OLDaily, by Stephen Downes

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July 5, 2013

Editorial - Volume 14, Issue Number 3
Terry Anderson, International Review of Research in Open, and , Distance Learning (IRRODL), July 5, 2013

Today marks the last issue of IRRODL under Terry Anderson's editorship after an impressive span of ten years. I'm often critical of formal academic literature (see below) but this should not detract from what has been a remarkable achievement. Not that this is the end - the new editors - Dianne Conrad and Rory McGreal - are accomplished scholars; I know and respect them both. So IRRODL will remain in good hands.

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Rethinking OER and their Use : Open Education as Bildung
Markus Deimann, Robert Farrow, International Review of Research in Open, and , Distance Learning (IRRODL), July 5, 2013

I agree with the authors' objectives, as they "argue that the beliefs and values associated with Bildung – including autonomy, critical reflection, inclusivity, and embracing the potential for self-development – are suitable for providing a theoretical framework for open education as well as providing a critical lens through which to assess contemporary models of education." But as with most 'literature' I think the selection of references is just loopy - Fini (2009) for the origin of MOOCs? Daniel (2012) for the term 'xMOOC'? Jenkins (2009) for 'participatory culture'?

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MOOCs: A systematic study of the published literature 2008-2012
Tharindu Rekha Liyanagunawardena, ,, Andrew Alexandar Adams, Shirley Ann Williams, International Review of Research in Open, and , Distance Learning (IRRODL), July 5, 2013

The title of this IRRODL article is very misleading, as by 'published' it means very specifically "a number of academic journals in the disciplines of educational technology and distance education." This is significant not simply because such methodology reduces my own contribution to 'the literature' to zero, it also systematically introduces misattributions and errors of fact. For example, consider the one paragraph discussion of the origin of the distinction between two types of MOOCs, cMOOCs and xMOOCs, which the author attributes to Rodriguez (2012) and Daniel (2012). This post (for example) easily predates Daniel's paper. But it (and pretty much everything written by actual MOOC pioneers) is not part of 'the literature'. And this post from Jenny Mackness easily precedes both, and cites four other posts already talking about different types of MOOCs. I say: so much the worse for the literature. And those wanting to do a real study might do well to start here instead.

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American MOOC Providers Face International Competition
Sara Grossman, The Chronicle: Wired Campus Blog, July 5, 2013

The Chronicle followed this week's announcement from Schoo (that it was receiving $1.5 million in funding) with a look at some international competition for American MOOCs. "MOOC platforms in other countries have made it clear that they are also looking to stake a claim in this growing realm of higher education." Four providers are listed, from Australia (Open2Study), Germany (iversity), Brazil (Veduca) and Britain (FutureLearn).

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The shape of things
Janet McKnight, July 5, 2013

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Janet McKnight, who runs an occasional blog with some gems (get off of my cloud, part two, Oxford colleges) has performed a valuable service summarizing all the talks from the recent Institutional Web Management Workshop 2013(IWMW 2013) event held at the University of Bath last week. There's too much here to summarize, but I read it all and want to pass it along (links include summary and (usually) embedded slide show):

P.S. Janet, put your name on your blog and take credit for your good work! P.P.S. Found through this the UKOLN Diaspora site: http://ukoln-diaspora.org.uk/ P.P.P.S. I see Cable Green is still denouncing CC-NC as 'less free' - Boo! Hiss!

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Clickstream Data Yields High-Resolution Maps of Science
Johan Bollen, ,, et.al., PLOS One, July 5, 2013

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I've referred to this diagram dozens of times; this is the article on which it is founded. The proper (semi-offocial) name for the diagram (because I keep forgetting it) is the Los Alamos Map of Science. "Maps of science resulting from large-scale clickstream data provide a detailed, contemporary view of scientific activity and correct the underrepresentation of the social sciences and humanities that is commonly found in citation data." Cool.

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SPEAR Algorithm
Michael Noll, July 5, 2013

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This interesting item was circulated by email to me the other day. In summary, "The SPEAR algorithm is a tool for ranking users in social networks by their expertise and influence within the community." It works by looking at precedence of discovery of popular resources - the idea is that people who discover popular resources first are more likely to have more expertise and influence in the community. Or, in more detail: "The two main elements of the SPEAR algorithm are:

  1. Mutual reinforcement of user expertise and document quality: A user’s expertise in a particular topic depends on the quality of the documents he/she has found, and the quality of documents in turn depends on the expertise of user who have found them.
  2. Discoverers vs. followers: Expert users should be discoverers – they tend to be faster than others to identify new and high quality documents. In other words, 'the early bird catches the worm'."

 

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Daily Dose of Awesome
Jodie Leigh, Mission Awesome // A Year-to-Year Quest For Awesome, July 5, 2013

While looking for something else, I ran across this blog by Jodie Leigh, a grade 4/5/6 English teacher in the small fly-in Arctic village of Tasiujaq – which is on the Ungava Bay coast of Nunavik. (View map) The theme of her blog is a "Daily Dose of Awesome." Sometimes 'awesome' is what the rest of us take for grated: "Awesome was going to the Co Op after school to find that cargo had been delivered (last week’s 4-day blizzard meant 4 days with no plane, which further meant slim pickings on the produce shelf). I bought celery, leeks, carrots peppers and tomatoes." Sometimes 'awesome' is pretty special. "there was a knock on my door. I opened it to find my friend and her daughter. With a big smile, she said 'We brought you fish!' and handed me an entire arctic char." (Pictured) I have to say, I love the approach, and this is a blogger who should receive some kind words from around the world. And, I'll also say, this is what makes the internet great. Nothing makes my day better than running across some totally random person who is doing something awesome. The world is full of such people, and I for one am glad of it.

Enclosures:
- tasiujaq-55.jpgw391h293

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ICT in Education in Africa - Myth or Reality: A Case Study of Mozambican Higher Education Institutions
Xavier Muianga, et.al., The African Journal of Information Systems, July 5, 2013

If ever there was a nation that posed a challenge for the idea of online learning, Mozambique is probably it. Emerging from decades of way, struggling against persistent food-poverty, and still working to achieve electrification, internet and communications technologies may seem o be a luxury to many. But most all agree that edcuation will play a key role in the country's development, and there is a strong demand for the support of internet technologies in educational institutions, including online and distance learning, despite the challenges. Thus ICT in education remains a government priority, and the country has made large (but uneven) strides in the last 20 years. This paper on the state of ICT in education in Mozambique is a fascinating read, and while we can't conclude that everything is great, we are left with the impression that the internet and online learning are doing more to help the country than to hinder it.

Do take the time to read all five essays from from this special issue of (edited by Tony Carr):

The articles are revised and edited versions of papers presented at the recent E/Merge conference, as described by Tony Carr by email.

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European MOOC Stakeholders Meeting
Pierre Dillenbourg, Centre for Digital Education, July 4, 2013

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This presentation from June lists dozens and dozens of MOOC initiatives in Europe. I think we can say definitively that the concept has taken off outside the Stanford-MIT nexus (and of course it always had; our perception of open online learning has been skewed by recent reporting).

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Copyright 2010 Stephen Downes Contact: stephen@downes.ca

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