May 21, 2012
Connectivism and Connective Knowledge
Stephen Downes,
Stephen's Web, May 21, 2012.
I am very pleased to be able to announce the (self-) publication of my latest eBook, Connectivism and Connective Knowledge. It is a collection of blog posts, essays and transcripts from my talks covering all major con tributions to the field I have made in the last eight years. It is posted here to give people a single source and common point of reference for my work in the field.
Connectivism is the thesis that knowledge is distributed across a network of connections, and therefore that learning consists of the ability to construct and traverse those networks. The bulk of this work is devoted to tracing the implications of this thesis in learning. Yes, this could have been a shorter book – and perhaps one day I’ll author a volume without the redundancies, false starts, detours and asides, and other miscellany. Such a volume would be sterile, however, and it feels more true to the actual enquiry to stay true to the original blog posts, essays and presentations that constitute this work.
[PDF] [Doc] [Docx] [ePub]
The Future of Education Is Here, It's Just Not Evenly Distributed
Michael Geist,
Weblog, May 21, 2012.
It's with no small irony I read Michael Geist writing about the revolution in education, citing examples like Stanford and MIT, and saying "there are serious doubts whether Canada is ready for these changes." And he says "no one seems ready to confront the emerging reality of competition from top tier schools from around the world offering online courses at low cost to Canadian students." He should not confuse Canada with Canadian institutions. Canada is the home of open access. And this country has contributed more than a little to open education. Don't be dazzled by big dollars at big name institutions. That's just the way they do things when they think they've spotted a trend. Open education and open access are as Canadian as maple syrup and beaver tails. If our governments and institutions lag behind, well, it wouldn't be the first time.
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Schools, Traditional and Online Courses, Canada, Open Access, Paradigm Shift]
DIY learning: Schoolers, Edupunks, and Makers challenge education as we know it
Marie Bjerede,
O'Reilly Radar, May 21, 2012.
Another article depicting the rise of do-it-yourself education. The use of the term 'schoolers' is new. "Schoolers are applying new tools to traditional goals to crack open the case on the traditional schoolhouse. With laptops, tablets, and cell phones, students no longer wait to be spoon-fed information, but reach out beyond the walls of the classroom for images, information, and insights at the moment the question arises for them." I think it might be derived from the term 'home schoolers' - there was no obvious search result on Google. Maybe O'Reilly is going for a brand, like they did with web 2.0. Maybe they just want to avoid the irrelevant links - like Siemens, Groom and Cormier - that keep showing up ahead of of MIT and Stanford, as though they invented it or something.
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Schools, Portable Computers, Google, Homeschooling, Online Learning]
bootlegMIC Is a Tiny But High Quality DIY Microphone
Jason Fitzpatrick,
How-to-Geek, May 21, 2012.
I'm not sure we'll ever enter an era where it's commonplace for people to just build their own gear - like this concert microphone you can just plug into your iPhone to record concerts without all that distortion - but we've definitely entered an era where you can. Another post from Ho-to-Geek, a useful publication I've been reading more of lately.
Microsoft silently launches So.cl, its attempt at a social networking site
Sean Ludwig,
VentureBeat, May 21, 2012.
So I spent a little time inside Microsoft's new so.cl social networking site - you can sign in with a Windows Live ID or a Facebook ID. It's an effort to combine search with social. It's not a bad first attempt - it has some interesting concepts, such as 'riffing' on a post, video parties, privatew search and more. It also suffers a bit from Microsoft Web Syndrome - profile photos 'take time' to appear on your profile; only long load times for things like the 'find more' popup; there's a listing of your 'interests', for example, but no indication of how to add one; the 'close video party' button is hidden behind the Firefox ad blocker 'block' button, etc. Anyhow, here's my profile - and we'll see if so.cl is feed-friendly, search-driendly and internet-friendly.
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