OLWeekly
by Stephen Downes
February 3, 2012
Embracing Uncertainty and the strange problem of habituation
Dave Cormier,
Dave’s Educational Blog, February 3, 2012.
Dave Cormier writes about Rhizomes and uncertainty. "The rhizome is uncertainty. That doesn’t mean it ‘isn’t’. It has no start and no ending. It is complex… and as such, it resists definition. As a model for learning, it resists ‘core principles’ or ‘final outcomes’. It is an ongoing process of growing, of surprise and of change." Martin Weller comments on this model in relation to the way experts are able to remember detailed aspects of their experience; "experts don't know they do this, but it's a by-product, or rather a means, of expertise." All very well, but "if it's unintentional, undirectional, informal and accidental then is there much we as educators can say about it other than 'that's interesting'?" I think that's a fallacy.
Farewell to the Enterprise LMS, Greetings to the Learning Platform
Phil Hill,
e-Literate, February 3, 2012.
"We are going," writes Phil Hill, "from an enterprise LMS market to a learning platform market." The difference between an LMS and a learning platform is that the latter "does not contain all the features in itself and is based on cloud computing – multi-tenant, software as a service (SaaS)." Definitely have a look at the article for a number of links to examples. "Another trend that is becoming apparent is that many of the new offerings are not attempting to fully replace the legacy LMS, at least all at once."
Flight 1549: Expertise and how it gets there
Dave Ferguson,
Dave's Whiteboard, February 3, 2012.
A topic that really interests me is expertise. How do we become 'expert' and what does it look like? Dave Ferguson takes a look at what was arguably expert performance, Chesley Sullenberger's "successful ditching" of a passenger aircraft in the Hudson River (which maps to another topic that really interests me, flight). What's interesting is that there was no training specific to low-altitude engine loss and no time to consult the ditching checklest en route to the river. So expertise does not consist of 'training for that' but rather learning that can be applied in rtandom situatrions. Sullenberger says, "one way of looking at this might be that for 42 years, I’ve been making small, regular deposits in this bank of experience, education, and training. And on January 15 the balance was sufficient so that I could make a very large withdrawal."
2017: RIP, OER?
David Wiley,
iterating toward openness, February 3, 2012.
Before we get a little overly exuberant about the ascendence of OERs, writes David Wiley, we need to look at what's happening in the education technology space. "Can you name a single OER project that does assessment at all (and I don’t mean PDFs of quizzes)? Can you name one that does diagnostic assessment or handles mastery in any meaningful way? ... Open education currently has no response to the coming wave of diagnostic, adaptive products coming from the publishers." The crux, says Wiley, is that if it took $100 million to get to where we are in OER, how much will it take to get to that next level?
Of course, the skill set required to make OERs is completely different from the skill set required to make educational software. Thus were is virtually no overlap between the OER community and, say, projects like OSCATS (Open Source Computerized Adaptive Testing System), Concerto, or even the older IRT-Computerized Adaptive Testing, to name a few. So I think the work is being done in the community, but most such work, it forms its own community, and doesn't evolve out of an existing community. But I don't want to downplay Wiley's point - it is absolutely essential that we look at the next generation of opnline learning, and not merely at replicating textbooks online.
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Open Educational Resources, Books, Project Based Learning, Google, Assessment, Online Learning]
Let’s make OpenPhilosophy.org!
Jonathan Gray,
Weblog, February 3, 2012.
Jonathan Gray writes, "A little while ago I posted some ideas for a project called OpenPhilosophy.org, which would enable users to transcribe, translate, annotate and create collections of philosophical texts which have entered the public domain... the project has secured some funding from JISC, who champion digital technology for use in higher education in the UK... The project will develop an open source platform called TEXTUS, which will enable users to create, manage and interact with collections of texts." Related: read the full-text comments from Occupy Philosophy: Chad Kautzer, Charles Mills, Darrell Moore, Annika Theim, and Jennifer Uleman.
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Great Britain, Project Based Learning, Open Source, Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), Metadata]
Can Humanities Undergrads Learn to Code?
Rebecca Davis,
NITLE Logo National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education, February 3, 2012.
