By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Innovative MOOCs Take Learning in New Directions
Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology, 2015/03/17

This article looks at a couple of specialized MOOC initiatives, one from the University of Michigan based on Coursera's expansion into China, and the other a non-MOOC MOOC initiative from Harvard on 'Small Private Online Courses' (SPOCs) directed toward alumni. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. We Do Have Memories of the Future; We Just Cannot Make Sense of Them
Stephane Rogeau, PhilSciArchive, 2015/03/17
This paper is a conceptual exercise but it's important in its implications. Basically the idea is that it is theoretically possible to have memories of the future, because our recall of a memory is decoupled with the mechanism that created the memory. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Online Learning in Postsecondary Education: A Review of the Empirical Literature (2013 – 2014)
D. Derek Wu, Ithaka S+R, 2015/03/17

According to this article, the long-established 'no significant difference' between online and in-class learning outcomes is upheld. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Zuckerberg and Gates-Backed Startup Seeks To Shake Up African Education
theodp, Slashdot, 2015/03/17

The WSJ article is inaccessible due to a paywall, but the opinions expressed in this Slashdot are more worth reading in any case (scroll down to read it). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Bob Braun Reports that Pearson Is Spying on Social Media of Students Taking PARCC Tests
Diane Ravitch, 2015/03/16
The site that broke the story has been "attacked and closed", but this is what Bob Braun wrote: "Pearson, the multinational testing and publishing company, is spying on the social media posts of students–including those from New Jersey–while the children are taking their PARCC, statewide tests." More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Coursera's Stiglitz: MOOC revolution is just beginning
Roger Riddell, EducationDive, 2015/03/16

Coursera's director of business and market development Julia Stiglit says the MOOC revolution is not over. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. $1.55M MOOC Project to Expand Global Education
Kellye Whitney, At Whit's End, 2015/03/16
I think it's interesting that a course review site has achieved enough legitimacy to be able to use its data to develop a MOOC-centric training network (I'm less thrilled that international development funds are diverted to do this). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Walmart pledges $100 million to boost jobs
Patricia Sellers, Fortune, 2015/03/16
This story is revealing because of what WalMart says about the initiative as it launches it: "'The education-to-employment system is broken,' says Walmart Foundation president Kathleen McLaughlin... Harvard Business School’s Bridge the Gap report details the pressing need: 51% of retailers have trouble filling middle-skills roles." More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Five Labs Facebook Analysis
Various authors, Five Labs, 2015/03/16

According to this analysis, my Facebook posts reveal that I am inventive, analytical, and reserved. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web.  Pearson’s Yellow Brick Road
Sarah Blaine, parentingthecore, 2015/03/16
"I have never been happier that we refused to allow my fourth grader to take the PARCC," writes Sarah Blaine. This is just the tip of the iceberg of the storm that's beginning to build up against Pearson's practice of monitoring students' social media for discussion of 'test elements'. More...