By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Municipal nets, municipal electric power, and learning from history
David Weinberger, Joho the Blog, Jul 26, 2014
David Weinberger writes, "The debate over whether municipalities should be allowed to provide Internet access has been heating up. Twenty states ban it. Tom Wheeler, the chair of the FCC, has said he wants to “preempt” those laws. Congress is maneuvering to extend the ban nationwide." This is not just a U.S. issue because similar pressures exist worldwide. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Confound it! Correlation is (usually) not causation! But why not?
gwern branwen, LessWrong, Jul 27, 2014
When somebody proposes a simple mechanism to improve (say) learning outcomes, they're most always wrong. But why? It's because they have ascribed a simple cause-effect relation onto a complex phenomenon. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The real 10 algorithms that dominate our world
Marcos Otero, Medium, Jul 28, 2014
This is an interesting and alternative way of looking at how our world is structured. For people who design systems, these algorithms are second nature. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Talent Management Systems Market Surges Ahead
Josh Bersin, Bersin by Deloitte, Jul 28, 2014
The flip side of learning management in the corporate world is talent management. These systems are every bit as involved with learning as the systems used in colleges and universities. But they go beyond learning, incorporating things like performance management, succession management, and other business-related functions. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Ed tech promoters need to understand how most of us learn
Annie Murphy Paul, The Hechinger Report, Jul 28, 2014
This article dredges up the straw men arguments offered by Paul Kirschner et.al. against self-directed learning: people don't know enough about the subject to make good choices, people choose to learn what they like rather than what they need, and the making of choices interferes with learning. More...