Stephen's Web ~ http://www.downes.ca OLWeekly by Stephen Downes May 24, 2013 How “Admissions” Works Differently At For-Profit Colleges: Sorting and Signaling
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60539 Some really good writing in this longish post about university admissions that ends with this: "Rather than a market response to unmet consumer demand, my data tell a story of class insecurity that is transformed into a credentialing process through marketing that sorts, and admissions processes that signal to students that a for-profit credential can provide the security they intuit they need. The success of colleges like Profit U not only responds to the individual pain points of students grappling with increasing competition for fewer good jobs, but organizationally they have responded to weaknesses — pain points — in the social structure." This is really important. It's not just about jobs and it never has been. It's also about being able to 'join the club' - only to realize, that once you've finally gotten in, there are many more inner circles you'll never get to see. (Browse the rest of the site, too, for interesting stuff, including this astonishing dispute with the Chronicle from last year). Via Matt Reed. Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60539 Direct Link: http://tressiemc.com/2013/03/08/how-admissions-works-differently-at-for-profit-colleges-sorting-and-signaling/ Harvard Faculty Request Faculty Oversight of HarvardX (Their Usage of edX)
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60538 According to the letter signed by 58 faculty members from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard, "It is our responsibility to ensure that HarvardX is consistent with our commitment to our students on campus, and with our academic mission." They then ask that a committee of tenure and tenure track faculty draft "a set of ethical and educational principles" that will govern their involvement. The Harvard faculty letter, writes Phil Hill, takes the approach of "viewing MOOCs as experiments in 'teaching methods that can be validated, refuted, or refined through the collective efforts of a scholarly community'." And, pointedly, not adjuncts and support staff, students, providers, funders, or anyone else. Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60538 Direct Link: http://mfeldstein.com/harvard-faculty-request-faculty-oversight-of-harvardx-their-usage-of-edx/ More on MOOCs and Being Awesome Instead
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60537 David Wiley clarifies, and his points are worth lingering on. - "Some readers may have gotten the impression that I was saying it was ok to 'Be Awesome Instead' of being open. That was absolutely not the point I was making. Being open – truly open – is absolutely critical..." Quite so. - And I am really really of the same mind as Wiley when he writes this: "For a number of years I have felt that the overwhelming majority of educational researchers are focused on the 'high quality' problem, to the virtual exclusion of the 'universal' and 'free' problem from the discourse." From my perspective, talk of 'quality' has become a useful red herring for those really wanting resources to be not open and not free. That's not to say I oppose quality (and neither does Wiley). But if it must be perfect before it is free, then it will never be free. - "The only way to accomplish the amount of personalization necessary to achieve high quality at scale is to enable decentralized personalization to be performed locally by peers, teachers, parents, and others." Once again, I'm completely agreed. This is what I was trying to urge at OECD (not that they listened). My only quibble is with his insistence on "free 4Rs permissions" - which includes allowing commercialization of free resources. Given what he has just said about opoen access, and about there being "no rights and royalties regime under which this personalization could possibly happen" I just can't see requiring allowing commercial use. Somewhere someone is going to have to say, "if you throw up a paywall, it's not open access, and you've broken the agreement." Do you doubt me? If I blocked access to this website and started charging a subscription fee for OLDaily, would you consider it consisten with my long-time committment to free and open access? No? Then why would it be consistent with free and open access if someone else did it to my stuff? Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60537 Direct Link: http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/2879 literaci.es
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60536 Doug Belshaw has started a new blog on a new blog service / magazine called Svbtle. Here's his announcement post. "Svbtle is a new kind of writing and publishing network that takes the best things from traditional publishing and combines them with the best parts of the web." There's an application for membership, but it's not clear yet why someone would apply. Meanwhile, it has been interesting watching Doug Belshaw's transition from staid academic to hipster dude since his employment at Mozilla. (I say that just in jest, but it's still interesting to watch.) Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60536 Direct Link: http://literaci.es/ Data Dealer
