September 25, 2012
PKM and Innovation
Harold Jarche,
Weblog, September 25, 2012.
Harold Jarche writes: In the FastCoDesign article, How do you create a culture of innovation? the authors note four skills that most successful innovators exhibit:
- Questioning: Asking probing questions that impose or remove constraints. Example: What if we were legally prohibited from selling to our current customer?
- Networking: Interacting with people from different backgrounds who provide access to new ways of thinking.
- Observing: Watching the world around them for surprising stimuli.
- Experimenting: Consciously complicating their lives by trying new things or going to new places.
Why We Shouldn’t Talk MOOCs as Meritocracies
Mike Caulfield,
Weblog, September 25, 2012.
Mike Caulfield (whose blog has unleashed a slew of RSS posts; don't know why) cautions about MOOCs being harbingers of the return of the meritocracies. "Meritocracy, the flawed idea that an equality of opportunity leads to an equality of results (and to the 'best and brightest' operating the levers of power) can be seen as underlying many of the failures of the current era." I agree with him. Education will healp you get ahead to some degree, as the chart shows. But being in the one percent is a much bigger advantage. "If we begin talking about MOOCs as meritocracies, we are doubling down on the flawed ideology that got us into this mess." So - fair comment. I agree with him.
Economies of Not-so-Scale and Marginal Costs of Not-Quite-Zero
Mike Caulfield,
Weblog, September 25, 2012.
Mike Caulfield nicely reframes one of the main issues regarding MOOCs: "One additional point about the Circuits and Electronics course stats I cited yesterday. Most of the talk about MOOC-scale has been about the number of sign-ups. But that’s the wrong end of the problem. What we care about is cost per completion." Well, let's consider, when you have one or two instructors, a support team, and 7,000 completers, what are the economics of that? Pretty good. "At a million dollars a course, for 7,000 students it’s costing you about $150 a completer." No, the marginal cost isn't zero. But it's better than what we're doing now. And honestly, I can't see courses costing a million dollars per in the long term. Also from Caulfield: "It’s not MOOCs replacing higher education — it’s MOOCs supporting it. It’s not revolution or disruption. It’s synergy."
The Coursera Gift Horse?
Jon Becker,
, September 25, 2012.
When someone asks me what I think of Khan Academy, my response is usually something like "I love Khan Academy" and then to go on about how to build on the idea. I know, as this post points out, we could weigh in with various concerns about the utility of videos, the pedagogy on online learning, and all the rest of it. But the main thing is, as says, "I get to take a course taught by [an expert]. For free. On a subject I’m really interested in. So, what’s the problem exactly?" Every day, for me, is an exercise in this sort of learning. Every day! What's not to like?
QuadBlogging Connects Student Writers with Global Audiences
Suzie Boss,
Edutopia, September 25, 2012.
This is a neat idea that gives students audiences for their online writing in a somewhat organized way. In 'quadblogging' four teachers agree to share each others' students' blog posts among the four classes. This article documents the beginnings of quadblogging from humble origins in the UK. "Follow Gwaltney's QuadBloggers in the coming weeks on The Age of Exploration Blog. Students also will be tweeting about their collaborative learning experiences using the hashtag #quad103."
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Twitter, Great Britain, Web Logs, Google, Experience, Blogger, Online Learning]
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