Desire2Learn on Tuesday announced an upgraded version of its learning management system has begun rolling out to the company’s roughly 750 clients. The newest version of the Learning Suite reflects the series of startups Desire2Learn has acquiredin recent months, including group collaboration software created by Wiggio. Read more...
Two days after massive open online course provider Coursera announced the creation of a Chinese-language web portal, edX on Thursday unveiled a new consortium of Chinese partner universities during an event in Beijing. Some of the universities that will join the initiative, called XuetangX, include Beijing Normal University, China Agricultural University, the Harbin Institute of Technology, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, National Tsing Hua University, Tsinghua University, the University of Science and Technology of China, and Zhejiang University. The first online courses will launch on Oct. 17. Read more...
The French Ministry of Higher Education has announced the launch of France’s national massive open online course (MOOC) and blended learning portal, which will use edX’s open source learning platform. The portal will provide French-speaking students with edX’s cutting-edge online education technology, increasing their access to education and helping transform learning on campuses across France.
This online effort is part of a larger national educational initiative funded by the Ministry called France Université Numerique, which will be open to all French universities and will provide France with a state-of-the art site and technology platform.
Over 100 higher education institutions throughout France will participate in the new national MOOC portal. The first 20 courses will be launched at the end of October and will start in January 2014.
“This marks the first time a national education ministry has embraced online learning,” said edX President Anant Agarwal. “France’s adoption of the edX platform is a testament to the power of online education and the potential of edX’s open source platform.”
While powered by edX’s open source platform, France’s new MOOC portal will be independent, separate and distinct from edX.org.
About edX
EdX is a not-for-profit enterprise composed of 29 leading global institutions, the xConsortium. Founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, edX is focused on transforming online and on-campus learning through groundbreaking methodologies, game-like experiences and cutting-edge research on an open source platform. EdX provides inspirational and transformative knowledge to students of all ages, social status, and income who form worldwide communities of learners. EdX is focused on people, not profit, and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the USA.
October 3, 2013
Contact:
Dan O'Connelloconnell@edx.org
617-48-6585
By Matt Reed. Last week, Rebecca Schuman did a wonderful meditation on a job ad from Sewanee that touched off quite a discussion, including here. This week, Cheryl Ball offered a more global how-to on reading faculty job postings. The trend of reading job ads as texts strikes me as positive, and someday -- when I’m feeling a little braver -- I may do the same for some administrative postings. But in the meantime, I was struck by some of the commentary to Ball’s piece in which various readers claimed that it’s possible, by this phrase or that one, to know what a committee is reallylooking for. Read more...
By Margaret Andrews. There is a new report out, Coding Nation, by the Kapor Center for Social Impact. The report, and accompanying database, lists a variety of “coding academies” and other resources that teach people about computer science and coding. The over 300 listed resources represent a variety of formats including (from the website). Read more...
By G. Rendell. I've been spending the front half of this week in Nashville. Compared to Backboro (or any place I can think of in the northeastern US), Nashville strikes me as stereotypically "American" (franchise outlets, loud music, overdressed women of all ages) and humid. Still, in many ways, it's not a bad town. And it's where this year's AASHEconference just concluded. Read more...
By Eric Stoller. Last week, I wrote a rare list post of "20 Higher Education Professionals to Follow on Twitter." That was the original title. After going through the editorial process, the post went public as "20 Pros to Follow." Either way, the post featured 20 amazing higher education professionals who you should follow. Interestingly, the list was made up entirely of women. Now, I had no idea that a list of awesome women would have two distinct reactions. The first reaction that permeated throughout Twitter and Facebook was one of positivity. People were excited that their colleagues, mentors, and friends were featured in a follow Friday post. Read more...
By Joshua Kim. Ray Schroeder gave an amazing plenary talk this past weekend at the Teaching Professor Technology Conference.
His presentation, The Vortex of Technology: Enabling and Enhancing Engagement with Students, is definitely something you want to take some time to check out.
What I find intriguing about Ray's talk is his decision to forgo PowerPoint. Ray actually worked the method into the substance of his talk, making the argument that a Web presentation is superior to a PowerPoint based presentation if your goal is to create a conversation. Read more...
By Joshua Kim. Have you been following the discussion about the absence of women in top positions at Twitter?
According to the NYTimes coverage on the Twitter IPO:
"The board? All white men. The investors? All men. The executive officers? All men but for the general counsel, Vijaya Gadde, who has had the job for five weeks."
The lack of women in leadership roles at Twitter mirrors larger trends in the tech industry. Read more...
By Joshua Kim. Did you catch Eric Stoller's (@EricStoller - 38,494 tweets, 13,039 follower) post 20 Pros to Follow [on Twitter]?
I was not on Eric's Twitter list. (@joshmkim - 1,284 tweets, 1,693 followers).
Nor should I be on Eric's to follow Twitter list - or really anyone's Twitter list.
I'm terrible at Twitter.
We are learning lots more about the origins of Twitter, thanks to the excerpt from Nick Bilton's forthcoming book Hatching Twitterin the NYTimes. Read more...
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