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60535 So I spent way too much time playing this game this afternoon, which automatically makes it worth passing along. "'Data Dealer' is an online/serious/educational game about collecting and selling personal data - full of irony and humour. It's an interactive exploration of the personal data ecosystem in the digital age and targeted at both young people and adults." Have fun! Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60535 Direct Link: http://datadealer.com Implementing open access funders' policies
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60534 This is a set of eight presentations (slides only) from yesterday's conference on open access policies Goodenough College, London. Presentations inlcude talks from funders such as Wellcome Trust and RCUK, as well as discussion of the green and gold routes to open access archiving. Interestingly, open access includes not the ability to read a document online, but also search for and re-use (including download) the content and unrestricted use of manual and automated text and data mining tools (according to thisRCUK presentation). Some good statistics, also, from Alma Swan of SPARC Europe. See also controversy regarding RCUK's policies. Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60534 Direct Link: http://rsp.ac.uk/events/implementing-open-access-fundersu2019-policies/ Learning Locker: it’s your data
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60529 Interesting. "Learning Locker provides a destination where users can create a personal locker housing their learning data that they can then put to work for them. The data comes from a variety of sources including the web and any learning platform that exports Tin Can statements." Of course, for this to work well, you need not only to be able to export your data, but also to make it available (via an API, perhaps) to learning and other applications. Anyhow, this is a good idea, and Dave Tosh certainly has the background in e-learning to understand how it should work. Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60529 Direct Link: http://www.ht2.co.uk/ben/?p=478 If education were free, what would MOOCs be?
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60528 Interesting thought experiment. "If there were no students fees and higher education were free, what would that do to MOOCs? I mean, obviously it'll never happen... oh, wait, Germany just abolished student fees. Yeah, but what do they know about running an economy, right?" If I were in Germany, would my priorities be changed? I'm not sure, partially because MOOCs are as much about alternative pedagogy as they are about access (but, crucially, they are about access, and that thought is never far from my mind). But in a world of free? Most likely, as Holden comments, "possibly, MOOCs as support and community around traditional classes?" Because access isn't just about opening doors, it's also about makiing sure people are successful once they enter. Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60528 Direct Link: http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/no_good_reason/2013/05/if-education-were-free-what-would-moocs-be.html Forget the learners, how do I measure a MOOC quality experience for ME!
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60527 Dave Cormier follows my post last week to the MOOC Quality Project with a discussion "on the motives of different vested interests and their relationship to MOOCs." It's a good examination of the many perceptions of 'quality' and 'success' related to MOOCs. "I think it is critical that we understand the ways in which different interest groups will judge the ‘quality’ of that experience for the convenor (and their sponsors)," he writes. "What are we all in it for? What is the difference between a pat on the back and a failure for each of the different groups convening MOOCs?" Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60527 Direct Link: http://mooc.efquel.org/week-3-forget-the-learners-how-do-i-measure-a-mooc-quality-experience-for-me/#more-112 #overlyhonestmethods
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60524 Koos, who must have seen my presentation Against Digital Research Methodologies, referred me to this stream: #overlyhonestmethods. There's also an article in the Guardian, here from last January. "scientists from all four corners of the twitterverse have not just dismantled that pure-of-thought image but demolished it with repeated 140-character salvos all bearing the hashtag #overlyhonestmethods... It all started with a neuropharmacologist researcher and blogger called Leigh when she tweeted "incubation lasted three days because this is how long the undergrad forgot the experiment in the fridge." There's 'scientific method', which is pure and abstract and unreal, and then there is science which, like me, muddles along. More: coverage from I, Science, also, the browser of a scientist, also, Tumblr images. Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60524 Direct Link: https://twitter.com/search?q=%23overlyhonestmethods How Tom Perlmutter turned the NFB into a global new-media player
