the transformation of the global education system such that advanced and formal learning is becoming increasingly accessible and affordable. In this talk I talks about the transformation of educational systems talking place, the policy implications of open online learning, and the practical implementation of open online courses. More...
Managing Open Access publication
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Managing Open Access publication
Owen Stephens, Jisc Monitor, 2014/11/11
If you're reading this article and wondering what APCs are, you're not alone. There are dozens of things it could be, and the author doesn't even bother with a link, let along an expansion of the acronym. From the context, after a bit of sleuthing, I figured out that it probably means 'article processing charge'. More...
The Data on Diversity
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Data on Diversity
Beryl Nelson, Communications of the ACM, 2014/11/11
Diversity is an asset in pretty much any working or learning situation, but diversity can be a challenge, especially with participants who are not accustomed to diversity. This can result in bias and stereotyping among members, causing them to misrepresent or filter what other group members are saying or doing. More...
Federated Education: New Directions in Digital Collaboration
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Federated Education: New Directions in Digital Collaboration
Mike Caulfield, Hapgood, 2014/11/11
I think that this is quite a good proposal that has many merits. It begins by pointing to what is probably the central problem with Wikipedia: obtaining consensus within a very large community. "You go online to share it and you’re teleported past the personal and dialogic and suddenly find yourself having to defend the inclusion of this fact or this edit. More...
The Internet Archive launches its arcade: Classic games in a browser
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Internet Archive launches its arcade: Classic games in a browser
Christian Nutt, Gamasutra, 2014/11/13
From the 'mindless diversions' department of OLDaily: the Internet Archive has made available in-browser versions of classic arcade games, including Frogger, Joust and Galaga, to name just a few. Many of my old favorites are here (I was an arcade rat at the time the first video games came out; I actually paid money to play pong, and though I always preferred pinball (because you could get free games), I played many of the games listed here when they were new). More...
