Presentation
TIC y Educación
Stephen Downes, December 10, 2013, , Tecnologías de la Información y Modelos Alternativos, Universidad Pedagógica Nacional, Ajusco, México, vis Skype

In this presentation to  I outline major forms of open online learning, contrasting between formal and informal learning mechanisms, publishing and community-based production models, and forms of recognition and certification. English, with translation into Spanish. The audio quality is quite good, just skip past the first 2 minutes of Skype misbehaving.

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Learning about SOLO – using self regulation and feedback to increase student achievement
Alice Leung, Learning, Leading, December 10, 2013

Interesting post on the Structured Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO). "The reason why we are investing quite heavily into SOLO," writes Alice Leung, "is because as teachers, we know that self-regulation and quality feedback are the two of the most effective elements in increasing student achievement." This post outlines mechanisms for describing learning intentions and success criteria and has a sample activity (11 pages, Scribd) and presentation used with students (5 page Scribd). Reflection is good; this is a pretty simple tool but I like the way it approaches the need to be reflective.

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The Collaborative Economy Is Real (And It's Here)
David Armano, Logic+Emotion, December 10, 2013

So anyhow Jeremiah Owyang announced his new venture "Crowd Companies" at LeWeb in Paris and picked up some tech-business press, which is what LeWeb is all about. These are two very different perspectives. The Wired article (of course) gushes. "Of all the big ideas to emerge out of Silicon Valley in the past decade, none seem to resonate with personal computing’s counterculture roots as much as the so-called sharing economy... As it turns out, however, sharing has also shown itself to have striking profit potential." David Armano focuses on "the collaborative economy" (and not so much sharing). "Individuals who have never met in real life (makers), collaborating over the Web... " to make products at a fraction of what they would have cost otherwise. I think there's value in community production - I gave two talks on the idea today - but I'm less sanguine abpout it being so easily monetized. When community becomes economy, it becomes all about factories, and never parks and schools.

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Sun Tzu and the Art of Disrupting Higher Education
Len Sherman, Len Sherman's Blog, December 10, 2013

I'm not sure Sun Tzu is the best model to use when discussing innovation in education (I prefer Lao Tse, "The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things, and in its occupying, without striving, the low place which all men dislike). But it's business writing, so it's all Sturm und Drang, I guess. Anyhow, Len Sherman's point is that the sceptics are wrong to dismiss the Udacity pivot to corporate learning as a failure. "It fails," he writes, "to recognize that Thrun’s pivoted business model poses a far more serious threat to traditional higher education institutions than Udacity’s original approach." Udacity is now focusing on an area long shunned by traditional institutions, he says, and in so doing threatens to undermine one of the key foundations of the universities' business: employability.

I don't agree with all the details but I agree with his overall premise. In particular, I think Udacity's pivot was a failure - if it's going to do corporate learning, it will need new technology as well as a new focus, or it will be mashed by incumbents. And secondly, I think that post-secondary education has been investing in corporate learning, but not in such a way as to challenge the essential dominion of formal learning and credentials. So, with Sherman, I think higher education is prone to disruption. It wouldn't take much to create substantial change in the sector. But contra Sherman, I think it will take significantly more than that Udacity was offering to do the trick. Anyhow, good article, worth a careful read.

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Shady Software?
Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed, December 10, 2013

Interesting article. A student group wants to set up on campus to explore digital rights and freedoms. Its work will include looking at and explaining things like Tor, a softwrae platform that preserves anonymity in online communications. But: "This is problematic for IT professionals at Iowa State University who are charged with monitoring activity on the university's network." The group would have to promise not to set up Tor nodes or free software which enables anonymity. The group wonders. "The admonition not to discuss or be involved with certain legal, ethical, and important free software projects was, we felt, misguided."

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Private Distress
Ry Rivard, Inside Higher Ed, December 9, 2013

I know that the plural of anecdote is not data, but at some point the sheer number of anecdotes, in comparison to the population size, has to compel some reflection. This article contains 19 anecdotes about small private colleges in trouble. Maybe it's coincidence? Or maybe it's a declining student population base, increasing competitiveness, and the growing popularity of (online) alternatives.

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Why Are Upworthy Headlines Suddenly Everywhere?
Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, December 9, 2013

I wonder what would happen if I started writing these blurbs in the Upworthy style. Like this: "Upworthy articles are catching your attention every day. But the reason they're doing it will make you wonder." Here's the formula: "They make an emotional promise. They usually have two phrases. They paint their political proposition as obvious, as beyond debate." So that's the first part of the article - but do take time to read the longer part describing how small changes to Facebook's algorithm make big differences in web traffic. The battle for readers' eyes goes deeper than you think. (See? I upworthied you again.) (Yes, I declare that 'upworthied' is now a word).

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