When the Times Higher Education Rankings Fail The Fall-Down-Laughing Test
Alex Usher, Higher Education Strategy Associates, February 6, 2014
I'm sympathetic with the "fall down laughing test" and I share the author's scepticism about the Times Higher Education (THE) rankings. But at a certain point the argument stretches the point too far. Alex usher suggests that the THE's assertion that "the THE is saying that places like the University of Ireland, Maynooth, the University of Tasmania, and King Abdulaziz University are more international than Harvard, Yale, and Stanford" is laugably silly. More...

Questions about rhizomatic learning
Jenny Mackness, February 6, 2014
At a certain point, perfectly good theories become nonsense. This may be that point. I am sympathetic with the list of questions Jenny Mackness poses to Keith Hamon about rhizomatic learning (a concept I'm increasingly questioning). More...

Is books making us stupid? behind the curtain of #rhizo14
Dave Cormier, Dave's Educational Blog, February 6, 2014
This post actually provides a good overview of the first few weeks of the Rhizomatic Learning course, exploring as it does a set of "challenges" posed by Dave Cormier:

• Cheating as learning
• Enforcing independence
• Embracing uncertainty
• Is books making us stupid

I can certainly be frustrated by some of this sort of discussion - when people express concerns. More...

The medium is the message?
Jaap Bosman, Hit the balloon, comment, February 6, 2014
"Language needs a medium," said Jaap Bosman. By contrast, to me, language is a medium. "Learning depends on language, the medium (books, blogs) of the language restricts or benefits the learning," he writes. More...

ALT Strategy, February 2014 to January 2017
Maren Deepwell, ALT Online Newsletter, February 7, 2014
Britain's Association for Learning Technology (ALT) has released a new strategy. The short PDF descibes the organization's objective as "to advance education through increasing, exploring and disseminating knowledge in the field of Learning Technology for the benefit of the general public." Interestingly, if you read the four sentences of the 'context' section you encounter the word 'change' three times. More...

Suffering Massive MOOC Creep
Tom Woodward, Bionic Teaching, February 7, 2014
My thoughts exactly (and I quote):

• If a student can’t tell if they’re the only student in the course or if there are 5,000 other students, you just have an online course. Please retract your media statements
• If you take your 5,000 students and break them down so they are in “normal” sized cohorts that proceed independently, congratulations you have several online courses. More...

Time to Retire The Simplicity of Nature vs. Nurture
Luci Gutiérrez, Wall Street Journal, February 7, 2014
In a nutshell, if you read betweeen the lines, the verdict is in: nurture wins. Here's the redefined version of the problem: "culture is a biological phenomenon. It's a set of abilities and practices that allow members of one generation to learn and change and to pass the results of that learning on to the next generation." Except that - 'culture' is the wrong word. More...

Going Back To Basics Is Still Going Backwards
Chris Betcher, Betchablog, February 2, 2014
Our local newspaper gives us the 'back to basics' lecture in its editorial every so often. But I'm inclined to agree with Chris Betcher's criticisms of proponents of 'back to basics':

• They actually have no idea how to move forward. 
• They have no idea that the world has changed.
• They have no idea what our kids actually need. More...

Data-driven policy and commerce requires algorithmic transparency
Alex Howard, Tech Republic, February 3, 2014
Just for the record: the next phase of VC-backed MOOCs is going to meet the same comeuppance as the first phase. See where they say here and here where 'big data' will save education. More...

A New Pedagogy is Emerging... and Online Learning is a Key Contributing Factor
Unattributed, Contact North, February 5, 2014
This is an updated version (first posted here last year) of one of Contact North's most popular articles. It describes a 'new pedagogy' that is emerging as a result of internet-enabled education. It mostly resembles connectivism, but without the theoretical underpinnings, and with elements of traditional learning, such as blended learning and collaboration. More...