By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Why a staggering number of Americans have stopped using the Internet the way they used to
Andrea Peterson, Washington Post, 2016/05/17
The internet used to be so cool. But now people are afraid to use it. That's the gist of this article in the Washington Post which cites statistics showing that privacy and security fears are preventing people from using the net the way they'd like to. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. CASS / Competency And Skills System
Various authors, Website, 2016/05/16
To be launched on May 24, the Competency and Skills Systems project aims "to facilitate the transition to competency-based education, training, and credentialing through the development and dissemination of open source infrastructure and tools." It is being coordinated by the American Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) proigram, which develops technology on behalf of the U.S. military. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Universities must enter the digital age or risk facing irrelevance
Don Tapscott, Toronto Star, 2016/05/16
I have to admit that I am impressed by the way Don Tapscott has found something current, used it to reinforce his core message, and released a book with a slew of publicity that is going to keep himself (and his son Alex) employed for some time into the future. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Books are back. Only the technodazzled thought they would go away
Simon Jenkins, The Guardian, 2016/05/16
This is just an example of some of the ridiculous assertions still being published in the traditional media. I realize that opinion columns should represent all perspectives, but the denial of reality should not be one of them. If you go into your local bookstore (if you can find a local bookstore) you'll find it selling knick-knacks, toys, food, and pretty much everything but books. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Culture and effective online learning environments
Tony Bates, online learning and distance education resources, 2016/05/16

Tony Bates has some sharp and insightful points on culture. "Culture is a critical component of any learning environment," he writes. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Battle for “Personalized Learning”
Michael Feldstein, e-Literate, 2016/05/13
I actually don't care who defines 'personalized learning' nor how they define it so long as I can keep distinguishing it from 'personal learning'. But I think it's far-fetched to say "it seems to have no specific meaning at all" and even more so to say that "it means... robot tutor in the sky" (and yes, of course Knewton was over-reaching - anyone who understands how this technology works understands that it has been over-reaching). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Uber-U is Already Here
2016/05/13

Look at the elements of what we're calling here "Uber U" (quoted):

• A mobile app that enables a user to connect to a central hub, which then connects student needs with available tutoring or other forms of help from around the world
• A tracking system which enables fees to be charged and transferred between the student and the tutor.
• Online assessments which can verify the competence and skills of the student and their identity.
• A blockchain system which records all aspects of every transaction so that the credential awarding institution can verify that learning took place.

It would have been nice to be working toward this. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Refusing to Be Measured
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 2016/05/13

The battle shaping up over Academic Analytics is an interesting one. The service basically measures the publication and citation activity of some 270,000 faculty members. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Schools as Knowledge-Building Organizations: Thirty Years of Design Research
Bodong Chen, Huang-Yao Hong, Educational Psychologist, 2016/05/13
Good overview of a complex topic. "Knowledge creation is proposed as a third 'metaphor' of learning—in addition to the learning as acquisition and participation metaphors," write the authors, and now "Knowledge Building (KB) aims to move beyond metaphor to the realization of education as a knowledge-creating enterprise." More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web.This AI has killer dance moves
Nora Young, CBC | Spark, 2016/05/13

Driving back from a lunch meeting I listened to this interesting program on Spark about LuminAI, a computer program that learns to dance by dancing with you. More...