I would never have though this would be an issue, but apparently "a recurring motif along the lines that coding (markup and programming) is so difficult that undergraduates trained in the humanities cannot learn it quickly or successfully." I must be a polymath then, having spent time coding pretty much through the whole of my philosophy undergrad. Or maybe the motif is just wrong. "The skills most humanities majors have mastered as part of their academic training, such as formulating research questions and reading critically, carry over easily and naturally into the world of humanities computing." And vice versa.
Creative Thinking – Joanna Maxwell
Nicola,
One Change a Day, February 3, 2012.
Creative Thinking by Joanna Maxwell is a short but beautifully presented slide show outlining four major steps to cultivating your creativity. It is also sport-on -- these are tips I use on a daily basis and which have served me remarkably well:
- be curious
- make connections
- challenge yourself
- cultivate your ideas
We Are More Than Algorithms
John T. Spencer,
Education Rethink, February 2, 2012.
When I read a statement like "we are more than algorithms" two things come to my mind:
- it depends on what you mean by "we", and
- it depends on what you mean by "algorithms"
Because, after all, an algorithm is, broadly construed a process or mechanism for doing something. Now if by that you mean 'a set of rules', then I agree, we are more than that. But if you mean by 'we' that there is some aspect of our comprehension that is by definition not representable through some process or mechanism, then I disagree. Simply setting the iPod down and jamming instead is the unthinking response. It's easy and glib to say 'we are more than algorithms' but in fact there are (or are going to be) algorithms that comprehend the innovative, the improvisational and the messy. And we can learn them. And we can become virtuosos - with or without the iPod.
Noam Chomsky on the purpose of #education
Inge de Waard,
Ignatia Webs, February 2, 2012.
Mostly my thinking is in alignment with Noam Chomsky's so it is not surprising to find his reflections on the subject of education reasonable and well-considered. Here are (sme of) Chomsky's ideas on education in short (as paraphrased by Ignatia at times):
- There is a constant struggle between two realities: the principles of the enlightment and indoctrination.
- Technology is a neutral instrument, education is a framework (note: I don't agree that technology is neutral; technology, too, is a framework - SD)
Ignatia's reflections are also interetsing: "the thing I wonder about is, how can you build a critical thinking framework and ... even if such a framework is provided, who is to say how 'critical' is defined? ... I wish enlightenment was possible, but power and establishment seems to be getting in the way."
Open Textbook Authoring Tools Part 1 – Mediawiki
Scott Leslie,
EdTechPost, February 2, 2012.
Scott Leslie explores MediaWiki as an authoring tool for open textbooks. Along the way he discovers:
- D2L exports aren't very good
- there's no simple way of getting from an IMS Content Package to a wiki (cynically, I would say they were designed that way)
- approaches that let you output to multiple formats depend on clean markup
- editing mediawiki seems just short of rocket science (at least for some people)
- the UBC wiki continues to astound
- you can write blog posts while sailing across the Salish Sea.
Tuition cuts won't increase university access
Stephen Gordon,
Globe and Mail, February 2, 2012.
Following widespread tutition-rate protests in Canada yesterday the Globe and Mail is trotting out the well-worn counterargument: tuition cuts won't increase university access. It's disingenuous. The author, if he chose to be accurate, would write "tuition cuts by themselves won't increase university access." They are a necessary but not sufficient condition. We need to address other costs as well (such as, say, books) and we need to acddress social equity in society in general. But that said, ti should be clear, that tuition hikes decrease access. They make a hard problem even harder to solve. And it is for that reason the students are right and the purveyors of tired old canards are wrong.
Crowdsourcing while learning
Wolfgang Greller,
Reflections on the Knowledge Society, February 2, 2012.
Wolfgang Greller takes a quick look at an intriguing project that has people learn a language by translating content on the web from that language into their own language. "Duolingo adjusts to your competence level and provides help on the fly, such as translation suggestions.
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Project Based Learning, Online Learning]
An Open Educational Resource Supports a Diversity of Inquiry-Based Learning
Catherine Anne Schmidt-Jones,
International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, February 1, 2012.
Today I bring to you links to four of the articles in the latest edition of the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. This first paper examines how people are using open educational resources (OERs). "Most reported accessing individual modules on their own initiative, as part of a specific, immediate inquiry, rather than responding to institutional directives or following entire online courses." Part nway through the paper we read an interesting and important question: were learners self-directing out of choice or need? As the author notes, "over half of the self-directed learners reported that they had not received as much formal music education as they would have liked. Money or cost was the most common reason given." So self-directed learning becomes not the preferred alternative, but for many, the only alternative. Not that this is necessarily bad - self-directed learning has a long history. As the author concludes, "Dewey (1938) has stated: There is, I think, no point in the philosophy of progressive education which is sounder than its emphasis upon the importance of the participation of the learner in the formation of the purposes which direct his activities in the learning process."
