Formation Continue du Supérieur

26 mai 2013

Free book on Open Educational Resources

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xfCgoGjD-ZY/UZsrmTmMj5I/AAAAAAAAB5c/kTv1NyCBaEw/s320/OER+book.jpg

By Inge Ignatia de Waard. While writing up a first workable draft for my probation report (to pass from MPhil to PhD student ... like a first exam, with a defence in front of a small jury), I came across this wonderful free book on Open Educational Resources. The book is a collaboration between UNESCO, Athabasca Uni, Commonwealth of Learning. It might be of interest to everyone looking into online learning, MOOC or simply looking for resources that can be embedded in your own course. OER are used around the world at this point, which gives the concept an added perspective, because an OER can be as local or as global as you make them, fitting the content and the goal of your own or any course. Where I must say I would love to see more local OER.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-voHDx65ku7U/UX4s1TwlH3I/AAAAAAAAB14/7GmYqiTZKDg/s195/titelpage%2Bfinal%2Bsmall.jpg

A short description of what you can expect by words of the editors of the book: The development and exchange of OER continues to be a technologically intensive process. Technological considerations in OER are not limited to authoring or remixing tools. Collaborative production of OER requires welldesigned and robust online spaces and infrastructure (Wikiwijs) and repositories. The latter can also be used to combine OER to create lesson plans online (Open Science Education Resources in Europe). Unless OER are consistently and adequately described, they cannot easily be located in online searches. The chapter on GLOBE considers these challenges and offers solutions. COL’s earlier publications on OER offered insights and advice on good institutional practices, business models and policy matters. Read more...

Posté par pcassuto à 17:53 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Partager cet article

Vous aimez ?

0 vote

26 mai 2013

The Myth and the Millennialism of "Disruptive Innovation"

By Audrey Watters. The Myth of Disruptive Innovation
Folklorists often balk at the common usage of the word “myth” to mean “lie.” A myth, by their disciplinary definition, is quite the opposite. A myth is a culture’s sacred story. It involves supernatural or supreme beings — gods. It explains origins and destinies. A myth is the Truth. So when I say then, that “disruptive innovation” is one of the great myths of the contemporary business world, particularly of the tech industry, I don’t mean by “myth” that Clayton Christensen’s explanation of changes to markets and business models and technologies is a falsehood. (I have an MA in Folklore, not an MBA — so that’s part of it, for sure.) Rather, my assigning “myth” to “disruptive innovation” is meant to highlight the ways in which this narrative has been widely accepted as unassailably true. No doubt (as a Harvard professor) Christensen has faced very little skepticism or criticism about his theory about the transformation of industries— why, it’s as if The Innovator’s Dilemma were some sort of sacred text. Read more...

Posté par pcassuto à 17:47 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Partager cet article

Vous aimez ?

0 vote

26 mai 2013

Chicago Closes 49 Public Schools and edX Expands to 15 New Ones

By Audrey Watters. The Chicago Public Schools Board of Education — appointees of Mayor Rahm Emanuel — voted to close 49 schools in the city, the biggest single mass closure of schools in the nation’s history. A federal judge has scheduled hearings in July to decide whether to proceed with the closures after the Chicago Teachers Union filed suits alleging racial discrimination and a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Read more...

Posté par pcassuto à 17:45 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Partager cet article

Vous aimez ?

0 vote

26 mai 2013

Four graduates on how universities can better prepare students for the work force

By James Bradshaw. The latest crop of university graduates started in the midst of a global recession and is now leaving to find work in a lacklustre economy. Many are realistic about their prospects of finding full-time jobs, but as James Bradshaw writes, some are calling on universities to build work opportunities into their programs – even in the humanities. Read more...

Posté par pcassuto à 11:52 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Partager cet article

Vous aimez ?

0 vote

26 mai 2013

Class of 2013 demands more from universities: help us find jobs

By James Bradshaw.The class of 2013 entered university against a backdrop of economic havoc. The global financial crisis was a year old, job prospects were grim, layoffs were constant and parents were watching their nest eggs take a beating.
This latest crop of graduates was perhaps fortunate to ride out the worst of the recession from the calm of a campus library, but it is now time for many of them to navigate the slow-growth economy. As a recovery refuses to take hold, the lack of youth job opportunities in Canada and other advanced economies is not predicted to fall substantially before 2018, while temporary contract positions are proliferating. Read more...

Posté par pcassuto à 11:51 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Partager cet article

Vous aimez ?

