By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. 6 Best Practices for Developing Competency-based Job Profiles
Unattributed, HRSG, 2015/02/25
This is advertorial content supporting marketing for HRSG’s CompetencyCore's profile builder, but it's also a good snapshot of where learning management is heading in the corporate space (and probably in the institutional space as well). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Questioning the Data
George Couros, Connected Principals, 2015/02/25
"There are a few things that I question when I hear schools talk about solely 'data driven'," writes George Couros. "Nothing works for everyone. Nothing.  So when we look at “proven methods”, we are often looking at something that is more focused on the “system” than an individual." More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Put Your Baby Photos Online
Dimitri Tokmetzis, Matter, 2015/02/25
This is a sign of the growing backlash against use of the CC-by license, and may well spur additional backlash. The authors have set up a commercial website that sells coffee mugs with CC-by photos of other people's infants and children on them. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Trends in Distance Education Research: A Content Analysis of Journals 2009-2013
Aras Bozkurt, et.al., The International Review of Research in Open, Distributed Learning, 2015/02/24
Some interesting nuggets in this article. It focuses entirely on research in a set of the seven most influential academic journals in the field of distance education, which would not count as my favourite data set in the world, but creates a listing based on academic journals of record. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Now This Is An Example Of Truly Educational Radio
Linda Poon, NPR | Goats, Soda, 2015/02/24
We've heard a lot about the ebola crisis in Sierra Leone, but less about how the education system is adapting. This article fills that gap a by by describing the educational radio service that has been put into place there. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. With few ideas to end its financial crisis, and austerity the theme in Edmonton, Athabasca U edges toward the precipice
David Climenhaga, Alberta Politics, 2015/02/24
I hope Athabasca gets through this and thrives. People don't always realize that Athabasca is widely viewed as a great example of Canadian innovation. My time with Athabasca was a valuable experience, and being associated with it has opened many doors for me. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Looking Up Symptoms Online? These Companies Are Tracking You
Brian Merchant, Motherboard, 2015/02/24
At a certain point, people will lose patience withy ther spying and treacking that goes on online. Maybe stuff like this, when it comes home to roost in a bad credit rating, will tip the scales. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. So, you need to understand language data? Open-source NLP software can help!
zelandiya, Entopix, 2015/02/24
There is almost no end to the sorts of analyses you can do with text. This diagram and article offer a fascinating exploration of the choices you can make, and of the many applications (often open source!) than can be used in text analysis. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. New Learning, New Society
Stephen Downes, Feb 23, 2015, Change School Talks 2015, Toronto

Talk given to the Chang School at Ryerson University outline the weakness of traditional models of online learning and arguing instead for a student-centered and self-organized system. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. OpenEdX and LTI: Pedagogical scripts and SSO
Stian Håklev, Random Stuff that Matters, 2015/02/23
lthough Learning Technologies Interoperability (LTI) was originally designed for learning management systems, it can also be adapted to MOOCs (especially MOOCs you have to sign in to access)(which aren't really MOOCs, but I digress). More...