May 15, 2012
How to Keynote an Unconference
Michael Feldstein,
e-Literate, May 15, 2012.
When we tried it our unkeynote was less than a success. But to judge from comments after the event, says Michael Feldstein, his effort at an unkeynote went reasonable well. So what worked? "The point of an unkeynote should be to prime the conversational pump," he writes. But how? He considers some of the creativity exercises in Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way. The idea is to have yourself (or your audience) create something, anything - a collage from a magazine, or a solution (written down) to a problem. Whatever. (Contrast with what we did: we asked people to begin by speaking out loud in front of an audience.) "So," he writes, "I gave a talk that didn’t demand immediate group participation, but it was all questions." Me, I think a keynote composed of questions is still a keynote, not an 'unkeynote'. But I think he maybe made the right call in getting up there and delivering a talk, rather than turning it over to the audience, even in an unconference. But you know, I like the collage idea...
Open Clip Art Gallery
Doug Peterson,
doug -- off the record, May 15, 2012.
"It always seems to me," says Doug Peterson, "that the 'perfect' piece of clipart is so elusive!" So the Open Clipart Gallery is probably not going to solve all your image issues, but based on the review here it looks like it would be a good addition to the Flickr Creative Commons search and (if you have the money) commercial image DVDs you may have purchased.
Edshelf: An Educational App Directory for Teachers
Audrey Watters,
Hack Education, May 15, 2012.
As Watters writes, "Edshelf hopes to become a go-to site where teachers can recommend to one another what’s worked for them, and it’s building a directory of educational materials that have been reviewed for educators by educators." In this Edshelf addresses the age-old problem attempted by learning objects, repositories, Dewey Decimal, and Good Housekeeping: how to find the good stuff in a sea of dross. Tapping into social networks is a good idea, but it trades the overabundance of anonymous recommendations for a dearth of recommendations from people you actually know.
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Networks, Learning Objects, Learning Object Repositories]
DIY U: Interview with Anya Kamenetz
Howard Rheingold,
DMLcentral, May 15, 2012.
Howard Rheingold searches for the new in Anya Kamenetz's Edupunk's Guide, suggesting that what has been added is the idea of the personal learning plan to the personal learning network. "Making a public commitment to something is going to increase your accountability," says Kamenetz. Rheingold writes, "Her work serves as a bridge between blended learning and peeragogy. I previously wrote about Shelly Terrell and personal learning networks" and asks here what it takes for a group to self-organize. Kamanetz responds that there needs to be a common understanding of the goal - of course, this would be the outcome of self-organization, not what makes it possible.
Empowerment and Expertise
David Wiley,
iterating toward openness, May 15, 2012.
I wrote about reducing our dependence on experts, David Wiley wondered what I meant, I responded, and David Wiley now mostly gets what I mean. Except for this: "There’s a traveling-back-in-time-to-kill-your-own-grandfather quality to this thinking... can we say that we never needed teachers in the first place after a teacher helps them develop their expertise?" There is not an undifferentiated whole called 'reaching'. I've explained this elsewhere. One way of teaching is to read to a person; another is to teach the person to read. What I am saying is that if you teach a person to read, you have eliminated the need for teachers to read to a person (except maybe some small part of teaching them to read that entails reading to the person). If you show people how to read a map, you don't need to give them directions - ever (except maybe that first day when you're telling them how to get to map class). You know, I really think that if we got the first few years right, we wouldn't need the remaining 14 years of so of formal education; we could manage with a much more flexible, creative and innovative approach.
Qualified Self and Learning Analytics: from Quantification to Qualification
Teemu Leinonen,
FLOSSE Posse, May 15, 2012.
"I think the learning analytic research should move from the current practice of doing quantitative data analyses to include in it qualitative analyses," says . "The quantified self should be expanded to be qualified self." But what does that mean, particularly given to be swayed by the philosophy "if you can't measure it, you can't manage it." Take Leinonen's example: "Most of us do not have a clue about the amount of calories we eat, but most of us know whatever our diet is healthy or not." We can represent the healthiness of the diet as qualitative, but what makes it healthy is the having of x grams of Vitamin A or y grams of fibre. That said, "combining quantitative and qualitative data analyses," as he suggests, does make sense. It resists the urge to privilege some types of easily measured data.
Welcome to Life
Tom Scott,
Website, May 15, 2012.
Don't miss this. "A science fiction story about what you see when you die. Or: the Singularity, ruined by lawyers."
This newsletter is sent only at the request of subscribers. If you would like to unsubscribe, Click here.
Know a friend who might enjoy this newsletter? Feel free to forward OLDaily to your colleagues. If you received this issue from a friend and would like a free subscription of your own, you can join our mailing list. Click here to subscribe.