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60523 I think educational institutions can learn a great deal from the strategy adopted by Canada's National Film Board in 2007 to digitize its collection and move into the field of new media. "At home and abroad, the organization is fusing Canada’s traditional strengths in documentary and communications technology with its newer reputation as a new-media leader to build a uniquely accessible cultural institution dedicated to storytelling and democratic dialogue." It's hard to overstate what is happening in Canadian public media. Take a measure of Chris Hadfield, add some sniffing bears from the NFB, and add a good dose of Radio 3 attitude, and you have a uniquely forward-looking landscape. Canadian educational institutions should be in the middle of this (and so should we at NRC), not standing on the sidelines. Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60523 Direct Link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/how-tom-perlmutter-turned-the-nfb-into-a-global-new-media-player/article11992885/?page=all Janet Agreement With Microsoft Boosts Cloud Access For UK Universities
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60522 According to this report, "a new peering arrangement being signed today between Microsoft and Janet, the UK’s research and education network." Essentially the agreement is to provide cloud access to Microsoft products; "any UK education institution can benefit from standard terms and conditions on Microsoft’s cloud-based productivity software suite Office 365." In the comments, we read also that janet "are already working on deals with Google and Dropbox – see https://www.ja.net/products-services/janet-cloud-services." In general, this seems like a good plan, especially if UK universities are able to save millions of pounds. But there is also good reason to be cautios when you see reports like this stating that "government is currently over-reliant on a small 'oligopoly' of large suppliers (and) benchmarking studies have demonstrated that government pays substantially more for IT when compared to commercial rates." Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60522 Direct Link: http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/janet-agreement-with-microsoft-boosts-cloud-access-for-uk-universities/ B.C. makes free online textbooks available
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60521 According to this University Affairs article, "the B.C. government said it will make available up to 20 free and open online textbooks for some of the most popular first- and second-year university and college courses... it has committed $1 million to fund the venture. BCcampus, the provincial agency overseeing the project, is rolling it out in phases. It recently released a list of the 40 most highly enrolled first- and second-year subject areas for which it is sourcing textbooks. It also identified 10 existing open textbooks, mainly first-year introductory texts. The agency issued a call for proposals to faculty members and teaching assistants to peer review the books and is making available an evaluation rubric to use for the reviews." The proposal received a good response from Tony Bates, who calls the idea "shrwed," especially as it implicates faculty in review and selection. It is estimated to save students $1000 per year. No response from publishers in the article. Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60521 Direct Link: http://www.universityaffairs.ca/bc-makes-free-online-textbooks-available.aspx TinCan and The Confusion About the Next Generation of SCORM
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60520 This is a really useful post. It begins by deflating some misconceptions about TinCan replacing SCORM, and proceeds to offer a much wider description of ADL's overall plan. In a nutshell, writes Christian Glahn, e-learning today has become distributed, collaborative, networked, continuous (etc etc), and so, "this creates tensions with the centralised, single interfaced, individual learning, and course-centred concepts of SCORM." So by 2011 ADL decided to rewrite the specification. TinCan, or the Experience API, constitutes only the first part of this. The Training and Learning Architecture (or TLA) has, he writes, "four essential parts that are intended to extend the present capabilities of SCORM for maintaining interoperability in modern learning environments:" the Experience API and learning record stores (LRS), the content broker, learner profiles, and competence networks. See also tincanapi.co.uk and see also this response from Michael Roberts. Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60520 Direct Link: http://lo-f.at/glahn/2013/05/the-confusion-about-the-next-generation-of-scorm.html Lumen Learning Makes Open Course Frameworks Freely Available
