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What is the learner responsibility in open education?
I gave a presentation for George Siemens last night as part of CCK11 on, you've guessed it, digital scholarship. It was a bit rambling, but generally well received. I noticed a couple of comments on Twitter along the lines of 'how does this relate to the course content?' Having done a few such sessions this isn't the first time I've seen such queries. I don't mean to dismiss these, I think they raise an interesting issue for open education. Firstly, if a student is getting a course for free do they demand the same type of QA as one they've paid for? I really mean this, if MOOCs are…
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It’s all about me
A quick round-up of some open stuff I'm doing. Firstly, a special edition of RUSC, edited by George Siemens and myself is available, which focuses on social networks in education. There is an intro from George and me, and then some articles that are actually worth reading (unless you speak Spanish, you'll need to change the language to English in the box over on the right). That Siemens character works you hard once you're in his network, so on Wednesday 26th Jan, I'm giving a talk on digital scholarship as part of his CCK11 course, at 7.30pm UK time. It'll be in Elluminate. Lastly, if you want to listen to…
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The year of the backlash
<Image http://www.flickr.com/photos/frippy/1419020309/ by Frippy> This is hardly a marvel of prophecy, but bear with me… The signs are that this year will be one marked by something of a backlash against social media/ web 2.0/ any internet stuff. I don't mean from the traditional media, who've always been suspicious, but from people who know what they're talking about and have been advocates. In other words, increasingly 'us lot' will be declaring that this stuff is peripheral, uncool, over- rated, etc. I think this will often been focused on a particular technology, and Twitter will be the main candidate this year. I've already seen several people I know abandon it. But increasingly it…
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Higher Ed – room for disruption?
<Image http://www.flickr.com/photos/annetta/1954945479/ by Annetta) (Another excerpt from my Digital Scholarship book): In other posts I have looked at some of the impacts new technology has had in other industries and what we might learn from this in higher ed. While the lessons these sectors offer are instructive, it also provides a basis for considering in what ways higher education differs, and thus may not be subject to the same influences. The major difference is that higher education is not purely a content industry. I argued in this talk that HE produces a considerable amount of content, which could be distributed and shared digitally, but its revenue is not predicated on selling this content, unlike music…
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My edtech life in 3 gifts
This is the digital version of putting an apple on teacher's desk… This isn't an assignment for Jim Groom's Digital Storytelling course, but I had this idea last night, and spent this afternoon playing with it. Inspired by the excellent Radio 4 series, "A History of the World in 100 objects", my idea was to take three objects and use these to tell my life, or career, in educational technology. I was going to use any object, but decided to limit myself to gifts I've been given. The result is below. It didn't turn out that great, I really need more images and it needs to be snappier, but I…
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Learning Analytics 2011 is the place to be
(This man wants your data) I'm pleased to say I've managed to get some funding to attend the first conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge (LAK 2011), organised by George Siemens and the good folk at Athabasca. It's in Banff, Canada, Feb 27th to March 1st. Look at some of the people on the steering committee: Erik Duval, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium David Wiley, Brigham Young University, US Dave Cormier, University of Prince Edward Island, Canada Tony Hirst, Open University, UK Grainne Conole, Open University, UK Dragan Gasevic, CSIS, Athabasca University, Canada Simon Buckingham Shum, Knowledge Media Institute, UK Caroline Haythornthwaite, University of British Columbia, Canada I think this first conference…
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I ain’t no surfer
For Jim’s digital storytelling course we have to tell a story about something that happened to us recently. I have chosen to make a quick vid about how I went surfing on Christmas Eve at Watergate Bay in Cornwall. It was good fun, but I completely failed to stand on the board, and realised that mental images I may have had of riding big tubes would not be realised. I think a basic lack of balance may be a factor. It was just an experiment in telling a story with a few images, and some music (I did it in Picasa). PS – if you’re not interested in Jim’s…
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Games & education – a contrarian view
These are not scripts or courses in waiting… <image http://www.flickr.com/photos/durka/4879338779/ by Thomas Durka> It is almost a truism to say that games represent a bold new future for education. The Chancellor of the OU, and one of the wisest people around, Lord Puttnam, has often said as much: "The video game is probably the most powerful learning tool that's ever been created, and if we can only get the software right, as it were 'connect up the pieces', we could create something utterly remarkable." And the linkages seem irresistible – games create a structured environment where the player has to learn certain procedures to progress. They are given tips, have the opportunity…
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Digital resilience
<Image http://www.flickr.com/photos/revdancatt/449142212/ by Rev Dan Catt> Reading some of the posts and papers from Joss Winn and Richard Hall brought the concept of resilience to my attention. I'm probably deviating from their intended use of the concept, but it has been a useful way of thinking about how academia responds to the impact of digital, networked and open technologies and approaches. I was also struck by Joss' comment at Open Ed: "Resilience does not mean withstanding" (Scott Leslie also liked this). This is a useful way of thinking about how new technologies (and more importantly the approaches they facilitate) can influence scholarship, as often the reaction is to think about what we will…
