OLDaily, by Stephen Downes

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October 9, 2013

Is Beginning a BA Program a Good Investment?
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Education Research Report, October 8, 2013


That old bugbear of a question raises its head again, prompting me to say this, for the record: even had my BA never 'paid for itself in terms of increased earnings, I would never never ever have changed my mind about taking it. I like what that experience did for me. It made me a much better person than I was, with a much wider appreciation for the wisdom and beauty there is in the world. Even if it never made me more money, it made be inestimably richer.

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Desire2Learn Open Courses
Press Release, Desire2Learn, October 8, 2013


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Disire2Learn has launched an 'Open Courses' application: "Our philosophy is simple: Open Courses can kick-start or enhance the learning journey by supplementing or driving a wide range of learning materials and topics. Desire2Learn and its partners are breaking down barriers to offer quality education to every individual inside and outside of the formal classroom. While some MOOCs are focused on numbers of registrants, we are focused on providing open education for all those that want to learn."

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15 Ways of the Successful Self-Directed Learner
Jeff Cobb, Mission to Learn, October 8, 2013


What are the habits of successful connected learners? Revisiting an old post of mine, I will be considering the question anew in an online seminar in a couple weeks - according to the seminar posting I haved some 2700 attendees. This post from Jeff Cobb is also illustrative of the sort of answer that question requires - for example, "Self-directed learners do not always act autonomously or independently. Indeed, increasingly they must cultivate their networks to learn effectively. Nonetheless, successful self-directed learners know how to be self-reliant."

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As more jobs are automated, how many of us will still have productive work?
Ross Dawson, Trends in the Living Networks, October 8, 2013


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Interesting analysis of the jobs that will be automated by computers in the not-too-distant future. As we might expect, things that require rote manual skills will be automated. More interesting is the set of categories that won't be automated, according to this chart - management, computer engineering, education, legal, arts, healthcare and service. But I wonder about that - how long, for example, before we just turn over management functions like budgeting and time management over to computers? Meanwhile, the other thought that strikes me as I look at this chart: whatever happened to the 4-hour workday? At some point, doesn't increasing automation and productivity give us more time off?

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Copyright 2010 Stephen Downes Contact: stephen@downes.ca

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