0 vote

26 mai 2013

Universities as economic asset

By Paul David Son. Convocation halls across the country will be full in the coming weeks as new graduates, rightly proud of their achievements, reach out to receive their degrees. While a few steps toward the podium complete a years-long journey for each individual, the scrolled parchment represents a decades-long evolution that has established Canada's position as a global leader in quality postsecondary education.
Among the audience, parents and guests will think back to their own time on campus. Make no mistake: This is not your father's degree. Nor is it your mother's university. In sheer numbers, there is no comparison. In the last dozen years, Canadian universities have made space for a 50% increase in full-time enrolment, bringing the number of students served each year in credit programs to more than 1.2 million. Read more...

Posté par pcassuto à 11:48 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Partager cet article

Vous aimez ?

0 vote

26 mai 2013

Profit push worries campuses

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/www2.canada.com/images/newspapers/edmontonjournal/widgets/paper_image.gif

By Sheila Pratt. Alberta's push for increasing commercialization of university-led research is raising concerns on campus about growing pressure to produce for profit and how to protect academic independence.
Supporters and critics of commercialization agree that without private-sector cash, many breakthroughs and inventions might not make it to market. Many professors are keen to move into a commercial aspect of their research.
But the province needs to keep its eyes wide open as it goes down this road, says Tim Caulfield, an expert in health research ethics at the University of Alberta who has written extensively on the impact of "creeping commercialization" on campuses. Read more...

Posté par pcassuto à 11:46 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Partager cet article

Vous aimez ?

0 vote

26 mai 2013

Episode 17 of Bibliotech: Citation and social media

By Rochelle Mazar. What do Twitter, Tumblr and citations have in common? Welcome to BiblioTech – the podcast about emerging technologies for academics. Your host is Rochelle Mazar, an emerging technologies librarian at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Every month you can listen in as Rochelle talks about what's new in technology and what academics should be paying attention to. It's hard to keep up with all of the new software, tools and gadgets. That's where Rochelle comes in.
Episode 17 - Citation and social media
In this episode Rochelle looks at what social media can teach us about plagiarism and citation. (Running time: 14:18 mins).
Check out the previous BiblioTech episodes:
Episode 16: Virtual worlds and virtual objects
Episode 15: Online pseudonyms
Episode 14: Course readings
Episode 13: Plagiarism
Episode 12: Wikipedia
Episode 11: Audio and video assignments
Episode 10: Much ado about hardware
Episode 9: Course websites
Episode 8: Digital natives
Episode 7: Information overload
Episode 6: Productivity tools
Episode 5: Academe in 2015
Episode 4: Search vs. browsing
Episode 3: Campus courseware
Episode 2: Cloud Storage
Episode 1: Breakfast with Twitter. Read more...

Posté par pcassuto à 11:41 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Partager cet article

Vous aimez ?

0 vote

26 mai 2013

Federal research institutes should host crowdfunding initiatives

By Jonathan Thon. The recent Jumpstart Our Business Act, which U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law in March, allows crowdfunding to be used to sell shares to the public. While there are strict limits to how much “unsophisticated investors” will be allowed to commit to a single company, companies will be able to sell shares to individual investors without having to go through a public offering. Since laboratories in academic research settings such as hospitals and universities represent private companies, why not apply a crowdfunding model to academic science? I have long ventured that the public’s apathy to most of the research taking place on their behalf results not from a lack of interest, but a failure of scientists to properly communicate their goals and findings; and a recent string of successful applications of this model to basic research projects appear to support my view that crowdfunding science works (see here and here). Read more...

Posté par pcassuto à 11:38 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Partager cet article

Vous aimez ?

0 vote

26 mai 2013

What if it’s not about where you are going?

By Jo VanEvery. In my last post, I suggested that you don’t have to figure out what to do with your life. I want to explore that idea a bit more. As Barrie Thorne noted back in 1987, we often look at children as who they are becoming rather than as who they are in a specific time and place. Despite the rise of other modes of studying children, this tendency to think in developmental time still dominates discourses of childhood (scholarly and otherwise). I would argue that it frames most discussions of postsecondary education (undergraduate and graduate) and early career jobs. This is not only infantilizing but, as Thorne noted, diverts attention from the specific historical and personal conditions in which you are “developing”. Read more...

Posté par pcassuto à 11:30 - Commentaires […] - Permalien [#]

Partager cet article

Vous aimez ?

0 vote