September 20, 2012
Degreed Beta
David Wiley,
iterating toward openness, September 20, 2012.
This is an interesting experiment but I can't imagine it working outside the U.S. - "Degreed pulls your Education information from Facebook and prompts you to add more detail and confirm it. Degreed then makes a best guess about the classes you would have taken and builds out a generic transcript for you. (In a future version you’ll be able to both (1) refine the generic transcript by hand or (2) upload a transcript so that trained squirrels can refine your profile for you and mark it “verified”.) You can then add other informal courses (e.g., from Udacity), Mozilla open badges, etc. to fill out your profile."
The Amazing iOS6 Maps
Various Authors,
Tumblr, September 20, 2012.
Apple has long exhibited the 'NIH' syndrome - 'not invented here' - and sought to clamp down on the user experience with total control over key aspects of its operating system environment. It also has a penchent for launching billion dollar lawsuits against its suppliers. This is now biting them back. Your evidence: a Tumblr dedicated to the new Map application for the iPhone, widely touted as a disaster. Apple stocks, which have been nudging the magic $700 mark this week, will never be higher than they are right now. Never. Enjoy your maps.
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Apple Inc., Operating Systems, Experience]
The You Matter Manifesto
Angela Maiers,
Weblog, September 20, 2012.
Angela Maiers has been promoting the concept of "you matter" for quite a number of months now. It's a good concept, but one thing about it has always troubled me: the 'you' part of the whole 'you matter' story - because it makes it seems like I need someone else to tell me I matter. So when she posted a manifesto today (follow the link) I created my own manifesto (above) to reflect the way I would write it.
Rifts Over Global Test of Learning
Doug Lederman,
Inside Higher Ed, September 20, 2012.
For years, OECD has run the Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA, and people have been more or less OK with it. Well, there have been some objections, but these have been swept under the rug as journalists and educators played with the nice shiny numbers. But now that OECD is looking at applying the same sort of methodology to higher education, academics are less sanguine. "We hold strongly the view that it is possible to measure outcomes and enhance quality without promoting standardization of educational programs and homogenization of institutional missions." Well, yeah. Critics said the same about the education of 15-year olds. The critics were swept aside by economic imperative.
Some Differences Between Experts and Novices
Karl Kapp,
Kapp Notes, September 20, 2012.
Karl Kapp quotes Ruth Clark to argue (convincingly) "'many of the instructional methods that are effective for novices either have no effect or, in some cases, depress the learning of learners with more expertise.' She goes on to say that 'Training designed for learners with greater prior knowledge requires different instruction methods than training designed for novice learners.'" For example, "For experts, the knowledge structure represents phenomena in the domain in relation to higher-order principles... novices represent problems in terms of surface or superficial characteristics."
Website that takes your online classes for you
Mark Guzdial,
Computing Education Blog, September 20, 2012.
This is probably fake, but it's funny. "‘We Take Your Online College Classes for You and Get You an 'A'’ You are struggling with your online classes or homework and you want someone to do it for you. We can handle almost any subject and customer service is a priority. Our company culture revolves around making sure you feel safe and satisfied knowing that your work is being done by an expert within your specified deadline."
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