Eleven members of the Adult Learning Documentation and Information Network (ALADIN) have been granted free one-year online subscription to the International Review of Education – Journal of Lifelong Learning (IRE) starting January 2018. More...
The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) regularly publishes a Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE) in order to monitor developments in adult learning and education (ALE) in UNESCO Member States. GRALE 4, due in 2019, will continue to shed light on participation in ALE and provide possible ways to address any shortcomings. More...
Google’s Philosopher
Robert Herritt, Pacific Stamndard, 2015/01/02
This argument from "Google's philosopher" (actually Oxford ethics professor Luciano Floridi) has been flagged as "novel", but they're actually in line with a lot of contemporary thinking. According to Floridi, 'you are your information, which comprises everything from data about the relations between particles in your body, to your life story, to your memories, beliefs, and genetic code." This reminds me immediately of McLuhan's argument that our tools and devices are extensions of ourselves, and George Siemens's suggestion that our thoughts and ideas are contained in the network beyond our physical brain. More...
How to learn efficiently
Daniel Lemire, Weblog, 2015/01/02
What's interesting about this post is the suggestion that efficient learning is the opposite of what we might think it is. Lemire first outlines three reasonable principles (quoted):
This is in fact exactly what I have done most of my life (even in public school, where I frequently went well beyond the curriculum to create 'projects' devoted to any of a variety of topics). More...
Are rich media better than single media in online learning?
Tony Bates, online learning and distance education resources, 2015/01/02
Tony Bates suggests, "In general, it is usually a useful guideline always to look for the simplest medium first then only opt for a more complex or richer medium if the simple medium can’t deliver the learning goals as adequately." One reason for this is "there may be too many distractions in a rich medium for students to grasp the essential point of the teaching." But if what Daniel Lemire says below is true, then this is fals. More...
Harmonizing Learning and Education
Michael Feldstein, e-Literate, 2015/01/02
Definitely read this long post from Michael Feldstein in response to Dave Cormier's recent set of articles about engagement (I find it fascinating that the truly heady thinking takes place in blog posts, not Twitter, and not academic journals). More...
When it comes to Education and Technology, “Efficiency” is not the point
Steve Krause, stevendkrause.com, 2015/01/02
From The Hechinger Report, which Steve Krause states"'is an independent nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based at Teachers College, Columbia University' that apparently generates a lot of articles about education that get poured right into a lot of mainstream publications," we read that "the assumed purpose of technology (e.g., computer stuff, basically) in this article is efficiency, and some version of that word/theme appears at least a dozen times in this 1,000 or word so piece." This, he writes, misrepresents the purpose of technology in education. More...
Translating and implementing the Khan Academy in Brazil
Michael Trucano, EduTech, 2015/01/02
Fascinating look at a project to implement the Khan Academy in Brazil. The usual problems surface (19 computers for a school of 650 students, etc) but reading between the main points we also see a transformative impact. More...
An educational Fitbit?
Doug Johnson, Blue Skunk Blog, 2015/01/02
Doug Johnson illustrates both the promise and the peril of measurement in education. Drawing on the popularity of health and fitness devices such as FitBit, he speculates as to where an educational analogue could be developed. But look at the sort of things it might measure:
Is this what we mean by educational health and fitness? These measures are (at best) inputs to the educational process, related to the practice, but not the purpose. More...
OpenSocial and the OpenSocial Foundation: Moves to W3C
Brian Kelly, UK Web Focus, 2015/01/01
The Open Social Foundation is moving standards work to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). There will be two groups, as described by Brian Kelly:
Kelly describes one case of interest, cross-platform commenting on (for example) photo uploads. More...
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