What Philosophical Term or Concept Should Be More Widely Known?
Maggie Hos-McGrane, Tech Transformation, 2017/01/04

http://www.maggiehosmcgrane.com/2017/01/using-technology-to-personalize.htmlTwo part article (part one, part two) on personalization (there may be more parts in the future) based on a review of  Personalized Learning: A Guide for Engaging Students with Technology by Peggy Grant and Dale Basye. This first part summarizes a 2010 initiative called Project RED (Revolutionizing EDucation) "which looked at the ways that technology can improve student achievement." The second part is "a list about the benefits of using technology for learning." I'm hoping future installments look more deeply at both the book and the subject.

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The Real Name Fallacy
J.Nathan Matias, The Coral Project, 2017/01/04

Good article that challenges the idea that anonymity is the cause of poor behaviour on social networks (and that things would improve if we required people to use their real names). " the balance of experimental evidence over the past thirty years suggests that this is not the case. Not only would removing anonymity fail to consistently improve online community behavior – forcing real names in online communities could also increase discrimination and worsen harassment." So if it doesn't actually help, why do so many pundits call for an end to anonymity? "This provided the justification for more advanced advertising-based business models to develop, which collect more of people’s personal information in the name of reducing online harm." Via Ben Werdmuller.

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Star launches free e-learning for all
Press Release, Star Pubs, Bars, 2017/01/04

Star is a pub and bar company in Britain. You lease pubs from them then eke out a living. It's in their interest to promote successful pub lessees, and so they've released this e-learning training package of curses. Why is this important? It shows that online learning can be sustainable even when students aren't paying for it. Via Eat Out.

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5 Reports Every Enrollment Manager Should Read
Daniel Fusch, Sarah Seigle, Academic Impressions, 2017/01/04

I found this list useful as these reports offer a bit of a snapshot of the industry. They are:

• Knocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates - Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) - 160 page PDF
• Jon Boeckenstedt - Interactive Dashboard - web page, with the dashboard about half way down, in the blue box
• 2016 US Chief Admissions Officer Career Profile - American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers  (AACRAO) - 62 page PDF
• Further Correlations Between Financial Aid, Retention - EAB (part of the Advisory Board Company) - study of 40,000 students at 3 universities - press release only, couldn't find the study on the EAB website
• The International Student Experience - World Education Services (WES) Research - 54 page PDF (signup required)

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Finding ‘Personalized Learning’ and Other Edtech Buzzwords on the Gartner Hype Cycle
Michael B. Horn, EdSurge, 2017/01/04

This is an odd list. It's useful to debunk the buzzwords, but this item seems to endorse some questionable ones. Let's go through the list:

• personalized learning - is nearing Gartner’s peak of inflated expectations - yes, that seems right. But not simply among the "chattering classes" (whatever that means; I think it's a dog whistle saying "hey, I'm a Tory, listen to me")
• competency-based Learning - is placed on the slope of enlightenment, which definitely feels wrong. No, I wouldn't conflate it with personalized learning (a straw man, if I ever saw one), but with the whole competency infrastructure still in development, I'd say it's still approaching inflated expectations
• blended learning - moving toward the slope of enlightenment. Sure, but what an odd selection. Personalized and competency-based refer to pedagogy or learning design, while blended refers to choice of technologies.
• project-pased learning - slope of enlightenment. I did a lot of project-based learning when I was a high school student in the 1970s. So if it's not yet on the slope of enlightenment, it's in trouble.

No, this article doesn't make things clearer at all.

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The Learner Engagement Spectrum
Juliette Denny, e-Learning Industry, 2017/01/04

Educators love nothing better than a good taxonomy. It's like dangling catnip in front of them. So courtesy of  is the learner engagement spectrum. "The Learning Management System can act as an indicator of engagement throughout the organization. If you have the right tools which let employees communicate and share their knowledge, you have several ways to make good use of their engagement spectrum." Note that this article looks like paid placement for Growth Engineering (and if so, should be declared as such, ahem). They want you to sign up to view this 23 page workbook. Don't. It's just a pitch to take you to the Academy LMS, which touts game-based learning. Hey, I like a good LMS as much as the next person, but unmarked paid placement like this discredits the entire industry (and especially the publications that run it). Read more.

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