#YesAllWomen and Ed-Tech Conferences, or Why ISTE is Unsafe
Audrey Watters, Hack Education, June 13, 2014

I'm still dealing with backlog, so I didn't see it when it came out 9 days ago, but it's important enough to pass along. Audrey Watters writes, "Ariel Norling published an incredibly brave article — an incredibly difficult to read article — chronicling predatory behavior and sexual assault at last year’s ISTE conference." She then relates her own experiences in the field, and the "utterly dismissive, if not utterly disgusting" response offered by ISTE's Brian Lewis. I think that the abuse women face in the technology community, even educational technology, is well documented, and I think that leaders of educational organizations have to get out in front of this issue, have to be vocal, and have to set clear expectations of appropriate conduct both inside and outside conference venues.

[Link] [Comment]

Google announces Google Educator Groups - great resource for educators
David Andrade, Educational Technology Guy, June 13, 2014

David Andrade writes, "Yesterday Google announced the launch of Google Educators Groups. This is a program made up of communities of educators who can connect with each other to learn, share, and help each other. While it is mainly online, there are real-world meetups and events as well." Of course, educators have been doing all of this before Google Educators Groups - but now Google owns it. Links: Google+ page, Google for Education, and the Google Educator Groups page itself.

[Link] [Comment]

Will competency-based degree programs come to Canada?
Rosanna Tamburri, University Affairs, June 13, 2014

As Academica summarizes (with helpful links), "An article in University Affairs examines the potential for the growth of competency-based education (CBE) programs in Canada. CBE models offer credentials based on demonstrated proficiencies, not on time spent in the classroom." Critics of CBE argue that it seems too much like training and is focused too much on outcomes, not process.

[Link] [Comment]

'Can I Tweet That?'
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, June 13, 2014

Summary of a conference session on the issues raised with respect to professors' use of social media. Normal rules of online postings - such as, for example, a disclaimer stating that the views of the professor are not those of the institution - do not work when there are only 140 characters to work with. But such official rules are misplaced to begin with, in my view - does anyone really think that professors (or staff, or whatever) are using their personal accounts to broadcast official policy? And where is the inverse disclaimer - why aren't institutions saying "the views of this institution are not necessarily those of its employees." It's something the Globe and Mail could have used (via). Or the University of Saskatchewan.

[Link] [Comment]