October 2, 2012
New directions in self-study e-learning: social interactions
Clive Shepherd,
Clive on Learning, October 2, 2012.
I don't win any of these awards, presumably because I do not enter the contest ;) but the awards entries can offer some indication of what works and what doesn't. In this post Clive Shepherd points to some of the elements of the more recent crop of successful e-learning. Here's his list:
- An acknowledgement that resources matter as much as courses.
- A much more modular approach, with content presented in small chunks.
- A shift in emphasis from knowledge exposition to skill-building using challenging scenarios.
- Better art direction and much more use of video.
- Deployment through much friendlier and more usable platforms than your traditional LMS.
Twitter, academics, and the public
Alex Reid,
Digital Digs, October 2, 2012.
Alex Reid points to a blog post authored by Kathleen Fitzpatrick "offering advice to junior faculty about using blogs, twitter, and related social media." It's generally good advice, but he keys in on one point: "5. If somebody says they’d prefer not to be tweeted or blogged, respect that." Reid replies, "if you have accepted an invitation to present at a conference or to a department then you have agreed to present your work in a public forum." He points out that journalists reporting on the talks don't ask permission, nor should they have to. I don't know where people have gotten the idea that these conferences are closed private events (probably from publishers) but this perception is wrong. If you speak in public, and if you say anything interesting, expect to be tweeted.
Library 2.012 Starts Tomorrow
Steve Hargadon,
Education, Technology, Social Media, and You!, October 2, 2012.
I haven't a hope of being able to cover this event, but if you're interested in libraries and the future, your time is now: "Library 2.012, the "Future of Libraries" conference, starts tomorrow, Wednesday, October 3rd, at 6:30 am US-Pacific Daylight Time and continues for 40 straight hours. The conference is free to attend, and is held virtually in Blackboard Collaborate. We have 150 presentation sessions and 11 keynote addresses from all over the world this year."
The Internet Blowhard’s Favorite Phrase
Daniel Engber,
Slate, October 2, 2012.
This is an engaging read about the phrase "correlation does not imply causation." The phrase, of course, is the conversation-stopper of the internet age, useful any time you want to stop someone from making a claim based on the data. What's missing in the article is consideration of the question of how we do show causation - for after all, if all the data shows is correlation, how do we conclude that any causes exist?
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