By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Performance funding: The burden of proof
Graeme Stewart, Academic Matters, 2015/03/20
As someone who has been a supporter of online learning for something like the last 25 years I can certainly attest that the burden of proof has been on those proposing the change. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. How Millennials Get News: Inside the habits of America’s first digital generation
Media Insight Project, American Press Institute, 2015/03/20
Publications are adjusting to the changing interests of millennials. "Adults age 18-34 do not visit news sites, read print newspapers, watch television news, or seek out news in great numbers," reports Media Insight Project. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. What do cMOOC participants talk about in Social Media? What do cMOOC participants talk about in Social Media? A Topic Analysis of Discourse in a cMOOC
Srecko Joksimovic, Research Gate, 2015/03/20
One of the major differences between connectivist MOOCs (cMOOCs) and content-focused MOOCs (xMOOCs) is that participation in the former isn't limited to one single site, but is instead spread all over social networks. This presents unique challenges to learning analytics, some of which are explored by Srećko Joksimović and Marek Hatala in their paper Learning Analytics for Networked Learning Models. In What do cMOOC participants talk about in Social Media? In What do cMOOC participants talk about in Social Media? More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Believe it or not, "learning styles" don't exist
Simon Oxenham, Big Think | Neurobonkers, 2015/03/20
Sure, let's revisit this old debate and its one-note protagonist, Daniel Willingham. Here's my (definitive) response: The research doesn't tell us that learning styles don't exist, it tells us that differentiated instruction based on learning styles does not significantly improve educational outcomes. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Coding is not the new literacy
Chris Granger, 2015/03/20
"Being literate isn't simply a matter of being able to put words on the page," writes Chris Granger, "it's solidifying our thoughts such that they can be written. Interpreting and applying someone else's thoughts is the equivalent for reading. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Pearson, PARCC, Privacy, Surveillance, & Trust
Audrey Watters, Hack Education, 2015/03/20
The Audrey Wattrers column on the Pearson spying case raises more questions than answers, but that's OK. And it still carries the inimitable Watters style. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. New structures (MOOCs) demand new ethics?
Jenny Mackness, Jenny Connetced, 2015/03/20
Keith Hamon comments, ‘New structures demand new ethics’, and Jenny Mackness writes, "On reading this, I immediately wondered whether this is true." I personally don't think that new structures require new ethics per se but I could perhaps be persuaded that we need to frame them differently. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. I’m a 12-year-old girl. Why don’t the characters in my apps look like me?
Madeline Messer, Washington Post, 2015/03/19
This article caught my eye not only because it flags a pervasive issue in the gaming community but because it also reflects considerable interest and initiative by a 12-year old net-generation student. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Investing in Curation: A Shared Path to Sustainability - The 4C Roadmap
Various authors, 4C, 2015/03/19
You will have to search around a bit and then use a little intuition to discern that '4C' stands for "Collaboration to Clarify the Costs of Curation". More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Privacy Pitfalls as Education Apps Spread Haphazardly
Natasha Singer, New York Times, 2015/03/19
“A teacher can sign up for anything, without the knowledge of anyone else in the district,” said Steve Young, the chief technology officer of the Judson Independent School District (in the U.S. 'independent' is a synonym for 'private'). More...
