By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Amway Journalism
Corey Pein, The Baffler, Aug 10, 2014
I'm not even remotely a fan of Jeff Jarvis, but I think that this criticism of him is a bit unfair. Curey Pein writes, "In their long and seemingly hopeless search for answers, journalists have internalized the abusive rhetoric of the 'disruption' brigade. Jarvis tells beleaguered journalists that they themselves, the lowly content-serfs—not short-sighted newspaper proprietors, not the Wall Street backers of corporate media conglomerates, not the sociopathic unchecked tech monopolies, not hostile politicians and prosecutors—are to blame for their sudden loss of livelihood." On the one hand, it's quite true that the technological age has led to exploitation (but mind you, what age has not?). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. From Open To Connected
Gardner Campbell, Gardner Writes, Aug 10, 2014
One of the points I've tried to make over the years is that open learning requires commented learning, and vice versa. That's why the drive to trivialize the 'open' in MOOC isn't just an accessibility problem, it's a pedagogical problem. Campbell writes, "we may well have missed the greater and more important aims that “open” strives toward. And while there’s no way to protect words from being twisted or co-opted, the phenomena of “openwashing” and the long long O in MOOC are troubling indicators that what initially seemed to be the language of openness may have fought shy of the question of what the openness was for. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. How 'Google Science' could transform academic publishing
Liat Clark, Wired, 2014/08/20
According to Wired, "Google is allegedly working on a free, open access platform for the research, collaboration and publishing of peer-reviewed scientific journals." Kent Anderson responds, "I recommend that you read the entire article. As a piece of journalism, though, it is irresponsible. You can see the author straining to make a story out of whispers. There is nothing to report here." What makes the rumour plausible is that it's the sort of thing Google would do, and if it desired, could do. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Chromebox and Chromebase - definite contenders for desktop replacements
David Andrade, Educational Technology Guy, 2014/08/20
I'm not yet ready to make the leap to Google's Chromebox and Chromebase but my recent experience with a Windows 8 debacle (downloaded videos that refused to play because I was not online) pushes me away from Mocrosoft and back into thinking there may be alternatives. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Top 10 reasons to trust Microsoft in the cloud
Tim Bush, Microsoft UK Schools News Blog, 2014/08/22
OK, I'll be pretty blunt about this: don't trust Microsoft in the cloud. I speak from personal experience: I paid Microsoft for online products (specifically, videos) and thanks to some back-end account problem, I cannot play those videos. My efforts over the last few weeks to fix this have been fruitless. Their online assistance helps for a bit, but then loses interest and stops responding. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Recent Research Review -- Reviewed (and Lamented)
Will Thalheimer, Will at Work Learning, 2014/08/22
I will admit that this article is an excellent read and that if you are in the field and haven't read it, you should correct this oversight immediately. If you really really don't have time this overview from Will Thalheimer will do nicely. I think that if you are supportive of mainstream research in training and development you'll have no issue with most of the contents and will appreciate the liberal selection of references to bolster the assertions made. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Deep Learning Tutorials
Juan José Calderón Amador, e-learning, conocimiento en red, 2014/08/15
There is a risk - and I see it instantiated in this post - of confusing two concepts with the label 'deep learning'. The one, typified by the chart at the top of the post, focuses on the distinction between understanding and mere memorization. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Punished for Its Mission?
Ry Rivard, Inside Higher Ed, Aug 09, 2014
There's more than a little hyperbole in this story, which describes a small liberal arts college that does not score well on metrics because it's designed to help people get jobs or university placements outside the state of Florida, where it's funded. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Personalization and the 2 Sigma Problem
Arthur VanderVeen, EdSurge, Aug 10, 2014
"Personalization." writes Arthur VanderVeen, "is defined as differentiating instruction and providing regular corrective feedback based on the needs of each student." But it's very expensive to do effectively for groups of students. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. BlendKit 2014: Choose Your Own Teaching and Learning Adventure
Melissa Loble, Canvas by Instructure, Aug 10, 2014
There was once this think called 'programmed learning' which was essentially designed as a series of branches and options (like a computer program). Originally pioneered by B.F. Skinner, it was all the rage for a while, but has virtually disappeared. More...