By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. On the Question of Validity in Learning Analytics
Adam Cooper, CETIS Blogs, 2015/05/15

Good artcile outlining some core issues in learning analytics. For one thing, the author makes a useful distinction between 'reliable' and 'valid' analytics. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Key themes in national educational technology policies
Michael Trucano, EduTech, 2015/05/15

I don't think there are any real surprises here, but it's worth validating our assumptions about what policies say with real information about what policies say. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Weighing Up Anonymity and Openness in Publication Peer Review
Hilda Bastian, Absolutely Maybe, 2015/05/15

Should the peer review process be open? I think so, and the result of this study support my view. "Substantiating our statements, and being accountable for what we say and how we say it when we are gatekeepers for publication, is decisive for me. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Modeling repetitive behavior
Mark Liberman, Language Log, 2015/05/15

Admittedly, citing this post is a bit of semantic cherry-picking, but I'll do it anyways. The lesson here is that if you add 'memory' to an otherwise random process, you an create complex behaviours. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. AWS Launches Free Educate Service for Academics
David Ramel, Campus Technology, 2015/05/15

Amazon has launched AWS Educate, a cloud service specifically for educators. "AWS Educate is Amazon’s global initiative to provide students and educators with the resources needed to greatly accelerate cloud-related learning endeavors and to help power the entrepreneurs, workforce, and researchers of tomorrow." More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Immersion in a Story Experience
Ron Scroggin, Google+, 2015/05/14

This is a rich source of ideas. I've spent enough time exploring this item without knowing exactly what I'm looking at to decide it's worth passing along to you to see what you make of it. The core concept being explored here is 'enaction'. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. UN Report Says Small-Scale Organic Farming Only Way to Feed the World
Nick Meyer, TechnologyWater, 2015/05/14
This article is really useful in helping me understand the scepticism people have about the sort of view of learning I espouse. When I looked at the headline my reaction was that there is no way small-scale individual food production could be sustainable, let along feed the world. That's what prompted me to follow the links to the source, rather than dismissing the idea as hooey (yes, even I dismiss some ideas as hooey!). And I think at the core of the UN report (341 page PDF) there is an analogue with distributed online personal learning (which is how I'm thinking of connectivism these days). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. What is the point of op-eds about professors?
Daniel W. Drezner, Washington Post, 2015/05/14

Another example of burying the lede - though maybe nobody would have read the item were the point stated right up front. This post is a response to a (yet another) irresponsible NY Times article about education bemoaning today's irresponsible student, grade inflation, and the lack of adulation of the professoriate. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Technology Reference Model
Wendy Wickham, In the Middle of the Curve, 2015/05/14

Noted and logged: "The Technical Reference Model (TRM) in TOGAF serves as the high level model and taxonomy for the architecture. Basically a high level model of what we have, where it fits, and what we are going to call it." Good post, useful concept. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Video is the New Text...Hmmm!
Will Thalhaimer, Will at Work Learning, 2015/05/14
"Video is here to stay," writes Will Thalhaimer. "As of this day in 2015, more and more elearning is utilizing good video; but still more can be done." Maybe so, and of course there's nothing like a good engaging instructional video - TED and Khan Academy were successful for a reason. More...