The Death and Life of Higher Education | The John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy (Editor’s note: This article is based on a presentation for a conference sponsored by the Fund for the Study of Spontaneous Orders and directed by John W. Sommer in February 2012. It begins a series of such articles.) We desperately need to equip and inspire our next generation to take on the opportunities and challenges of the twenty-first century. But our traditional universities have become trapped in a bureaucratic death spiral, more interested in preserving and expanding pay and perks for tenured faculty and administrators than serving students. The decline has become so self-evident that students, parents, employers, taxpayers—and even the rabble with Occupy Wall Street—now recognize the problem. Faculty senates at traditional universities seem indifferent to the mounting problems. Those who expect traditional universities to reform on their own are kidding themselves. A Lifelong Adventure 1. 2. 3. 4. A Modest Proposal Portfolios vs. But college degrees also denote status.
The Journalist's Guide to User Generated Video Leah Betancourt is the digital community manager at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, Minn. She is @l3ahb3tan on Twitter. User-generated content (UGC) isn’t new, but technology such as video cell phones, home video editing software and video-sharing web sites are making it easier and cheaper than ever to capture, edit and distribute moving images with or without mainstream broadcast media. Is it newsworthy? Viral video is just as it sounds — video that is contagious and worth sharing via word of mouth, social bookmarks, email, embeds or links. While digital technology may offer a bold, new world for independent, user-generated media, this new situation doesn’t mean the rules have changed for newsrooms considering using UGC video. She pointed out, for example, that many news organizations weren't comfortable running the video showing the beheading of journalist Daniel Pearl. The game has changed, but the rules remain "But the primary issues remain the same: Who owns it? Mashups and fair use
Free and Open Source Authoring Tools for e-Learning As an e-Learning consultant I was always a fan of open source software. Why? The answer is simple. In this post I am not going to talk about open source learning management systems such as eFront[1] but rather dedicated open source “authoring tools”. => If you know a free or open source authoring tool that is not included in the list I will highly appreciate if you write a comment with a link! Free & Open Source Authoring Tools for e-Learning What2Learn makes it easy for e-Learning developers to create interactive games and quizzes and track learners’ attainment. xical.org With Xical you can produce web-based slide shows, tutorials, tests and whatever else you can think of that can make use of integrated rich media, such as audio (speech and music), video, animations or interactive visual diagrams and the likes. ClassTools.net Create free educational games, quizzes, activities and diagrams in seconds! eXe Wink CourseLab Quandary Hot Potatoes
5 Ways Social Media is Changing Our Daily Lives Soren Gordhamer writes and consults on ways we can more creatively and effectively use the technologies of our age, including social media. He is the author of "Wisdom 2.0" (HarperOne, 2009). You can follow him on Twitter at @SorenG. It is hard to know sometimes how our life has changed until we stop for a moment and look at how different it is from ten or even five years ago. But social media communication tools have profoundly changed our lives and how we interact with one another and the world around us. 1. If you're like me, each morning before checking Yahoo! Friends on social media are increasingly becoming people’s trusted sources of information, even more than search engines. Of course, many people still use RSS feeds to stay up-to-date on blogs and publications of interest, but our list of sources for what is worthy of our attention has expanded significantly. 2. It is easier than ever to start and launch a business today, in great part thanks to social media. 3. 4. 5.
Learning Object Tools A reader from another country has asked me about Learning Object Tools. I asked him to clarify what they meant and the response was: Learning Object Tools are those that allow you to create, edit and manage learning objects. There is also a bit of language barrier. I pointed them at the Wikipedia article - Learning Object. But it got me to thinking that I've really not looked at Learning Objects in quite a while - and I've not really kept up on Learning Object Tools. So, I was hoping that someone could help me and him: What are good general discussions of learning objects and learning object tools? 5 Great Ways to Find Music That Suits Your Mood Jessica Miller has written for Jewcy.com, The Jew and the Carrot, and is an avid digital music explorer. She holds a B.A. in religion from Barnard College, and blogs regularly on her own site, The Boomerang Blog. You don’t have to be Oliver Sacks to know that music can have a profound effect on the human psyche. Music is undeniably important in shaping moods, and, likewise, certain frames of mind require certain kinds of songs. Luckily for us, there are now several websites out there that feature mood searches. So whether you’re feeling down and need a pick-me-up; you’re down and you’d like to stay that way for a bit — whether you’re in an "Empire State of Mind," or it’s just another "Manic Monday" — we’ve hand picked our five most satisfying sites for finding the perfect songs to suit your mood. 1. Musicovery is a fun and colorful website that lets you find your mood-appropriate music with several adjustable options. Pros: Fun to look at, lots of fine-tuning options. 3. 4. 5.
NEW READING OPPORTUNITIES IN MOOCDOM ~ CDL Projects you are not logged in. [] [] We have been collecting bits about the world of MOOCs and we wanted to share some of them with you for your perusal. Foof for lots of mental stimulation and lots of incubation material here and maybe even a discussion and blog post or two, or three. CMC11 was developed as a direct result of the Cormier, Downes, Siemens connectivist MOOCs that we followed as learner/participants, though more as lurkers than active contributors/participants. You may recognize yourself in either of those categories ... the learners/participants tend to shape the networks as well as the learning as the cMOOC flows along. So, we, as participants, used the connectivist model in shaping CMC11. The current crop of elite MOOCs seem to be more content driven and as such, have more prescribed theories and pedagogy ... ones that many may be more comfortable pursuing. What sort of MOOC might you develop, if you set out to develop one?
