November 4, 2013
A School With No Teachers, Where Students Teach Themselves
Eleanor Beardsley,
MindShift,
November 4, 2013
The emphasis in the headline is on 'school with no teachers' - and there is that - but what we see in the story is a student biody formed through an intensive selection process that winnows down 60,000 applicants into 800 places. Sadirac says. “It’s a kind of selection, but [for] the long term. So we don’t just do an examination. We spend four weeks choosing each student.” Well, nice. But when we look at the problem they're trying to solve, it seems wholly iadequate. The problem: "We have 200,000 kids a year who drop out of the French school system and have no hope. They become a drag on society. We want to help these young people take control of their lives.” Educating 800 people won't fix that.
Predictive Jam
Unattributed,
Momentum,
November 3, 2013
Summary report of a 'predictive jam' hosted by Momentum (funded by Gates Foundation and Knowledge in the Public Interest) on predictive analytics. I like the metaphor: "Assume you are a lifeguard on a crowded beach. With no 'data' or 'predictive model', you usually wait for someone to scream 'HELP' before acting. With analytics, if you could see that someone’s heart rate was increasing, you may proactively swim out to help them. From a causation standpoint, you don’t know if they are having a heart attack, caught in the undertow, or if they saw a shark. You just know there are signs of trouble." The 'Jam' captured comments and discusson from around 500 people online, drawing out lessons and ideas on analytics.
In Times Higher Education, on MOOCs
Bryan Alexander,
November 3, 2013
Bryan Alexander discusses the THE article about the state of MOOCs and focuses on the use of "MOOCs as fodder for other classes," MOOCs as increasing "the casualization of academic labor," and MOOCs as advertising to lure students into the United States (this connects to Coursera expanding their MOOCs around the world). Just one point, if I may: Alexander writes, "academia made adjuncts the mainstream instructional force before MOOCs took off. Where were these critics then?" They existed, but simply were not covered in media. I know because as president of the Graduate Students' Association for two years in the early 1990s I mounted such criticism, cumulating with a lawsuit against the University of Alberta, which we won.
Will Shuttleworth Reclaim Your Domain?
Jim Groom,
bavatuesdays,
November 2, 2013
Jim Groom posts his Shuttleworth Foundation application online, which I find deliciously subversive. I wonder what the grant selection process would look like if all applications were posted online. The cynic in me suggests that the selection process (not just by Shuttleworth, but by any foundation or granting agency doing this) would be very different.
NSA Files Decoded: What the Revelations Mean to You
Ewen Macaskill, Gabriel Dance,
The Guardian,
November 2, 2013
Edward Snowden's revelations about NSA spying on ordinary citizens and world leaders has been a sensational story from day one. But the details behind the stgory are sometimes arcane and mysterious. This report from the Guardian - which has taken the lead in breaking the story - goes a long way toward making the details clearer. It's also an exercise in innovative multimedia journalism that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. It's work looking at as an example of how to present a set of complex ideas in a multimedia format. It's also worth a look if only to understand the nature of surveillance online. Because the NSA isn't the only player doing this.
Using Social Media to Empower Madagascar’s Youth
Unattributed,
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA),
November 2, 2013
Taking a page from a recent novel (which I will not name) that became popular on e-readers because people could read it without other people seeing the cover, officials in Madagasgar are taking to the internet to offer courses in reproductive health. This is a nation where more than half the population is under 20 years old, where one in three girls becomes pregnent before the age of 18, and yet where discussion of such matters remains taboo. Accessing online learning about these subjects using mobile and online technology won't, of course, address these issues by itself. But it's a start. Kudos to project founder Manantsoa Ratsarazaka.
Introducing Coursera Learning Hubs: Global Participation, Local Access and Support!
Unattributed,
Coursera Blog,
November 2, 2013
OK, so you're launching a worldwide franchise operation for your free online courses. Where do you locate? Shanghai? Sure. Chennai? Why not? But what about these places: Baghdad, Cairo, Helsinki, Juba, La Paz, Phnom Penh, Tbilisi, Kakamega...? Not that I have anything against these cities, but they see like such an odd set of selections. But oh - they are establishing their franchises in "more than 30 Embassies, American Spaces, campuses, and other physical locations." OK, that explains the locations. But now the franchising strategy - in which the United States Department of State is a partner - is even odder. And we'll give props to Roman Gelembjuk for predicting this a year ago (and me for predicting it in 1998, I guess).
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