July 6, 2012
Five Things I've Learned
Ewan McIntosh,
Weblog, July 6, 2012.
Not that Pearson would ever want to hear my list of course but here are the five things I've learned:
- each person is inherently valuable, not because of what they do or who they are
- it is in diversity, not unity, that we find harmony
- live for experiences, not things
- stay true to yourself, give your all, and do not hold back for the sake of advancement or conformity
- happiness comes from service, not reward
Ewan McIntosh gives his list here and you can find the rest of the list at the Pearson site. Personally, I like my list better, but I'm not really sure they fly in the corporate world.
Digital dawn: open online learning is just beginning
Craig Savage,
The Conversation, July 6, 2012.
It hadn't really occurred to me, but Australia has been missing in all the MOOC action. Observing that "panic over MOOCs seems to have been a factor in a recent bizarre series of events at the University of Virginia in which the Board fired and then rehired the University President" this article notes that "Deakin University plans to embed MOOCs in their curriculum," according to their Vice Chancellor. That seems to be about it - all the other effort I've seen in the region focuses on things like OERu and its by now quaint logic model.
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Open Educational Resources, Australia, Online Learning]
The 60,000 Times Question Remains Unanswered
Alan Levine,
CogDogBlog, July 6, 2012.
Alan Levine quite rightly takes on this factoid and gnaws at it like a bone: "Research at 3M Corporation concluded that we process visuals 60000 times faster than text." And that's it - no context, no literature, no citation (except for 'research' at 3M corporation. He makes an offer: "I will pay the first person to send me the source of this research $60.00!" Darren Kuropatwa found nothing despite a good look. I scouted a bit myself and found a lot of (name-up) explanations of why this would be the case (like this: This is because we take in all the data from an image simultaneously while we process text in a sequential fashion"). I dipped into Google Scholar and found more references to the same 3M 'research' (which, ironically, has no pictures, so I used a sidebar graphic (above)). So I think Levine has a pretty good point.
Google kills iGoogle (slowly)
D'Arcy Norman,
D'Arcy Norman dot net, July 6, 2012.
I quite enjoyed the sneak peek at D'Arcy Norman's version of an iGoofgle-style home-made home page dashboard. "I set up a vintage 1997-style static homepage, but with some live data widgets powered by Feed2JS," he writes. iGoogle, meanwhile, if being killed as the companies continues to migrate everything to Google+. Norman writes, "I’m wondering why anyone would come to rely on any Google service. They have a history of killing services that have fallen out of grace with Google Corporate, even if there are still diehard users who have come to depend on them because they are free and Do No Evil."
Fall of the Wall: Capital Flows to Education Innovation
Deborah H. Quazzo, et.al.,
Global Silicon Valley Advisors, July 6, 2012.
Fascinating examination of the educational market as seen from an economic perspective. The article describes the recent expansion in funding for edfucational initiatoives, the drivers behind that funding, and forecast trends and expectations. “I see more and more capital moving to the area and for two primary reasons: any time large, broken industries exist, significant opportunities for start-ups are created. Additionally, the millennial generation is learning in different ways, which has been driven by technology.”
A Simple Solution on Student Loans
Aaron Broadus,
Inside Higher Ed, July 6, 2012.
I commented on this (ridiculous) article thus: "This is nothing more than an affirmation of the status quo, where the wealthy can afford to attend exclusive colleges for the future rulers of society, while the rest of us must be content with our lot in the boiler room. The _fact_ that people borrow so much demonstrates the inherent unacceptability of such a situation. Telling people to borrow less will not make the injustice go away." More and more, Inside Higher ed seems to me to be a front for a certain (toxic) line of thought and logic that undermines the idea of public and popular education.
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