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Open Educational Resources, Traditional and Online Courses, Online Learning]
Heutagogy and Lifelong Learning: A Review of Heutagogical Practice and Self-Determined Learning
Lisa Marie Blaschke ,
International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, February 1, 2012.
One thing I've learned over the years in education and social science generally: for anything you can think of, someone has created a 'theory' of that thing. Thus we have heutagogy, which is "a form of self-determined learning with practices and principles rooted in andragogy." A key concept in heutagogy is 'double-loop learning' "In double-loop learning, learners consider the problem and the resulting action and outcomes, in addition to reflecting upon the problem-solving process and how it influences the learner’s own beliefs and actions." Or as I would say (without the academic mantra), "practice and reflection".
That said, the discussion around heutagogy is important. It is an explicit recognition of the importance of self-directed learning, and explicitly described the move from competences to capabilities. As such, it explains much of the appeal of web 2.0, e-learning 2.0, informal learning (as described volumously by people like Jay Cross) and (dare I say) connectivism. Indeed, most of the work cited in this paper comes only a couple of years after e-learning 2.0 - from 2007-2010. The work from Kenyon and Hase stands on its own, but the rest of it, I think, really ought to be read in this wider context.
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Connectivism, Adult Learning, E-Learning 2.0, Online Learning, Academia]
Online Social Networks as Formal Learning Environments: Learner Experiences and Activities
George Veletsianos and Cesar C. Navarrete,
International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, February 1, 2012.
This article presents "a case study of learners’ perspectives and experiences in an online course taught using the Elgg online social network." We haven't heard a lot about Elgg recently but it remains an important model for online learning. One weakness of the case study is that it takes place in a traditional institution. "Results also indicate that students limited their participation to course-related and graded activities, exhibiting little use of social networking and sharing." Then again, this might just be a feature of the (very) small group studied. I think the discussion of Elgg is valuable, but would place the case study as just one out of (we would hope) many data points.
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Traditional and Online Courses, Networks, Experience, Online Learning]
Connectivism and Dimensions of Individual Experience
Carmen Tschofen and Jenny Mackness,
International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, February 1, 2012.
The authors explore "the dimensions of individual experience in connective environments and to further explore the meaning of autonomy, connectedness, diversity, and openness." According to the authors, the "definitions of all four principles can be expanded to recognize individual and psychological diversity within connective environments." I can understand the authors' concern: "It is easy to see that attention to the perspective of the individual may perhaps be viewed as ultimately moot within the cumulative mass of network connections." This is the same point being made by Adam Curtis and it bears consideration. It is from this perspective that each of the four major principles is explored (and for me it is definitely an interesting exploration - though each one, I think, could stand to be a separate paper on its own).
There's always going to be a pull in two separate directions. On the one hand, the four principles are (in my mind) computational principles: they describe in a relatively objective way the conditions necessary to support effetcive networks. On the other hand, they have a human dimension: "we hope to see a recognition of network capabilities and possibilities intertwined with the recognition of human concerns and potential in a networked and connectivist world." It's like saying gravity weighs on us all. It is both objectively true, but also reflects an understanding of the human condition.
Three Passions of Bertrand Russell (and a Collection of Free Texts)
Mike Springer,
Open Cultutre, February 1, 2012.
Bertrand Russel was, I think, among other things a fundamentally good man. "Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life," wrote Bertrand Russell in the prologue to his autobiography: "the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind."
Big Data's Arrival
Paul Fain ,
Inside Higher Ed, February 1, 2012.
According to this report, "Researchers have created a database that measures 33 variables for the online coursework of 640,000 students – a whopping 3 million course-level records." Actually, 3 million records isn't a lot - wait until we start dealing with 3 billion records, or 3 trillion records. These are already the case in other fields (such as medicine) and are just around the corner in e-learning. But more - this case describes records created by students in a single system, which is really inadequate for the purpose of research or analytics. What you want is to be able to collect records from everywhere, and amalgamate them. Ah - but who will be the first to start sharing big data?
