OLDaily

The Future of Education Is Already Happening (If You’re Paying Attention)
John Spencer, The Synapse, 2017/09/11

I agree with the title but question the post as a whole. Itès probably because the post is addressed to teachers and stresses the importance of teachers. "The future of education can’t be found in a gadget or an app or a program or a product," writes John Spencer. "It doesn’t require a think tank full of pundits. No, the future of education can be found in your classroom. Your classroom is packed with creative potential. You have all the innovation you need right there in your room. You have the power to make it happen." Well no. That's not to say you can't be free or creative. But you're not going to be inventing quantum computing in your classroom. Nor even augmented reality glasses. Nor even the new iPhone being announced tomorrow. You may use these things, but the future doesn't happen in that small space between teacher and student. It envelops all of society. Pretending that teachers are insulated from that is dangerous and misleading.

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10 Influencers Weigh In on the Future of Learning
CGS Blog, 2017/09/11

I was most interested in who C GS Magazine thought the "10 influencers" were (and on a more meta level, what counts as an 'influencer'). But I found it interesting to find that there were ten essentially different stories about the future of learning, including: virtual reality, branching games, skills and reskilling, positive work environments, the liberal arts, digital employees, transformational leadership, bots, data-driven learning, and influence on culture. Now I admit I rolled my eyes a bit at what is essentially a listing of the top 10 fads for mid-2017. You may find some useful resourcxes, though, among the books and papers listed for each.

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What do adult learners really want?
Dan Haesler, 2017/09/11

I've been on both sides of this discussion (on all four sides, actually, if you construct the table). Give a talk, and people want something more interactive. But "If you make us get into groups and give us post-it notes I’m outta here.” Generally, like the author of this post, I offer what organizers ask for. But I've been both put to sleep by lectures and left climbing the walls by group-work. Yet I've also had extremely rewarding examples of both. In the non-lecture workshops I do, I've deliberately tried to break the group effect in groupwork by shuffling groups and setting group members up to oppose each other. But I don't have an answer outside that chalk board - postit note nexus. Which is why I often wonder whether the classroom is the right environment at all.

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Social Media: Abstinence Only?
Karl Fisch, The Fischbowl, 2017/09/11

Karl Fisch offers what I think is exactly the right comment about going screen-free: "I am not saying this is always a bad idea and, for some folks, this is probably a good thing. But that's the key idea, it's good for 'some' folks. But I worry that this is another case of the "adults" suggesting a one-size-fits-all solution in the hopes of solving a complicated problem with a simple solution." Instead, he writes, we should think about doing the hard but necessary work of teaching people how to use media safely. See also Five Rebuttals to *that* Smartphone Article in the Atlantic.

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#openedMOOC begins October 1st
Jenny Mackness, Jenny Connected, 2017/09/11

David Wiley and Geoprghe Siemens are launching a new MOOC on open education at the beginning of October. I'm with Jenny Mackness: "My hope is that it will offer a fresh perspective and rekindle the enthusiasm I had for open education in the early days of the first MOOC in 2008, but which I have found increasingly difficult to sustain in the last couple of years." Special surprise at the end.

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Alasdair MacIntyre on Education
Gardner Campbell, Gardner Writes, 2017/09/11

As usual a Gardner Campbell post promptys in me a host of reflections. The core question being considered is whether epistemology - 'how we know what we know' is foundational, or whether something else, such as morality - 'what ought we to do next' - is foundational. I fall on the side or priorizing knowledge (and am no satisfied with responses like "they're all foundational"). Yet I'm constantly wondering about my place in the world, what my own enquiry (for my life has really jut been one long enquiry) has to do with that, and whether I'm even entitled, or worthy, or qualified. Is that a moral question, or is it an epistemological question? "One might even call these rhetorics the 'prosperity gospel' version of higher education," writes campbell, "and ask how such definitions of “success” will help when the storms come–as they do, especially when we dare to hope to try to build a better world, and especially when those efforts are thwarted."

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