Communal Constructivism and Dual Layer MOOCs
Matt Crosslin, EduGeek Journal, June 10, 2014

There's a lot of interesting work being done on open online learning these days (I can barely comprehend it all). This is an example: a project designed to combine the best of an xMOOC and a cMOOC. It sounds simple in practice, but the execution is something different - how do you combine groups and networks (collectives and connectives) in a single environment, especially when the one pushes you toward conformity and the other toward diversity? Here's one possibility: "Communal constructivism is not a new term, but one that is often left out of the discussion (except in a few cases). However, the idea is not that foreign since we often see this idea modeled in Reddit." But is that really distributed, the way a cMOOC would be? At a certain point, the movement to collect people into single-site courses collides with the movement toward things like indieweb and reclaim your domain.

[Link] [Comment]

MOOC Research Initiative: Reports Released
George Siemens, elearnspace, June 10, 2014

George Siemens posts that the reports from the MOOC Research Initiative are now available. There's a disclaimer on the page saying "reports have not been peer reviewed and are provided without comment or assessment regarding research method and outcome" but I read through a dozen of so of them and find the work would be generally acceptable in academic journals (provided they added a 'literature review' section citing previously published works by the journal's editors and reviewers). The focus of the studies was empirical, ranging from an examination of media coverage to analysis of videos viewed to clickstream analysis to network graphs. But for all that many of the MOOCs studied were pretty similar to traditional courses (there are exceptions) and the surveys produce unsurprising results. (Image: Kellogg, Booth and Oliver) Related: Siemens is running a MOOC about analytics on edX this fall (turncoat! ;) ).

[Link] [Comment]

Under the Hood of Thoughtvectors.net
Alan Levine, CogDogBlog, June 10, 2014

Long, technical and very useful post (for those so inclined) on how to set up cMOOC-style website for your class. It's not an easy read but if you're looking to set something like this up using a WordPress installation, it even has script samples for useful functions (like how to find the RSS feed of a blog given the URL).

[Link] [Comment]

Is a 400k salary too much for a university president? Four academics apply to share one lucrative U of Alberta position
As It Happens, CBC News, June 10, 2014

A remarkable protest is being made at the University of Alberta. As the University searches for a new university president at a minimum $400K salary, at least 56 academics and staff have applied, all in groups of four. They write, "We believe that by job-sharing this position, we would be able to do a better job than any one person could do - and the salary is certainly ample enough to meet the needs of all four of us." It does raise the question of when a large salary starts being justified, and just represents greed. See also the Edmonton Journal and Inside Higher Ed. Via Academica.

[Link] [Comment]

Three Makes a Movement: Branson creates youth panel for student voice in ed tech
Phil Hill, e-Literate, June 10, 2014

While I am all in favour of student participation – including panels – at conferences, I really don’t think the more recent two events constitute the "start” of such a movement, as claimed by Phil Hill. A simple Google search on “student panel” (in quotes) yields 199,000 results. Even a search for Ed Tech student panels specifically yields more than 2,000 results.  So I think that the trend is well-established; perhaps where it is new is among the 20MM and Branson Foundations of the world (which are often the last places to get it, and the first to claim credit). (Photo: student Rachel Winston, who gave a keynote address at Alt-C last year).

[Link] [Comment]

Open Access in India: Q&A with Subbiah Arunachalam
Richard Poynder, Open, Shut?, June 10, 2014

Credit where credit is due. "Today the world is awash with OA advocates," writes Ricahrd Poynder, "But it was not always thus." One of those early open access (OA) advocates in India was Chennai-based information scientist Subbiah Arunachalam. "What drives Arunachalam is a firm belief that open access holds out the promise of a faster and more effective system for creating and sharing new knowledge, one, moreover, that will not discriminate against the developing world in the way the current subscription system does." Good interview and kudos to Poynder for making sure it's on the record.

[Link] [Comment]

My Last Day as a Professor
Priya J. Shah, Office Hours: gender, feminism in everyday life, June 10, 2014

The praise for academia in the next post notwithstanding, there are things it could do so much better, at least in its North American incarnation, and that is in the employment of adjunct (or in Canada, sessional) instructors. I was in that world for a while. "Our marginalization, meager pay and lack of job security, along with the attacks on professors by students and the administration’s refusal to back up even tenured professors, all contribute to a culture of paranoia and enmity."

[Link] [Comment]

Stop Blaming Professors
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, June 10, 2014

This study makes me wonder what's happening outside campus. In a nutshell, it suggests that interaction with diverse views through engagement with academics causes students to moderate their political views, while interaction with similar views through student groups causes them to radicalize their views. So what happens in, say, a Wall Street brokerage, where everyone has the same political view? Oh yes, there's a lot of indoctrination going on out there, and to point the finger at institutes of higher learning, where it is least likely to occur, has always struck me as absurd.

[Link] [Comment]