7 Unique Sites for Discovering New Music Jessica Miller has written for Jewcy.com, The Jew and the Carrot, and is an avid digital music explorer. She holds a B.A. in religion from Barnard College, and blogs regularly on her own site, The Boomerang Blog. Most music enthusiasts will agree that there is a big difference between hearing a band on a CD and seeing them perform live. While it might have been the recording that got you to the show, it’s often the live concert experience that transforms an artist you like into your favorite band. But since many of us don't always have the time or ticket funds to see as many concerts as we'd like, here are seven sites that will bring all the intimacy of a live show to your desktop. 1. If you’re in the market for charming, offbeat music videos, La Blogotheque is a must-see nexus of musicianship and cinematography. 2. The Black Cab Sessions takes all the fun and eccentricity of La Blogotheque and puts it on wheels. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. More music resources from Mashable:
#MOOCMOOC Reflection on different MOOCs Will MOOC transform Higher Education? There seems to be great potential for MOOC “to transform higher education at a time when colleges and universities are grappling with shrinking budgets, rising costs and protests over soaring tuition and student debt.” Is free online courses movement good for the higher education? MOOC could be a good platform and hence a driver for education and personalised learning. As George states in slide 20 of his post: The poor level of innovation needs more MOOC models. There are models which could be good on surface, but not always good in outcome. What are those models? “Good MOOCs foreground and sustain the social dimension of learning and active practices, i.e., knowledge production rather than knowledge consumption.” Based on the principles and concepts of MOOC, it could be used in the case of SOOC where Keith is thinking of and he cites Jim’s conclusion: The critical issue for x MOOCs seems to lie with the problem of Cheating and Plagiarism. 1. 2. 3.
26 Essential Social Media Resources You May Have Missed It's been a busy week here at Mashable HQ with the launch of Facebook Places. This round-up of resources from the past week or so comes jam-packed with tips and analysis, including a field guide to using (or disabling) Facebook's new tool. As always, there are some interesting entries across all of our coverage areas. In Social Media, check out five of the biggest emerging trends, some geeky web comics, and seven services for reserving your favorite username across the web. Tech and Mobile offers 10 essential e-books for designers, some keyboard shortcuts for your iPhone, and an infographic on the rise of text messaging. Business closes the round-up with a list of corporate blogs to learn from and great tips for aspiring copywriters and art directors. Looking for even more social media resources? Social Media 5 Huge Trends in Social Media Right NowSocial media is no longer just about status updates. Tech & Mobile Business
Three Kinds of MOOCs « Lisa's By Lisa, on August 15th, 2012 We are so into MOOCs now that it’s too much for me. Gotta apply Ockham’s Razor 2.0 to this stuff. At the Ed-Media conference, I attended a session by Sarah Schrire of Kibbutzim College of Education in Tel Aviv. In her discussion of Troubleshooting MOOCs, she noted the dificulties in determining her own direction in offering a MOOC in the “Stanford model” MOOCs versus the “connectivism” MOOCs. I found myself breaking it down into three categories instead. Each type of MOOC has all three elements (networks, tasks and content), but each has a goal that is dominant. Network-based MOOCs are the original MOOCs, taught by Alec Couros, George Siemens, Stephen Downes, Dave Cormier. Task-based MOOCs emphasize skills in the sense that they ask the learner to complete certain types of work. Content-based MOOCs are the ones with huge enrollments, commercial prospects, big university professors, automated testing, and exposure in the popular press.
039;s Twitter Guide Book Now Available for Download We recently launched The Twitter Guide Book, a one-stop shop for getting up to speed with everything Twitter, from managing your Twitter stream to promoting a business. Now, we've packaged up all of our best Twitter resources in a downloadable presentation so you can flip through all of the content in one place, and print and share it with your friends and colleagues. Presented by Adobe Acrobat 9, sponsor of this year’s SlideShare “World’s Best Presentation Contest”, the Twitter Guide Book includes a special audio introduction from Mashable Founder and CEO Pete Cashmore, as well as five chapters: 1. Please note that Acrobat 9 or Adobe Reader 9 is required for viewing. Supported by Adobe Acrobat 9, sponsor of this year’s SlideShare “World’s Best Presentation Contest” From August 3 to September 14, SlideShare is hosting its second annual “World’s Best Presentation Contest".
mics in the classroom: news and resources round up | Teacher Network Blog | Guardian Professional The GTN team struggled (and failed) to suppress our inner geeks earlier this week when news surfaced that superheroes Superman and Wonder Woman are to become a "powers couple" in the DC Comics series. Our main source of excitement, however, wasn't the super-powered love match, but knowing this new fictional romance gave us a reasonable excuse to dedicate our topical resources column to the fascinating topic of teaching with comics. So, we've scoured the Guardian and the rest of the web for some ideas for bringing comics into the classroom. If you've already got comic-themed resources, activities or ideas for lessons, please do share it with the community here. From the Guardian How to draw...How to draw... is one of our favourite regular features to come out of the Guardian's children's books section. The How to draw... aliens activity is pretty topical too - what with the Curiosity rover looking for life on Mars. Resources from Guardian Teacher Network Best of the web Buzz!