Contemporary Privacy Theory Contributions to Learning Analytics
Jennifer Heath, Journal of Learning Analytics, May 9, 2014

According to the abstract, "This paper provides an overview of privacy and considers the potential contribution contemporary privacy theories can make to learning analytics." I personally consider privacy one of the key issues in learning analytics; anyone can mine a big set of data, but how do you do what when you need permission from each person before continuing? I like the 'broad overview of privacy' diagram and the nuance offered, for example, from Nissenbaum: "a right to privacy is neither a right to secrecy nor a right to control but a right to appropriate flow of personal information." Some of the issues are highlighted in two scenarios illustrating four key parameters of privacy: context, actors, attributes and transmission principle. More...

Mesh Networks of People
Alan Levine, CogDogBlog, May 9, 2014

I think that the more you get out and talk with people the more you find these deep mesh networks of people around domains, ideas, disciplines and hobbies. As Alan Levine says, "connections I make, not just PLNing or linking online, just by talking and listening… are gold." What's also interesting - I was just at a meeting this morning where I experienced the same sort of thing - is that these networks recede off into the distance; you can get a grasp of some of those around you, you can see them stretch off into the horizon, but the totality of them all is something you can only partially grasp, and you could spend your life exploring. More...

Conceptual Connections, once again
Matthias Melcher, x28’s new Blog, May 9, 2014

Concepts can form networks, says Matthias Melcher. "Words can change each other’s subtle nuances, for example when a newer word gradually displaces an older one from a certain meaning, while the older word slowly shifts its connotations, just by being used differently." I don't inherently disagree with this. I was pretty careful in my statement to allow for non-causal changes of state: "can cause or result in..." - and the purpose was precisely allow that networks could be formed by non-physical entities. More...

More on Connectivism: a response to Stephen Downes
Jon Dron, Athabasca Landing, May 8, 2014

Jon Dron has replied to my earlier response to him. There may be some good in it, but it is buried in layers of rudeness, pedantry and continued misunderstanding of my work. I don't have to respond to claims that my work is  "more of a specious attempt at sophistry than a serious attempt to further understanding," especially from the same person who commented he only "skimmed" my work, rather than reading it. More...

Economics students call for shakeup of the way their subject is taught
Phillip Inman, The Guardian, May 8, 2014
The students, I think, understand more than their professors. Economics students are saying that "the dominance of narrow free-market theories at top universities harms the world's ability to confront challenges such as financial stability and climate change" and are calling for a change in how economics is taught. More...

Why Design a xMOOC / cMOOC Hybrid? LTCA Theory
Matt Crosslin, EduGeek Journal, May 8, 2014
Matt Crosslin follows up an earlier post with an explanation of why he thinks it would be a good idea to build a cMOOC/xMOOC hybrid. He writes, "the idea of MOOC layers is really looking at a four pronged approach to the idea of teaching and learning as communicative actions using LTCA theory." This theory, he writes, is  being created by Scott Warren at North Texas, based Jurgen Habermas, and breaks learning down in to four majopr activities, some of which are subsumed by xMOOCs and some by cMOOCs. More...

Programming Sucks
Peter Welch, Still Drinking, May 7, 2014
Language warning. The article is overstated but essentially accurate. I've worked with large shops enough to know it isn't as bad as he describes, but I've looked at enough code to know that it is (if you don't believe me ask yourself why an article written in 2014 has a copyright date of 2011 - now, if you're writing a scraper, how do you calculate the date for this article?). More...

Previewing a new Classroom
Zach Yeskel, Official Google Canada Blog, May 7, 2014

Dozens of LMS companies are reexamining their business plans this week after the launch of Google's preview of Classroom, part of the Google Apps for Education suite. According to their official blog, Classroom helps teachers:

• help teachers create and collect assignments paperlessly
• make announcements, ask questions and comment with students in real time
• creates Drive folders for each assignment and for each student. Students can easily see what’s due on their Assignments page.

Google says it wants the applications to "play well" with others. More...

The uncodings of ANT: Mobilities of digital data
Terrie Lynn Thompson, Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Networked Learning 2014, May 7, 2014

One of the best of the bunch from a double symposium, this short paper challenges our understanding of Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Terrie Lynn Thompson writes, "One of the basic tenets of Actor Network Theory (ANT) is to 'follow the actors'." But the 'actors' in a data-driven world are slippery and elusive. More...

Assembling University learning technologies for an open world: connecting institutional and social networks
John Hannon, Matthew Riddle, Thomas Ryberg, Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Networked Learning 2014, May 7, 2014

Perhaps this is why I understand traditional academics less and less as time goes by: "many academics still prefer - knowingly or otherwise - to replicate the ‘real’ in the virtual world, rather than unfetter themselves from tradition and the familiar and create new selves, constructs, relationships and opportunities for engagement." By contrast, I feel myself and my work adapting and growing as technology grows. More...