What is Open Pedagogy?
Maha Bali, Reflecting Allowed, 2017/04/25

This is a link to a video conference on open pedagogy hosted by Maha Bali and including a number of the people talking recently about this topic (but by no means all, nor from all perspectives). Some of the related resources:

• Year of Open - What is Open Pedagogy - various authors
• Catherine Cronin - Opening Up Open Pedagogy (and open educational practices)
• David Kernohan - Roaming Autodidacts and the Neo-Reactionaries
• Tannis Morgan - Openness and Teaching, Learning, and Student Success
• Sukaina Walji - Critical reflections on openness in the ROER4D project
• David Wiley - When Open Worlds Collide and Wandering Through the Open Pedagogy Maze  

Some thoughts gleaned from the conversation: first, there needs to be a recognition that 'open' applies here to more than just pedagogy and more than just the classroom. And there's a role here for 'open conversations' above mere content and resources. There are many ways to be open, and we have to ask why people are trying to define 'open pedagogy' (or 'open practices'). And there's a big difference between openness as granting permissions, recognizing freedoms, or making invitations.

[Link] [Comment]

Amazon Launches Self-Service Marketplace for Subscription Providers
Press Release, Amazon, 2017/04/25

It's hard not to believe that this will have a significant impact on the viability of subscription-based publication models. "Subscribe with Amazon is a new way for subscription businesses to sell on Amazon, offering them targeted customer exposure through popular discovery features such as search and recommendations while also providing customers with a simple way to purchase and manage their subscriptions." It's not quite turnkey; you have to apply to be an approved vendor. But that's actually a good thing, I think. It's also available only to U.S. vendors, which isn't a good thing. See also: CNBC, the Next Web.

[Link] [Comment]

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales launches Wikitribune, a large-scale attempt to combat fake news
Laura Hazard Owen, Nieman Lab, 2017/04/25

What's interesting is the model: "it’s a hybrid of the paid and volunteer models. 'You have an operational command structure that’s based on full-time staff. The pro journalists and editors provide the supervision on how the story moves forward. The crowd does the heavy lifting on a lot of the combing, sifting, searching, checking. You let the crowd do what the crowd is good at.'" But if you're going to pay journalists you have to raise money, and the crowdfunding campaign isn't going to be sufficient over the long term. See also: the Guardian, Russia Today, Engadget, BBC, Trusted Reviews, Product Hunt, TechCrunch.

[Link] [Comment]

People Don’t Want Something Truly New, They Want the Familiar Done Differently.
Nir Eyal, StartupGrind, Medium, 2017/04/25

This is a familiar argument: "the graphical user interface, a milestone in the popularization of the personal computer, used familiar visual metaphors like folders, notepads, windows, and trash cans to appeal to mainstream users." Just so, we had the electric icebox and the horseless carriage. This post introduces the idea with a nifty example (the California roll) and a new product ("the rebranded Apple Wallet helps users feel comfortable with the technology by making payment options look just like mini credit cards").

[Link] [Comment]

We The Educators
We The Educators, 2017/04/25

Launching May 3, the purpose of 'We The Educators' is "to start a new conversation about the future of public education... stimulate a rich public dialogue — and greater professional scrutiny — around the relationship between the datafication of education systems and the (de)personalisation, privatisation and standardisation of student learning."

[Link] [Comment]