Virtual Open House reaches out to students across the globe
Julia Jones-Bourque, University of Alberta, December 2, 2013

This is a smart idea - theUniversity of Alberta is hostinbg a 'virtual open house' on December 3 to introduce the campus to international students (I hope they don't forget to include my old haunt, the Power Plant bar - for a while (during my tenure, natch) the best blues bar in the the City of Edmonton). "We hear from many prospective students that they find it a challenge to ‘picture themselves’ at uAlberta because they have never been to Canada,” says Vice-Provost and AVP International Britta Baron. University of Alberta News Release - Registration Page - Virtual Tour

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Learning is not simply a process of reception and filtering
Sophie Spillone, December 2, 2013

Good post (en français [translation]) with an even better image (in English) comparing xMOOCs (national orchestra) with cMOOCs (jazz band). The post also contains a link to another article (en français) making the same comparison. "C’est en assistant à un concert de Jazz ce vendredi que le rapport entre cette structure musicale ou plutôt la méthode musicale mise en œuvre et les cMOOC s’est imposé. Le Jazz repose sur l’interaction entre les différents musiciens. Ils s’écoutent et se répondent. Il y a aussi une grande part d’improvisation. C’est de l’interaction entre les différents musiciens que l’œuvre né à elle même."

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