Rat in a cage
Jonathan Rees, More or Less Bunk, October 21, 2013

Some interesting thoughts from Jonathan Rees. First, this: "I’m afraid that when you take even that comparatively benign Canadian concept and put it in the American context it will inevitably become weaponized." Second, this: "I’ve become such a stickler for keeping technological innovation of any kind under the control of the faculty. If we’re not the ones controlling the experiment, then we will become the ones who are being experimented upon." Interestingly, that's why I think the technological innovation should be in the hands of the students. Otherwise, they become experimental subjects for professors. Rees writes as though professors are labout - and they are, to a certain degree - but in an educational context, from a student perspective, they're management, with more power on the shop floor than a shop boss ever had. Rees ought not forget that.

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A friendly reminder: Science isn’t reality. Reality is reality.
Connor Wood, Patheos, October 19, 2013

I'm linking to this because it summarizes what was the main argument of my Master's Thesis. "Scientific knowledge relies heavily on models and analogies, and the theorems that drive any model are necessarily simplified compared with real-world scenarios." If you understand that models and generalizations are created via a mechanism of subtraction, and not inductive extrapolation, you explain both the mystery of their derivation and the nature or their application. But it requires that you change your perspective on things like scientific principles and rules of logic and mathematics. They are not things that are necessarily true; they are things that are conditionally variable.

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Tales of a MOOC Dropout
Cindy Londeore, Hybrid Pedagogy, October 19, 2013

I like thisd assessment of dropping out of a MOOC: "I’m a dropout and I’m ok with that. MOOCs offered me the opportunity to show up for a class, and only stay as long as I was still learning... Dropping out also allowed me to move on to Model Thinking which was much more accessible. I like that I am not obligated to stay in any particular MOOC. I am free to spend my time on courses that are well suited to my interests and abilities, without penalties for trying something new." Also, I can't say enough good things about the photo by Brett Jordan.

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Domain of One’s Own: Notes from the Trailing Edge
Jim Groom, bavatuesdays, October 18, 2013

Jim Groom was not at EDUCAUSE this week - he was selling out presenting at a TEDx conference in Puerto Rico, talking about "a web of one's own" and name-dropping “trailing edge” technologies and the open web that Jon Udell blogged about last week. Udell writes, "my friends in that field [education] led a rebellion against learning management systems and sought out their own innovation toolkits: BlueHost, del.icio.us, MediaWiki, WordPress." I do wonder who he means. Alan Levine also references the Udell article as he prepares "a proposal for a Shuttleworth Foundation fellowship; below are bits or bypass by waffling and go to the drafty draft." I think the work of Jim Groom and Alan Levine stands well enough on its own, and is well worth supporting on its own merits, and doesn't need to reference tech journalists or TEDx to succeed. More from Brian Lamb.

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An Educause Moment
Steve Kolowich, The Chronicle: Wired Campus Blog, October 18, 2013

More threads of coverage of the EDUCAUSE conference:

• "peacocking" pays off for Instructure as it lands a gushing Chronicle Wired Campus article
• The Chronicle’s Megan O’Neil interviews Shel Waggener, senior vice president of Internet2, and Mark Strassman, senior vice president for product management at Blackboard (videos), and talks about MOOCs
• Jane McGonigal forsees an internet "where you can learn anytime, anyplace, and it is full of play and collaboration"
• Tara Buck writes a bunch of articles for EdTech Magazine, including a summary of Ken Robinson on innovation and coverage of the Campus Computing Survey 2013
• Rey Junco looks at textbook analytics - "information on how much students are reading and how they are engaging with their textbooks."
• Steve Kolowich describes a project where peer graders grade the graders (does it remind you of Amazon? or Slashdot?)
• Josh Kim wrote three predictions at Inside Higher Ed for the EDUCAUSE 2013 (cite: Phil Hill)
• Phil Hill writes about Knewton and asks about "the key issue of who selects the pathway – the instructor, the student, or the machine."
• Alexis Davis lists 110 people (and counting) to follow at EDUCAUSE (but only gives Twitter addresses)

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