eLearning
MIT Expands ‘Open’ Courses, Adds Completion Certificates
by Inside Higher Ed The Massachusetts Institute of Technology — which pioneered the idea of making course materials free online — today announced a major expansion of the idea, with the creation of MITx, which will provide for interaction among students, assessment and the awarding of certificates of completion to students who have no connection to MIT.MIT is also starting a major initiative — led by Provost L. Rafael Reif — to study online teaching and learning. The first course through MITx is expected this spring. While the institute will not charge for the courses, it will charge what it calls “a modest fee” for the assessment that would lead to a credential. The credential will be awarded by MITx and will not constitute MIT credit.
By Lindy Cansler, Augusta Chronicle As a grandparent guardian, this holiday season I am thankful for virtual learning and how it has helped my child succeed. Our grandson is an active 10-year-old Boy Scout who participates in a bowling league and, as he says, “has one true friend.” That’s because he has Asperger syndrome, or high-functioning autism.
Online learning a godsend
A brief history of the impending transformation of post-secondary education, just to clarify where we are, followed by some commentary. Dates are approximate as I’m working from memory on an airplane. Perhaps later I’ll turn this into a proper piece of writing with supporting links, etc., if folks find it interesting.
The Jig is Up
Creating a Common Craft-style video is part of the classroom assignment. By Shelley Wright I teach in an inquiry, project-based, technology embedded classroom. A mouthful, I know.
Life in a 21st-Century English Class
The Justice Institute of British Columbia and Vancouver Community College hosted an ‘online showcase’ on November 30, 2011, sponsored by the Metro Vancouver Educational Developers Network. Video recordings of each of the sessions are now available from the website . Videos The videos are bundled into 2 pages:
Vancouver showcase of online learning innovations available on video
The fascinating premise of this article comes from a study that shows the following: “The students who learned about scientists’ struggles developed less-stereotyped images of scientists, became more interested in science, remembered the material better, and did better at complex open-ended problem-solving tasks related to the lesson—while the students who read the achievement-based text actually developed more stereotypical images of scientists.” A white lab coat. An unsmiling expression. Thick glasses and unkempt hair.
Quick Look: Why Scientists Need An Image Makeover
Open online courses at university level are gaining momentum. There are the MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) run by George Siemens, Stephen Downes, Dave Cormier and colleagues, a wide range of open courses facilitated by Peer 2 Peer University and now Stanford University's headline grabbing Artificial Intelligence course with over 50,000 students. They all offer exciting new arenas for collaborative learning and offer people a chance to participate in a stimulating and challenging learning environment. However none of them offer full university credentials - yet. The free students on the Stanford course took the full course but were not eligible for university credits. Instead they received a certificate from the teachers but without the Stanford stamp of approval.
MIT up the stakes in open education
Polishing the Student’s Image on Facebook Timeline
Facebook and schools have been on a collision course, and especially in the past week, the media has spotlighted the tension between the social media site and its relationship with students and teachers. In the meantime, Lisa Nielsen, who works for the New York City Department of Education teaching teachers how to use technology in innovative ways, has come up with a list of ways for teachers who aren’t bound by school rules to take advantage of Facebook’s new Timeline feature. By Lisa Nielsen
A Tool Chain for Plotting Twitter Archive Retweet Graphs – Py, R, Gephi
require (stringr) trim <- function (x) sub ( '@' , '' ,x) twapperkeeperCSVParse= function (fp){
From Hero to Host: Giving Up on Being "The Expert"
Several weeks ago, I wrote a post on social artistry , on how I am shifting my understanding of what I do and how I do it, seeing myself more and more as a "social artist." Since then, I've been doing a lot of reading, thinking and exploring on the concept, particularly on how we can better use conversations for learning and to dig into the meaningful issues that we aren't addressing right now . This has opened up a whole new world for me and how I think about the work that I do.A Conference hosted by Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič. The Lisbon Treaty introduces a new form of public participation in European Union policy shaping, the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) . As required by the Treaty, on a proposal from the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a Regulation which defines the rules and procedure governing this new instrument ( Regulation (EU) No. 211/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council 16 February 2011 on the citizens' initiative ). The ECI will allow 1 million citizens from at least one quarter of the EU Member States to invite the European Commission to bring forward proposals for legal acts in areas where the Commission has the power to do so. The organisers of a citizens' initiative, a citizens' committee composed of at least 7 EU citizens who are resident in at least 7 different Member States, will have 1 year to collect the necessary statements of support.
Warming up for the Citizens' Initiative
Editing Images with PowerPoint
By Joseph Suarez Sometimes an eLearning course needs to be enhanced with an image , but finding the right one can be a chore in itself. It’s frustrating to locate an image only to find it just isn’t quite right. In these cases, it’s possible to tweak the image with a graphics editor.4 strategies for mobile learning & teaching-Part 1
Over the next few posts, I’m planning to share strategies that I recently used for mobile learning (mlearning) and teaching in one of my courses. I hope you find these strategies helpful, and please let me know if you have any questions. In full disclosure, I didn’t come up with some of these ideas. Instead, colleagues, particularly on Twitter , we super helpful in inspiring me or providing some tips on how to get going with a tool or strategy.In "The rise of meritocracy", Young explains how 'the cult of the child' took over from social class as being the most significant driving force behind educational and professional success. The triumph of the socialist movement gradually led parents to go to increasing lengths to get the best for their children: ballet classes, music lessons, reading groups... "The cult of the child became the drug of the people; inspired by hope, vitalized by ambition, the whole nation began to advance as never before from the moment that the Labour Party came to a standstill" (The rise of meritocracy, pp111-112) Not surprisingly, Young explains, this led to some distortion of the meritocratic organisation of society, where it was those who had access to the best opportunities - who increasingly tended to be the children of the rising working classes who did best, at the expense of those whose IQ scores were kept low through the lack of access to educational opportunity.
Meritocracy, Family and Education
This morning I read a short item from Mashable describing some predictions being made for the next five year by IBM . Among more workaday predictions we've heard elsewhere - that biometrics will become mainstream, for example, or that mobile computing will end the digital divide - is a prediction that demands more attention: that mind reading will become a practical technology. This seems more the stuff of science fiction than it does a practical reflection on the future of work. However, the technology itself is not science fiction. The technology already exists to allow a person to control the movement of a cube on the screen through the exercise of thought alone.