My Adult Learning Principles for the 21st Century
Kristin Glavis, HASTAC, 2016/12/07

I like this article by Kristin Glavis, a student at Saint Joseph's University. She outlines three major principles of adult learning that have guided her through her education:

• Self-confidence - "confidence in their abilities, good self-esteem, support from others, and trust in others" (Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner).
• Experience - "people draw from their experiences in all aspects of their life—not just in the formal education setting."
• Adaptability - "Adult learners seek out educational opportunities because they want to learn- they’re self-directed."

These are not going to be found on any formal curriculum, but they are at the heart of effective learning at any age. In a seminar last night I discussed differences between previous and current generation learners, and the difference comes down to these three elements with respect to new and digital technologies. We should be looking at how to instill these at younger ages and across more disciplines.

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Students Want Their Personal Data to be Used to Improve the College Experience, Survey Says
Meghan Bogardus Cortez, EdTech, 2016/12/07

This is the sort of survey that gets repeated uncritically in news media like Ed Tech magazine. All we know of the methodology is that is was conducted "among" 1,000 university students in the U.S. who were sent email invitations and answered an online survey. We don't know how many of them answered. And it's not their "personal data", exactly: the survey "defined personal student information as any data the school manages about a student, from application to meal plan." So, in other words, not personal data.

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In Search for the Open Educator: Proposal of a Definition and a Framework to Increase Openness Adoption Among University Educators
Fabio Nascimbeni, Daniel Burgos, International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 2016/12/07

In an article dedicated to definition careful word use is most important, so it's not a good sign when the title says "in search for..." instead of "in search of...". And the definition of an 'open educator', offered about half way through, though strong in concept, suffers from similar word usage flaws. One part refers to "past and potential students" but omits current students. Another says "Uses open educational content" and then describes the creation and release of OERs. It advocates  "allowing learners to contribute to public knowledge resources" when there's no real way an educator could prevent them from doing so. A shorter, sharper and clearer definition would be more appropriate.

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