By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Bitcoins of Learning?
Unknown, Wikispaces, Jul 22, 2014
There isn't time (nor bandwidth in what has become terrible airport lounge wifi over the years) but I think that the concept of a bitcoin for learning is a really bad idea. I get the concept - students are looking for more than just grades; they want a learning 'currency' they can take with them to the workplace. And "currency, ideally, must travel, quickly and simply, and as widely as possible. It's a reductionist, simplistic mode of social interaction." More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. I am a young person who solves crossword puzzles and maybe you should be one too
Boone B Gorges, Teleogistic, Jul 25, 2014
It's probably not for everyone but as Boone Georges says, crossword puzzles are great for augmenting pattern recognition skills. I don't solve nearly the number he does, but I enjoy my Sunday Times crossword - I save them and solve them on flights to Montreal or Toronto (which gives me about a two-hour window). More...

By Marc Singer - EvoLLLution. In the last few years, the proprietary higher education institutions — the for-profit schools — have been on the firing line. They have been investigated by Congress for exploiting federal Title IV financial aid guidelines, pursuing profits at the expense of serving their students. More...