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60519 In my email just now, this announcement: "Today Lumen Learning and Instructure announced the availability, via the Canvas platform, of six open course frameworks that make it easier for instructors to teach effectively using open educational resources (OER). You can view the press release or browse the courses from the Lumen Learning website. The brainchild of open education pioneer David Wiley, open course frameworks are curated collections of OER that look and feel like online courses, with content and course segments mapped to learning objectives. These courses serve effectively as blueprints instructors can use to teach a course as-is, adapt or refine the course content to make it work better for their students." So... they're course packages, right? The materials are mostly licensed under CC-by, and there's an option to purchase print materials on Lulu. Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60519 Direct Link: http://www.lumenlearning.com/pr052213_courseframeworks A toast to the end of an era
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60517 Looking at the new xBox release (I saw an ad for it on the morning news) Dean Groom writes, "while games are scapegoated as causing all manner of social ills, they are the media-platform which is most able and likely to significantly change who own’s the content gateway. It will be game-networks which decide which social-network, which movie, which news-channel and music will be presented to the family." The new xBox is Microsoft's play to become the network that leverages access to that attention, and hence, can derive revenue from the advertising and promotion thereby enabled. "What is important is that as a game-media-network they want a direct line to consumers in the attention economy – and that is what it will deliver. It will leverage its games capital to achieve it." Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60517 Direct Link: http://deangroom.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/a-toast-to-the-end-of-an-era/ The license
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60516 This is brilliantly done, painting a dystopian picture of the teaching profession in the not-too-distant future. A lot of detail, a lot of understatement, this article strikes a perfect balance of realism and chilling. “Taxes?” “Who pays those things any more?” Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60516 Direct Link: http://coopcatalyst.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/the-license/ Yahoo Overpays for Tumblr
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60515 It's all over the news today of course but this headline best captures my own thoughts about the matter (though I confess that another story - expressing surprise that Yahoo had a billion dollars - was a close second). Kim writes, "the fact that Yahoo's leadership is so smart, experienced, and hard working that makes bone headed acquisitions such as Yahoo buying Tumblr for $1.1 billion so instructive for those of us involved in trying to change higher ed." The lessons? We shouldn't be fooled by our own rhetoric, we should get outside opinions, and we should avoid being tempted by shortcuts. Meanwhile, I guess the exodus is on over at Tumblr (how many heartbreaks before people lean to create communities online that can't be bought?). Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60515 Direct Link: http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/yahoo-overpays-tumblr Innovation Confusion
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60514 Cole Campese asks, "why do those who used to push forward now push back? ... the same people who built rallying calls for more open access to learning are now rejecting this movement. Why? ... Because it isn’t really open?" Well... yeah. That would be it, Cole. David Wiley is more generous than me with his response. "Yes, MOOCs have overrun the popular imagination. Yes, they are founded upon a severely impoverished definition of ‘open.’ So what are you going to do about it? Complain? Really? How about spending your time figuring out how to leverage MOOCs to move the ‘open’ agenda forward, rather than spending your time whining about how MOOCs have derailed it?" Of course, one can do both - it's not an either-or. Many's a time I've made a hill work for me by doggedly cycling up it for the betterment of my health and constitution all the while cursing the very existence of hills, gravity and opposing winds. And sometimes what the world needs is a little more salt, bitter and sour, and a little less sweetness. I'm happy to provide that. Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60514 Direct Link: https://medium.com/education-technology/c08b4a0af54a Is a MOOC a Textbook or a Course?
