Academic Jibberish
Stephen Krashen, SKrashen, January 6, 2014
One thing I strive for is clarity in my writing. It's because I'm lazy - I find it a lot easier to write something that is short and clear than to couch ideas in a cloak of academic jargon. But I still have to read it. And I agree, "A great deal of academic writing is incomprehensible even to others in the same area of scholarship." Now the situation isn't as bad as portrayed by McLeans, which focuses on a blog called LOL My Thesis, where students submit plain English versions of their thesis topics. More...

Learning Analytics: Readiness and Rewards
Norm Friesen, Canadian Journal of Learning, Technology, January 1, 2014
Norm Friesen examines learning analytics "by looking at two main levels at which learning analytics can be or has been implemented in educational organizations." He advises that institutions adopt an incremental approach (which is kind of like advising that people get some sleep every day or that babies should be fed milk). More...

George Siemens Gets Connected
Steve Kolowich, The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 14, 2014
Nice article. George does have a doctorate, so I assume the repeated references to "Mr. Siemens" are a mistake. It's a nice gentle story that has some nice insights. More...

Gardens of Discussion: What Makes Online Communities Work?
John Drummond, Academic Technology, January 15, 2014
This is one of those posts that feels like it's about half the length it should be - it starts out really well and then just tails off when it gets interesting. Still, there are some good bits, and I haven't linked to this site before, so it's worth a mention. More...

Sebastian Thrun: World's First Massive Online Degree Program Starts Today
Udacity Blog, January 15, 2014
They write: ">A total of 2,360 students applied within the 3-week application period. This is about 75% more than normally apply for the on-campus degree over the duration of an entire year. Of this pool, 375 have been accepted and start today." Not very massive. More...

The Changing Landscape and the New Academy
Like it or now (and to judge by some of the stuff out there, a lot of people don't like it), we are moving toward learner centered learning. This artice documents some of the major facets of that trend. More...

The Academic Industrial Complex
Good article documenting the conversion of academia into a profit center, a theme familiar to readers of these pages. "Market. Consumers. Branding. That we take for granted that higher education is a business is a huge step toward the marketization of higher education." One nice thing about this article is that it draws a clear dark line between the growing commercialism of academia and its continuing retreat from the principles of public education. More...

Purposely Dumbing Down and Mythic Education?
Perhaps prompted by the flurry of back-to-school articles, there has been a renewed interest in the concept of the dumbing-down of education (or whatever you want to call it). More...

Learning Communities and Learning Networks
Short article tha gets at the heart of some of the fundamental changes facing education in the years ahead. More...