Formation Continue du Supérieur

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. MOOC Research Initiative: Reports Released
George Siemens, elearnspace, June 10, 2014
George Siemens posts that the reports from the MOOC Research Initiative are now available. There's a disclaimer on the page saying "reports have not been peer reviewed and are provided without comment or assessment regarding research method and outcome" but I read through a dozen of so of them and find the work would be generally acceptable in academic journals (provided they added a 'literature review' section citing previously published works by the journal's editors and reviewers). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Communal Constructivism and Dual Layer MOOCs
Matt Crosslin, EduGeek Journal, June 10, 2014
There's a lot of interesting work being done on open online learning these days (I can barely comprehend it all). This is an example: a project designed to combine the best of an xMOOC and a cMOOC. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Lecture capture: Privacy, please
Ioanna Opidee, University Business, June 11, 2014
People who attend the tapings of sitcoms and game shows don't expect privacy. I don't see why students attending lectures at universities should expect to be any different. Today, when you attend class, the cameras will be on (unless it's one of those very small and intimate seminars, but even here, no single rule prevails). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. How online 'chatbots' are already tricking you
Chris Baraniuk, BBC, June 11, 2014
OK, so chatbots that lure people to dating sites or convince bitcoin users to give each other tips are not going to impact most of us. But with as much as 65 percent of online chatter being generated by bots, chances are you've read or interacted with one. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Do the new anonymous social media apps encourage us to overshare?
Oliver Burkeman, The Guardian, June 11, 2014
I guess the answer to that question is, "who knows?" What we do know is that there has been a negative response to the Facebook dictum that " The days of you having a different image for your work friends [and] for the other people you know are probably coming to an end… " But there are certainly downsides to anonymity. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Revolution Will Not Be Monetized
Will Bourne, Inc., June 11, 2014
This is becoming an increasingly loud trend. "For years, the internet's biggest players have hoarded your personal data and sold it for billions. Now, a band of angry startups is demanding privacy and aiming to overhaul the social-media business forever." This article introduces us to Wickr, with the slogan,  "The Internet is forever. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. ProQuest Case Study: Using the Oscillation Principle for Software Development
Nancy Dixon, Conversation Matters, June 11, 2014
This is an interesting and extended look at the software development methodology employed by ProQuest (you may have seen their online maps). They use what Dixon calls the "oscillation principle" meeting three times a year for three days. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Man trademarks Pi, tries to cut out geeky T-shirt designers
Kevin Poulsen, Wired, June 11, 2014
I wish I could say that the headline is a joke, but it appears instead to be an all-too-real example of an IP regime gone off the rails. More power to those people ignoring the law and using PI for their own purposes. More...