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60513 I have in the past listed the courses offered by ALISON (I hate ugly all-acronym company names) on www.mooc.ca and just received a request to do so again (actually, they're asking for the listing on "your MOOCs list on the Gilfus Education Group website," which of course is not mine at all, except in the sense that Gilfus copied my list and put it there). Now I'm reconsidering my original decision, not in the least because ALISON (IHUAACN) is now positioning itslef as 'the first MOOC provider' (see this item, for example). What ALISON (IHUAACN) actually provides are free self-paced online course packages. And, of course, people have been doing that since the Middle Ages. And it brings to mind the sense in which a course is an event in which a course package is not. Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60513 Direct Link: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/edtechresearcher/2013/05/is_a_mooc_a_textbook_or_a_course.html The Web Is Your MOOC, and Portfolios To The Rescue
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60512 From Bill Fitzgerald: "I've long held the notion that open source communities have been engaging in effective peer-supported learning, even while many for-profit companies and academic communities have been struggling to distill the process of peer-supported learning into something resembling a replicable product." And, he says, "In the platform-style MOOCs, the open web is missing. From a learner perspective, the portfolio is MIA. For a learner, throwing the evidence of your learning into a space that someone else controls isn't a viable long term strategy." I couldn't agree more. Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60512 Direct Link: http://funnymonkey.com/blog/the-web-is-your-mooc-and-portfolios-to-the-rescue Syndication-Oriented Architecture: a Solution to Problem of Coherence
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60511 Jim Groom writes, "I’d take the opportunity to try and frame out the broader vision behind Domain of One’s Own that goes well beyond the education sphere. In fact, it’s remarkable how much of the vision is encapsulated in Jon Udell‘s 2007 talk 'The Disruptive Nature of Technology.'" I think that's an interesting idea and a good way to reuse work that has been done before. "There remains an enduring issue and one which remains just as problematic six years on: a sense of coherence to the work we do online." Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60511 Direct Link: http://bavatuesdays.com/syndication-oriented-architecture-a-solution-to-problem-of-coherence/ MOOC on Human-Computer Interaction: videos have 7 fails in HCI
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60510 On the one hand, I agree with all of Donald Clark's criticisms of the recent crop of educational videos, especially those in MOOCs. He's quite right when he says there's too much talking head, too much cognitive dissonance, a dull presentation style and poor editing. He has this research and that to show that elements of video design impact retention. And yet... on the other hand, I have to ask whether improving video quality would produce enough of an improvement to justify the time and expense. Yeah, sure, if I'm consuming video like it was TV, then maybe. But if I'm in the middle of a project and I just need a clip to show me, say, how to fogment my doodad, then all that matters is that I can see what's happening. It's the act of fogmenting the doodad, not watching the video, that leads to retention. Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60510 Direct Link: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.ca/2013/05/mooc-on-human-computer-interaction-7.html What Professors Can Learn From 'Hard Core' MOOC Students
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60509 This should be subtitiled 'The Chronicle Surveys the Outliers'. As one commenter says, "It is like asking college professors what they liked about college." And the people answering questions in this article are more typical of the professor demographic than the student: Jonathan Haber, for example, "a 51-year-old who has taken a year off from his job in publishing to try to get an entire four years' worth of college from MOOCs." Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60509 Direct Link: http://chronicle.com/article/What-Professors-Can-Learn-From/139367/ The Graduation Advice We Wish We'd Been Given
, ------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60508 The Harvard Business Review advice to graduates is all about "success", "winning" and "persevering" in the face of challenges and competition. The well-meaning advice sounds good, but from where I sit, it seems so shallow. My advice I would have given to myself of 1986? "Find good work to do - a wrong to right, an injustice to correct, a problem to solve. This will bring meaning and value to your life. Cultivate interesting experiences and meaningful relationships. These will bring you happiness and contentment. Never mind the rest; it is irrelevant." Comment: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=60508 Direct Link: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/05/the_graduation_advice_we_wish.html Archive http://www.downes.ca/archive.htm Discuss http://www.downes.ca/threads.htm Search http://www.downes.ca/search.htm About http://www.downes.ca/about.htm Options http://www.downes.ca/options.htm This newsletter is sent only at the request of subscribers. If you would like to unsubscribe: http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/login.cgi?action=Unsub&pid=PERSON&sid=SUBSCRIBER Know a friend who might enjoy this newsletter? Feel free to forward OLDaily to your colleagues. If you received this issue from a friend and would like a free subscription of your own, you can join our mailing list. http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/login.cgi?action=Register Copyright 2008 Stephen Downes This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0