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Traditional and Online Courses, Research, Online Learning]
The place of ‘the teacher’ in relation to open content
Jenny Mackness,
Jenny Connected, January 31, 2012.
We've had a cancellation and as a result are collectively catching our breath in #Change11, which is probably a good thing (it allows me to pause and catch my breath in CCK12, which also got off to a vigorous start). And Jenny Mackness gets at the central question we are trying to answer with MOOCs: "Sir John Daniel as long ago as 1996 warned that traditional universities cannot create enough supply. So the question that was raised is, how do we scale up teaching without simply throwing content at people." After more than three years working with MOOCs, I still think it's a good question. And I'm thinking about how we can improve the existing model to made them more engaging, interactive and supportive to learners.
Apple, iBooks Author, and Open Textbooks: RIP K-12 Publishers as We Know Them
David Wiley,
iterating toward openness, January 31, 2012.
David Wiley weighs in on the Apple iBooks announcement from the perspective of someone who has already dipped a toe (and both feet, and most of his body) into the world of online and open publishing. He describes the collapse of an entire industry in just a few paragraphs (which are so delicious they are worth reprinting in full):
"It’s fairly clear from the Jobs biography and the publishers’ behavior that the original plan was: (1) Apple would hire some rockstar PhDs who would write textbooks (2) Apple would own the textbooks, and (3) Apple would give away the books for free in order to sell more iPads.
"This apparently kindled a great fear in the publishers, who consequently agreed to create video- and multimedia-rich, moderately interactive textbooks and sell them for only $14.99.
Now, if video-based, multimedia-rich, interactive textbooks are only worth $14.99 to the big publishers, what are relatively static, text-based books with a few photos worth to them? Answer: The Apple event was the big publishers’ public announcement that they are ceding the traditional textbook market to OER creators and others."
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Open Educational Resources, Books, Apple Inc., Video, Open Access]
Open Textbook Challenge Wave I Winners Announced!!
Unattributed,
Saylor Journals, January 31, 2012.
Summarizing this press release the Saylor Foundation is announcing the release of three open access textbooks: Computer Networking: Principles, Protocols and Practice, by Olivier Bonaventure, as well as Elementary Linear Algebra and Linear Algebra, both by Kenneth Kuttler. More here. Each author received $20,000 for the contribution (Bonaventure opted to donated his earnings to transfer the money to the Fondation Louvain, a non-profit foundation that is managed by Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) where he works). Image.
Testing is dead - RIP
Maggie Hos-McGrane ,
Tech Transformation, January 30, 2012.
We're in a bit of a conundrum in online learning, I think. I certainly get the arguments for the assertion that "testing is dead," as asserted in this post. "Traditional testing can no longer assess the new skills we want our students to develop." And yet the means by which Norvig and Thrun were able to work with so many students at once was - yes - online testing. So testing is not dead. Of course from such dilemmas come the next great innovations (which is why so many people are looking so hard at learning analytics).
Crowdsource My Basement Design
Karl Fisch,
The Fischbowl, January 30, 2012.
The idea of crowdsourcing your basement design is so delicious I can't pass it by. Karl Fisch posts a number of photos of his existing space and links to a homestyler plan and encourages readers to collectively redesign it. When looking at the photos I wanted to focus on the ceiling and wall paint (or panels) but there doesn't seem to be an option for that. You really need to brighten a space like a basement because there are so few windows.
Making universities obsolete
Matt Welsh,
Volatile and Decentralized, January 30, 2012.
There's a lengthy comment thread following this post from Matt Welsh describing three ways today's universities are failing:
- Exclusivity - "I estimate that I taught fewer than 500 students in total during my eight years on the faculty at Harvard. That's a pretty poor track record by any stretch."
- Grades - "the idea is that if you can't get through a course in the 12-to-13 week semester then you deserve to fail, regardless of whatever is going on in your life."
- Lectures - "it was to boost my ego and get some gratification for working so hard on the lectures."
The upshot is that online learning is challenging some of these bedrock assumptions of the traditional system. Yes, it's true that "a shallow, 18-minute video on the first 200 years of American History can't replace conventional coursework, deep reading, and essays." But online learning today isn't that (or to the extent that it is, it's changing). Via Seb Schmoller.
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Video, United States, Online Learning]
How Apple Can Solve Its China Problem
Mike Elgan,
Cult of Mac, January 30, 2012.
