re\wire: ni
Monika Hardy, Cooperative Catalyst, April 4, 2014

Nice post that isn't really a neat package (but it probably wouldn't be effective if it were) discussing the new 'networked individualism'. Here's a sample: "Listening simultaneously to each individual and to the entire networked world is beyond complicated. Beyond Burning Man. Beyond fan\dom. Beyond occupy. Beyond us. Perhaps it’s crazy to imagine a mechanism that could ground that much chaos/complication, and yet still be always listening without an agenda. Imagine all of us together – interconnected – 24/7, as well as alone – echo chambered – 24/7. free ness. Perhaps it’s crazier to not give it a try."

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So what is Technology Integration?
Chris Betcher, Betchablog, April 4, 2014

Nice description of the role, with lots of links: "the role of a tech integrator is all about finding ways that technology can assist learning, and helping teachers and students make the most of it. To do that we try to think about things like the SAMR Model, the TPACK Model, Blooms Taxonomy, Multiple Intelligences, Visible Thinking, Dweck’s Mindsets, etc, etc, and figure out how technology can assist to make them work even better."

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More Data Can Lead to Poor Student Choices
Adam Cooper, LACE, April 4, 2014

Adam Cooper points to an article in Times Higher education entitled More data can lead to poor student choices (I love the use of modalities in headlines; they could easily have written 'less data can lead to poor student choices'). Anyhow, the reference is to research that was conducted for Hefce and posted here. Cooper points to the artificial nature of the study (and therein the lesson for learning analytics): " it does not match the decision-making process as it really is for prospective students. The design feels too data-centric and insufficiently user-centric. I get the same kind of feeling when I see many analytics dashboards."

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Canadian job skills mismatch: truth or science fiction?
Don Pittis, CBC News, April 4, 2014

Someone asked me this week whether I thought the skills mismatch realluy exists. The idea of the skil,s mismatch is that despite persistent unemployment, there are high-skilled or specialized jobs that go unfilled in large numbers because people with the skills aren't available. My response was that the existence of hundreds of colleges and universities is de facto evidence of a skills mismatch. So when a publication like the Globe and Mail calls the skills mismatch a fairytale, it is referring to one specific statistic in one particular industry, which may or may not be misleading. But in fact, there have always been skills mismatches, and while we can't predict precise job markets, we can do our best - government, industry and educaion - to prepare people to adapt and grow into the new needed skills. "What you can try and do is ensure that you are as resilient as you can be and that you have the broad set of flexible skills that allow you to take advantage of an opportunity when it comes along."

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