By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Financing Canadian Universities: A Self-Inflicted Wound
September 29, 2013
This is a five-part article (part one, part two, part three, part four, part five) that really could have been done in one long post. But it's worth reading even if inconveniently presented. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Froebel and the pedagogy of computing
Miles Berry, An Open Mind, September 29, 2013
Nice article describing the thinking and influence of 19th century German educator Friedrich Fröbel. Known as the inventor of kindergarten - "children's garden" - Froebel emphasized the importance of natural environments and play. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. IMS Global Announces Learn ing Analytics Interoperability Framework
Press Release, IMS Global, September 29, 2013
Announced by IMS: "IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS Global) has announced initial public release of the breakthrough Caliper Learning Analytics Framework and associated Sensor API (application programming interface)". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Better education can combat cyber-bullying, not legislation, expert says
Globe, Mail, Jill Mahoney, September 30, 2013
The thing with cyber-bullying and other inappropriate web use is that authorities seem to pretend that students and young people came up with these ideas all by themselves, and that if they are taught (or legislated into) proper behaviour, this would address the problem. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The 3 Ms, quality and instructional design of MOOCs
Sui Fai John Mak, Learner Weblog, February 26, 2013
A writer in the Association of Governing Boards magazine gets to the point of online learning in this article: Mission, MOOCs, & Money. It's a reasonably good overview (though I would question awarding somebody working in the 1970s the title of "father of the MOOC" (for the simple reason there was no online). Sui Fai John Mak, writing in the context of the Governing Boards article, focuses on the major question the boards face:

• Why are we online? Is the movement to or expansion of online education consistent with the institutional mission? Does and will it serve and advance the institutional mission? Or is the key issue in the discussion about online education—including any conversations about MOOCs—money?
• How do we assess quality—that of our own online offerings and those of others, including the MOOCs?
• What will it take to achieve our objectives in terms of online learning. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. MOOC Paths directory – alternatives to a college programs of study
MyEducationPath blog, February 26, 2013
There's another MOOC directoryh, this one mapping the path to a degree via MOOCs. "In the directory there will be published paths to get education degree using MOOCs and online courses. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. 1TB of Google Storage? Buy a Chromebook Pixel Instead
Alex Chitu, Google Operating System, February 26, 2013

According to my version of the Play Store, it's not for sale yet. But the marketing behind this Chromebook is very interesting. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Higher-Education Lobby Comes to Madison
Sara Goldrick-Rab, The Chronicle: The Conversation, February 26, 2013
I'm not sure whether 'the higher education lobby' refers to the author of this article, or the speaker being commented upon. Not a good start. Sara Goldrick-Rab posts a 'conversation' where she restates the case for MOOCs advanced by Molly Corbett Broad, president of the American Council of Education (ACE), and then criticizes it. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Saide Course Design and Materials Development Guide
South African Institute for Distance Education, February 22, 2013
The South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE) has just released this Course Design and Materials Development Guide. It's basically an online text with links to additional resources. According to SAIDE the purpose of the guide is to:

• assist education practitioners who are about to engage in designing and developing education and training programmes, courses and materials to understand what practices lead to quality;
• provide practical support in developing high quality programmes, courses and materials, through the use of a range of tools;
• inform the evaluation of programme, course and materials design. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Peers lament open access 'confusion'
Paul Jump, Times Higher Education, February 22, 2013
Britian's House of Lords has released a report critical of Research Council UK's recent policy on open access. It said that there was not enough consultation beforehand, that the policy wasn't articulated clarly enough, and that RCUK should have calculated the costs fo recommending a 'gold' model for open access, which requires that researchers or funders pay publishers to support open access. More...