Apple is on the verge of a public relations nightmare, and from all accounts, possibly deservedly so. This article looks at what Apple can to do improve its image (and by happy coincidence, conditions for workers in its Chinese factories). But I would like to make a more general point: If goods and capital can move freely from country to country, and people cannot, then people are and always will be slaves to goods and capital. We as a global society will not solve our Apple problem until people are free to live and work where they choose.
What Happens When You Leave Students Alone?
Susan Engel,
Edudemic, January 30, 2012.
I have made the case on numerous occasions that independent learning fails only because we have given our students no freedom to learn independently. Today a couple of posts come along reinforcing that argument, this one from Edudemic (summarizing a NY Tiems article) describing students in the Independent Project - "remarkable because they demonstrate the kinds of learning and personal growth that are possible when teenagers feel ownership of their high school experience" - and this one from Daniel Lemire describing his two rules for teaching: assign open-ended projects, and be an authentic role model.
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Schools, Project Based Learning, Experience]
Getting Started with Drupal…01.27.12
RachelVacekandNinaMcHale,
The Proverbial Lone Wolf Librarian's Weblog, January 30, 2012.
In one of my personal projects I using Drupal to set up a community web site. The learning curve is steep as it always has been but Drupal has a lot of advantages for community projects intended to support multiple users. This link is to a longish slide show introducing Drupal to web designers. Even if you're not building websites it's useful to take a look just to familiarize yourself with the concepts and vocabulary.
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Project Based Learning, Drupal, Content Management Systems, Online Learning]
A Day in the life of an “OER Librarian”
Scott Leslie,
EdTechPost, January 30, 2012.
Scott Leslie describes his experience as an 'OER librarian' searching for open-access textbooks that can be used to replace the more proprietary versions currently in use. Among his discoveries: the generic Google search is nearly useless for a task like this, there's no one-stop OER reference point but a few collections are useful, and open source products are much more likely than proprietary products to have open source manuals. And, "I can foresee a dynamic approach, supported by any number of systems (a wiki might work well) in which... If done in something that allowed for easy 'clipping' and republishing of collected work into a new textbook, this iterated approach could go a long way to the creation of a new text that worked at all the levels of granularity it needed to."
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Open Educational Resources, Books, Google, Open Source, Experience]
Publishing News: Ereader ownership doubles, again
Jenn Webb,
O'Reilly Radar, January 30, 2012.
E-reader ownership doubled in a month. Yes, a month - from 10 percent of adults in December to almost twice that in January.
The Squeezed Middle: Exploring the Future of Library Systems
Ben Showers,
JISC, January 30, 2012.
Really interesting summary of a recent two-day conference on libraries in the information age. The conference produced a list of library systems objectives, and in addition, writes Ben Showers, several themes emerged: dealing with data rather than systems; the impact of outsourcing on skills and roles; shared infrastructure; and personalization. "An example of one of the presentations can be found on Paul Walk’s blog. The other three were by Ken Chad; Paul Stainthorp and David Kay, and all their presentations will be made available shortly."
How Online Learning Companies Bought America's Schools
Lee Fang,
The Nation, January 30, 2012.
The problem wasn't that online enterprises bought "America's schools". The problem was that they were for sale to begin with.
Calculate and Learn about Percentages with Percentage Calculator
Wesley Fryer,
Moving at the Speed of Creativity, January 27, 2012.
Honestly, you shouldn't need a calculator to be able to figure out percentages. It's easy. I'll show you how, where a small number (say 13365) is a percentage of a big number (say 456312):
- Divide your big number by 100. Eg. if it's 456312 you now have 4563.
- How many times does that go into your small number? Eg., how many times does 4563 go into 13365?
- If that's too difficult, divide each number by 10 and round off until it becomes simple. How many times does 456 go into 1336? Still too hard? How many times does 46 go into 137? Still too hard? How many times does 5 go into 14? Just under 2.5.
- Sure, it's a bit ballpark, because of the rounding (the actual percent in the example is 2.93 percent, which is actually near the outer edge of the margin of error for this method). But you can do it in about 5 seconds in your head.
- if you need more precision, proceed stepwise, calculating 1 significant digit each time you divide by 10, and keeping the remainer for the next step. Like so: 4563 goes into 13365 2 times; 456 goes into the remainder (4339) 9 times, etc., giving you 2.9
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