By Matt Reed. I'm guessing that others have thought of this, though I haven't seen it done elsewhere. Does anybody use a learning-community model for developmental reading? We're looking at mimicking the structure of an ALP for reading, but appending the extra-help reading section to sections of courses in areas like psychology and history. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Nigel Paine[Edit][Delete]: Podcasting, Wikis and Blogs: Learning at the BBC, AmbientPerformance [Edit][Delete] August 2, 2006By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Mark Wagner[Edit][Delete]: Links from Blogging Institute Day 1, Educational Technology and Life [Edit][Delete] July 27, 2006By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Amy Gahran[Edit][Delete]: Tracking News Ripples in the Public Conversation, Poynter Online [Edit][Delete] July 18, 2006
We're beginning to see more structure enter the blogosphere as the idea of tracking blog 'conversations' takes hold. I first worked with this last year in Edu_RSS - click the 'conversation' link on this page (hint: the posts with more asterisks have more conversation). This article looks at a similar initiative from Nielsen's BlogPulse. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Miles Berry[Edit][Delete]: Elgg and Blogging in Primary Education, July 17, 2006
Short and fairly basic article about using ELGG to have students create profiles, blog, and comment on each others' entries. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Various authors[Edit][Delete]: MetaxuCafe, July 14, 2006
Some fallout from the Aggregate This post Inside Higher Ed the other day. MetaxuCafe is "a network of literary blogs with over 300 members." A similar initiative, Postgenomic, aggregates "posts from life science blogs." This is the trend we are seeing now - small, subject-specific networks of a few hundred blogs. More...
This is a more personal posting – my UPCEA curated reading list has just passed one million reads. Since 2011, the blog has steadily grown in readership; more than 1,000 leaders in our field subscribe via email to get the daily updates of news, research, and trends that are most important to those leading professional, continuing and online education. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Alec Couros[Edit][Delete]: Reasons For Not Adopting FLOSS In Ottawa-Carleton, Couros Blog [Edit][Delete] July 5, 2006
This item caught my eye partially because the Ottawa-Carleton school board is where I went to school, and partially because the response from a superintendent, Laura McAlister, was described in this post as "clueless". Well, I'm always up for a good scandal. Except that, as I read the letter, it didn't seem clueless at all. These are genuine issues: "central authentication, file storage and security, costs of obtaining software, which for the most part today is free to schools courtesy of the OSAPAC program, adapting new applications into existing curriculum, security, staff training, portability, adaptability."
And the letter demonstrated, to me, at least, openness and willingness to listen. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Christian Long[Edit][Delete]: A Worthy Pass-Through in the Edu-Blogosphere, think:lab [Edit][Delete] June 29, 2006
More blogs that may be new to you. In this post, Christian Long points to Andrew Pass, who writes, The Current Events in Education. Also, Patric Dunn, who has recently launched Networked Learning Design, blogs at Occasional Rants. I would also like to highlight Digital Latchkey, by J. Ritchie Boyd, which was started as a consequence of an email dialoguie between the two of us. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. George Siemens[Edit][Delete]: Constructivism vs. Connectivism, Connectivism Blog [Edit][Delete] June 28, 2006
Post outlining some of the distinctions between connectivism and constructivism. One point needs considerable clarification. Siemens complains of constructivism, "The act of learning itself is still perceived to be in the head of the individual." As a commentator writes, "Where else would it happen?" And of course, that's where it happens. But what is learned by an individual is incomplete - it is as though the process of learning produces a key in our heads - the production occurs entirely in the head, but it still requires a lock and a door in order to be of use.
Siemens also observes, critically, that "constructivism is a 'sometimes' learning habit (we are always connecting, but we only construct in certain situations)... We don't always construct. We are often much more passive in our learning. We read an article and we link it to our existing understanding. We subscribe to a newsletter (or magazine)...we attend certain conferences...we dialogue with certain people/communities." I think this is right. It's as though constructivism postulates some specific intentional act, 'learning', which is fundamentally different from everything else we do (and which we would never do without help?). More...
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