By . This unique institution has evolved into Canada’s only aboriginal, university-level institution. It underwent a near death experience in 2009, but with a new President and Board, new funding arrangements, and a new partnership with the University of Regina, it has now almost fully recovered. It has 750 full time students and a balanced budget. In addition, 4,700 students, mainly from the University of Regina, take courses at FNUC. More...
By . Yesterday was Canada Day, and I am very proud to be Canadian. But Canada as a country has made an awful mess of its relationship with its aboriginal peoples, as the recent devastating report by the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission has made abundantly clear. The big question is where Canada goes from here, not just in making restitution for past mistreatment, but more importantly in ensuring that aboriginal people can develop in ways that benefit both them and the country as a whole. More...
By . I’m not sure the world needs another LMS (sorry, an ‘online learning platform’) but this one, called iQualify and built from scratch by New Zealand’s major distance learning organization, has a number of features that advance LMSs to the next level. More...
By . It’s not just the Greeks who are having problems financially, even though they are getting all the headlines. In earlier posts I commented on Athabasca University’s so-called impending ‘insolvency’, as the president put it. As with all crises, the actual ‘end’ is never certain until it happens, so perhaps there’s still time for the Alberta government and Athabasca University to learn from history. More...
By . Most Moodlers will already be aware of this, but if you are not aware of, or are just moving to Moodle, or even just thinking about it (it is after all open source and free), this conference is a must. More...
By . What: D4Learning 2015, the International Conference on Innovations with Digital Learning for Inclusion (D4L), aims at becoming a biannual forum and meeting place for presenting and discussing. More...
By . I’m not sure that there is much of an immediate ‘market’ for these posts on issues around developing an open textbook (or maybe everyone is sensibly enjoying the summer), but for those who may in the future be contemplating self-publishing a textbook, I though it may be helpful to draw on my experience in authoring both commercial and open textbooks to lay out some guidelines for reviewers of open textbooks. More...
By . One of the questions I had to ask myself as a self-publishing author of Teaching in a Digital Age was whether I needed my book to be independently reviewed before publication. If so, would the same criteria need to be used as if I was publishing commercially. More...
By . I don’t usually promote any of the many online sites recommending online schools, because they are usually a front for advertising for-profit schools such as University of Phoenix, Walden and Kaplan. Although programs from these more established for-profit schools can be very good and just right for certain people, the web sites promoting them are directing potential students to a very limited range of options. More...
By . Not surprisingly, the turmoil at Athabasca University is causing concern for at least some students, and I recognise that I am responsible for some of this anxiety. For instance, I received the following e-mail from one student. More...
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