OLDaily

Feature Article
Connected Learning for Young People in the Context of Formal French-Speaking Education
Éric Bruillard, Khansa Ghabara, Sonia Huguenin, Pier-Luc Jolicoeur, Thérèse Laferrière, Sophie Nadeau-Tremblay, Cathia Papi, Marie-Andrée Pelletier, Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 2021/09/21

This is a translation of an article that appeared in French in the Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology this week. It covers the idea of connected learning from the perspective of 'School in a Network' (l’école en réseau - ÉER) and also discusses the Remote Networked Classes MOOC (Classes éloignées en réseau (MOOC CER).  I do feel it should be more widely read. I appreciate the discussion of the nature and value of connected learning and the examples offer a concrete example of these principles at work, and so spent some time (with the aid of Google) to create an English-language version (any errors are my own).

[Link] [Comment]

Henry Giroux
Donald Clark, Donald Clark Plan B, 2021/09/21

I know of Henry Giroux less for his books and much more for his work online, includinge especially his many articles on Truthout and AlterNet. Donald Clark writes that he is "in favour of critical democracy that includes critiques of ideologies such as authoritarianism, capitalism and neoliberalism," which is a bit of an understatement. Giroux's criticisms were relentless and (to my view) pointedly accurate. Clark's summary suggests that "Giroux put Critical Pedagogy on the map. Whether it has ever come off the map onto the rocky roads of real life education is debatable." That, though, would depend on how you define "real life education".

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Learning Leaders: Teaching and Learning Frameworks in Flux Impacted bythe Global Pandemic
Margaret J. Cox, Barry F. Quinn, Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 2021/09/21

From the literature review to the conclusion, this article (20 page PDF) is heavily steeped in the theorizing of online learning, and especially the work of theoretical frameworks of Entwistle (1987) and Shulman (1987). It uses this frame to assess the impact of the pandemic on "changes in alignments between learners, leaders,and learning." The purpose of this paper seems to be to show how recent events have confirmed some perhaps overly ambitious frameworks from previous decades. All very good, but the line between what is stated in the theory and what was observed in practice over the last two years becomes quite blurry. Fair enough, but the observations about new challenges or reorganization of teaching space wildly underdetermines the theories in question, and the imposition of these theoretical frames may prevent us from seeing what actually changed in teaching and learning during the pandemic.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Demystifying Public Speaking
Lara Hogan, 2021/09/21

This is clear practical advice for someone who is planning to do some public speaking, and there's enough in there to help just about everyone. And it's written from what is very clearly a wealth of practical experience, from the horror-story that leads off the book (not to be missed) to really practical advice like "arriving earlier than necessary for the event to rest up and feel more like yourself before the big day." That's why I always scheduled a 'jet-lag day' when I traveled. Best of all, the book is free for anyone to read, out there on the open web, in plain HTML. Awesome.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

The problem with Amazon’s ‘free college’ benefit
Anna Kramer, Protocol, 2021/09/21

The main premise of this article is that "Education experts told Protocol that the programs have limited value in helping people actually earn degrees they can use." By 'experts' the author means people working at think tanks like the Century Foundation or the New America Foundation. The actual argument is that the value of the program is limited by federal tax rules in the U.S., the lack of time needed to complete full degree programs, and limitations on schools and programs allowed. None of this is surprising in a private-sector learning initiative. But surely something is better than nothing here, right? 

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On “Career Advancement”
David Wiley, improving learning, 2021/09/21

David Wiley says his departure from academia was "most certainly not 'an advancement in career'". Agreed, it was not an advancement in his academic career. But if you look at what he says, it seems clear he feels it was an advancement in every other way:

• "there wasn’t a way to make the next impact I felt I needed to make while staying on that path.. It was about doing work I felt compelled to do"
• "it was absolutely the right decision. I love working at Lumen."
• "the impact we’re having are more rewarding than I ever imagined they could be."
• "and WOW am I energized and excited and inspired by the things we’re working on now!"

That sounds to me like 'advancement' in every way that matters. And Wiley is quite right that he doesn't need to explain his decision to anyone, let alone "armchair quarterbacks." But my point was - and is - a lament, if you will, that the only way he (and others) see to move forward is to go commercial and obtain VC funding.

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BC Education – New Curriculum Inside Comfortable Boxes
Chris Kennedy, Culture of Yes, 2021/09/21

This post takes Seth Godin's recent post on education reform as a point of departure. Godin proposes scrapping the existing set of courses and suggests a new se including: "statistics, games, communication, history and propaganda, citizenship, real skills, the scientific method, programming, art, decision making and meta-cognition." I agree with Chris Kennedy that it's a good list, though I don't think Godin has mastered the turn from 'subjects' to 'skills'. But I digress. The key point here, writes Kennedy, is that while British Columbia "is doing much of what Godin proposes," it has kept the existing boxes. "The realist in me says that this is actually the only way," writes Kennedy. " I like how David Albury recently described this work, 'One of the tricks of transformation is to combine urgency and passion with courageous patience.'"

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]