April 25, 2013
The Future of Digital Identity
Hans de Zwart,
Technology, Innovation, Education,
April 25, 2013
Identity is an ongoing concern, both in the news and in our daily lives. Digital identity creates constraints around what would once have been an anonymous activity - buying a magazine, for example - while at the same time streamlining others - like online banking, for example. Surveillance and biometrics solve serious criminal threats, but when used to constrain legal demonstration, pose the possibility of suppression. The cameras aren't going away, and arguably we need them, but at the same time, there needs to be balance. On the one hand, people need more control over their identity, and especially their imnages; on the other hand, individuals, as well as the state, ought to have the right to surveil. And there needs to be informed consent - which, as Hans de Zwart writes, wasn't even the case at this conference on identity.
Tin Can API Version 1.0 Released
Rustici,
April 25, 2013
The US-based Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) led the development of a project now called the Experience API, the purpose of which is to formalize the recording of learner interactions with learning resources. The non-ADL version of this is the Tin Can API, featured here by Rustici software (though so far as I can tell, Experience API and Tin Can API are the same thing). Tomorrow (Friday) will feature the launch of the Tin Can API version 1.0 specification. Thanks to Andy Whitaker for sending me the Tin Can information. The discussion lists have also been running a fair amount of Tin Can content yesterday and today, including a a Drupal 7 module (in PHP), JavaScript examples using Rustici Software's open source Tin Can JS library, and the ADL adopters list. You can also find open source Tin Software on GitHub.
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Interaction, Project Based Learning, Drupal, Content Management Systems, Open Source, Discussion Lists, Experience]
Of Machine Guns and MOOCs: 21st Century Engineering Disasters
Pat Lockley,
Hybrid Pedagogy,
April 25, 2013
As someone heavily implicated in the development of MOOCs, I have to be accountable if, as this author suggests, the impact of the MOOC is more skin to that of the machine gun than to anything that would actually help massive numbers of people. But I am not a member of the military-industrial complex (nor even a particularly good public servant) and it is not with the militarization of learning in mind that the MOOC was developed (the author's allusions to COBOL and SCORM, neither of which have anything to to with MOOCs, notwithstanding). It may be true that "the teacher is now the maintainer of a technology which wasn’t built for her, or for her purpose," but MOOCs were not developed for teachers, they were developed for learners. As a developer, I don't think I have to apologize for my role in MOOCs. I don't think there's anything to apologize for.
The ROLE Sandbox
ROLE - Responsive Open Learning Environments,
April 25, 2013
I saw this in my LinkedIn stream today: "The ROLE Sandbox (http://role-sandbox.eu) is a permanent hosting environment for widget-based personal learning environments. Everybody is welcome to create or join learning spaces in the ROLE sandbox. Access is easy. Just register or use your OpenID. Connect to the ROLE widget store to install widget bundles to learn about languages or science. Give feedback on everything you like or dislike using the 'Idea' button." Sign-in didn't work; I had to use my Google ID. The interface needs a lot of work. But at least it's out there, which is the only way to improve these things. But the last and final ROLE review by the EC took place 19 March so it's not clear where the project goes from here. You can also view the ROLE e-book here.
[Link] [Comment][Tags: OpenID, Books, Project Based Learning, Google]
DIT goes live with first Irish MOOC
Dublin Institute of Technology,
April 25, 2013
I found it interesting to look in and around what was advertised today as the "first Irish MOOC" (I have no idea whether that's true). It is offered by the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) and facilitated by DIT staff member Anne Green. But it appears to have been developed in Singapore (and that's where the advertising came from), at a company called GetReskilled, which specialized in Pharmaceutical and medical device industry; they have a list of short self-paced courses they offer prospective students. Moreover, the new MOOC is being offered on Blackboard's CourseSites, described as "a supported cloud-based learning system." None of this is intended as criticism - it's just interesting to see the way the different parts come together.
[Link] [Comment][Tags: Blackboard Inc., Research, Marketing]
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