MOOCs and crowdsourcing: Massive courses and massive resources
John Prpić, James Melton, Araz Taeihagh, Terry Anderson, First Monday, 2015/12/29
This paper draws an interesting parallel between two types of massive phenomena: MOOCs, and crowdsourcing. The former are online courses designed to enable access to learning to large numbers of people at once, while the latter takes advantage of the contributions of many people to support a single objective, such as the creation of an online encyclopedia. More...

How to Run A Shiny App in the Cloud Using Tutum, Digital Ocean and Docker Containers
Tony Hirst, OUseful Info, 2015/12/29
A few weeks ago I ran a link about running an application in a container in the cloud. The idea of this is that you create a complete operating system and server in a single package and run it on a cloud-based service. More...

2016 eLearning Hype Curve Predictions
Andy Hicken, Web Courseworks, 2015/12/29
No real surprises here, but I appreciate the slightly different take offered by Andy Hicken. At the top opf the hype cycle are badges. MOOCs and xAPI are on the way down. MOC (Maintenance of Certification) have troughed and are on the way up again. Still on the hype cycle accelerator are subscription learning, gamification, and free online education. More...

Forget laptops – here’s how you can get a 17″ portable desktop PC for $250
Maren Estrada, BGR.com, 2015/12/28
You will probably want to splurge on a keyboard and mouse as well, but you'll still only be ahead of the game. The kit includes two essential pieces:

• Kangaroo - the $99 computer announced in October that's about the size of my Galaxy Note. You'll want the docking port too, for a bit extra. Battery life is only 4 hours - but it's hard to beat being able to carry your computer around with you in your pocket. More.
• AOC 17-inch portable monitor - it comes with a case and connects with USB (which also powers it).
  

Now these precise products aren't the point. More...

Who are the Open Learners? A Comparative Study Profiling non-Formal Users of Open Educational Resources
Robert Farrow, Beatriz de los Arcos, Rebecca Pitt, Martin Weller, The European Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 2015/12/28
With all the fuss about MOOCs over the last few years efforts like iTunes University have been lost in the shuffle. The closed platform didn't exactly make iTunesU feel 'open', but it was and is widely popular. More...

Tacit Knowledge Acquisition and Dissemination in Distance Learning
Annel Ketcha, Jokull Johannesson, Paul Bocij, The European Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 2015/12/28
This is quite a good discussion of the concept of tacit knowledge, how it evolved since its original description in Polanyi, and focusing on the the "organisational view supporting the articulation of tacit knowledge" by people like Nonaka and Takeuchi. More...

Gen Z Should Network Its Education. Now. Here’s How.
Ken Gordon, Continuum | In Beta, 2015/12/25
This article may become known for coining the term Wise and Influential People (WIP) (which as of now has exactly one and only one result in Google). These are "local business people they’d like to work for, subject-matter authors, academic experts". More...

The rich-poor divide on America’s college campuses is getting wider, fast
Jon Marcus, Holly K. Hacker, The Hechinger Report, 2015/12/25
This same trend is reflected, albeit to a lesser degree, in other countries. And in the United States, as this article shows, the higher education system is set up to benefit the wealthy and give them multiple advantages over the poor. More...

OUSA Releases Broader Learning Environment Policy Paper
Alex Hobbs, Antonio Sergi, Chris Fernlund, Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA), 2015/12/25
The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) has it exactly right with this policy paper (3 page PDF, 29 page PDF) addressing learning environments. More...

By The Numbers: MOOCS in 2015
Dhawal Shah, Class Central, 2015/12/25
I think it might be a bit premature to say that the end of MOOCs has arrived. After all, according to this report, more people signed for MOOCs this year than ion the previous three years combined. More...