Formation Continue du Supérieur

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Never-Ending Debate Over John Oliver’s Testing Segment
Alexander Russo, Washington Monthly | The Grade, 2015/05/08
Alexander Russo has a new blog on The Washington Monthly called "the Grade". Think of it as NPR's On the Media for education, he writes. Well, I can try, but what I see here is far from what I see there. In this, one of his first segments, he takes on John Oliver's excellent commentary about schools and testing. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Manifesto for OER
Various authors, Open Oregon, 2015/05/08

Now this is what a manifesto looks like. Cable Green writes by email "Lane Community College (Oregon) has released an "Open Education Manifesto" poster designed by graphic design student Char Houweling." Here it is. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Amazon makes toy department gender neutral: 'Boy' and 'girl' search filter removed from online market
Katherine Rushton, Daily Mail, 2015/05/08
Another step in the right direction. "the online retail giant has deleted the ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ buttons from its online menu, which is designed to help shoppers choose which toys to buy." Critics are complaining that it is an attempt to ‘nanny’ shoppers. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Civics Teacher Who Turned His Arrest Into A Classroom Lesson
Erika Beras, NPR, 2015/05/08

I have in the past said that "to teach is to model and demonstrate." The aspect of being a role model cannot be underestimated. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Berkeley to Stop Adding Lecture Videos to YouTube, Citing Budget Cuts
Jeffrey R. Young, Chronicle of Higher Education | Wired Campus, 2015/05/08
I think the headline should read "Berkeley is seeking a $300K donation". That's what it will save by cutting its long-running program of posting lectures to YouTube. I think it's interesting that most of the cost involved had nothing to do with actually posting the lectures. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. More for-profit colleges to resign the game
Bryan Alexander, 2015/05/11

The for-profit college market continues to slump with reports of additional closures this week. Bryan Alexander summarizes the reaction: "PBS wonders if we’re seeing a massive for-profit post-secondary “slump“. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Knowledge is Not a Tree
overeducated_alligator, Metafilter, 2015/05/07

Short post from Metafilter illustrating how we're advancing conceptually: "Piggydb and Oinker.me: Non-hierarchical information tools from Japanese designer Daisuke Morita. Piggydb is a Java-based open-source personal knowledge manager, similar to a wiki. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. LPSS White Paper
Various authors, National Research Council, 2015/05/07

They're not available on the NRC web site yet but I can share our first LPSS white papers (English, French) describing our system under development in more comprehensive terms in an accessible format. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. A Path to the Future: Creating Accountability for Personalized Learning
Anne Hyslop, Sara Mead, Bellweather, 2015/05/07
This reflects our experience developing a personal learning environment: "as personalized learning models become more widespread, practitioners are increasingly encountering tensions between personalized learning and state and federal accountability structures." 49 page PDF. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. LMS Is The Minivan of Education (and other thoughts from #LILI15)
Phil Hill, e-Literate, 2015/05/07

I get the analogy. But it's wrong. Phil Hill explains his thinking: "Everyone has them and needs them, but there’s a certain shame having one in the driveway." Well, OK. More...