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The goal of Singularity University is to rewire students' brains so they can escape the incremental thinking that bogs most of us down. Students learn not only about exponentially accelerating technologies such as DNA sequencing, communication, nanotech and AI, but about the interplay among them that will lead to "manifold intertwined technological revolutions."

A challenge Can you provide a link to an open educational resource that would be in your view an excellent example of any of the above applications of video? Here are some criteria I will be applying for inclusion: the example is well produced (clear camera work, good presenter, clear audio) it is short and to the point it demonstrates clearly a particular topic or subject and links it to what the student is intended to learn. I have to say that most of the examples I found on the Internet do NOT meet all three of these criteria! The video highlighted at the start of this post does, but then it is produced for the Open University. Can university in-house media departments meet this standard? I believe that some do, but I need examples! Once chosen, I will add the link with an acknowledgement to whoever provides me with the link. In the meantime, I will look for my own examples. My second set of questions is perhaps more of a challenge: This list was developed initially from broadcast television. How well do these functions apply to the use of video on the Internet?  Are there other educational applications of video on the Internet that are not on this list? Let's make this an opportunity for upgrading the extent and the quality of video in online learning.

Overview of a program looking at connected learning describing a "gap between the more engaging social learning environments young people encounter outside of school, and the top-down and standardized curriculum that they encounter in most classrooms." It's much more communal and participation-oriented than the approach I take, promoting:  -- "Equity - when educational opportunity is available and accessible to all young people, it elevates the world we all live in.  -- Full Participation - learning environments, communities, and civic life thrive when all members actively engage and contribute.  -- Social connection - learning is meaningful when it is part of valued social relationships and shared practice, culture, and identity."  While I value both creativity and participation, I think it's important to allow that more or less participation are equally valuable. And I don't agree that "shared" practice, culture, and identity is essential. 

Here is a slidehsare of ideas for how to make online forum summaries look interesting

Here are a few tips to help you with forum summaries: Tip 1: Do it! Make sure you summarise all discussions. Include all the pertinent, insightful and incisive points made in the discussion, and ignore the dross (sorry, less useful info). Tip 2: Use students' names If you're going to name some contributors (e.g. Jane pointed out that xxx, while Joe felt that xxx, ), then try to name all of the contributors. Imagine yourself as a student reading a forum summary in which all of your course colleagues are mentioned except you! Tip 3: Don't use students' names Or rather, don't always use students' names in summaries. Although students report feeling a warm glow of pride when reading their own names in a forum summary, don't labour the point. Write some summaries in which names are included, and some in which names are not included at all. A bullet point list of the main points made in a discussion may suffice (but see below for some tips on how to liven this up visually). Tip 4: Be there Respond as appropriate during the discussion. You may need to step in and redirect a discussion that is getting off the point. You may need to answer a query in a posting. You may want to provide a summary halfway through a discussion (this will make your final summarising job easier in the long run). It's important to be present and visible during a forum discussion. Students need to know that you are reading, thinking about, expanding on, and responding to their comments. There is nothing worse than an absent online tutor. Tip 5: Don't skive You can always get a student to produce a summary for you, but it needs to be a meaningful activity for the student, not a chance for you to skive. Students should receive credit for any summaries they produce, even if it is only lavish praise. Best to get students to volunteer to produce a summary, rather than forcing them to do so. Make sure your students have several different summary models to refer to. Summarising

"What are the questions we are not asking that prevent us from seeing further possibility? Types of Good Questions 1."Wait-a-minute" -- The ones that make us pause and realize there is more to discover. 2."Sit-on-it" -- Questions that can't be answered when they are asked. They require some time to think, and perhaps even let go of for a time. 3."Address-the-grand-assumption" -- Or as Hani, one of the participants challenged, address even the smaller assumptions. Karen, one participant from a team of county planners, asked this type of question regarding her work -- "well, when did we start believing that we needed to pave all of our roads?" She was thinking systemically, aware of the cost and resource implications of that assumption. 4."Name-the-elephant" -- The unspoken that many people know and feel, and that if left unaddressed, renders the work less meaningful or real. Arguably blocked and ineffective. 5."Still-cooking" -- The ones that keep us actively learning. Or even better, reaching, stretching, letting go, reorganizing, innovating. I found this in this cafe as I further explored best practices (things like marketing decisions), as well as field practices (things like non-local effects). The latter from the awareness that many of us were describing big dreams and projects that feel like they run into walls of systemic resistance. Or that seem to not have much impact. The belief we were exploring, named as the impact of a morphogenic field, was that even running into a wall in one area of work can have a non-local effect, increasing the likelihood that another seemingly unrelated bit of work will be successful. Like the way the 4-minute mile was forever a significant barrier broken by nobody, yet, once accomplished, was broken by many. 6."Antenna-out" -- Yes, another variation of continuous learning and attention giving. But even further, an invitation to be learning on behalf of the whole. One participant, Marilyn Hami

why colleges should experiment with inviting tens of thousands of students to participate in their courses free online.

Openness has not been oversold and that increased openness (of content, teaching/learning, analytics, policy, data, and technology) is really the only path forward for reform. Systems can be closed and blackboxed only once they are working well and the context in which they exist is stable. When everything is in a state of flux, we need opportunities for ideas to collide, innovations to be shared, concepts to be rehashed and mashedup, and iterative improvements to occur. Education today - at all levels - faces the challenge of tremendous change and unstettledness. Rigid systems break in periods of flux.

Network learning, at the individual level, includes: Personal directed learning - how individuals can use social media for their own (self-directed) personal or professional learning; and Accidental and serendipitous learning - how individuals, by using social media, can learn without consciously realizing it (e.g., incidental or random learning). At its core, network learning is a way to deal with an ever-increasing amount of digital information. It requires an open attitude toward learning and finding new things. Each worker needs to develop individualized processes of filing, classifying and annotating information for later retrieval.

Launch of the Why Open Education Matters Video Competition Creative Commons, U.S. Department of Education, Open Society Institute launch high profile video competition to highlight potential of free educational materials Mountain View, California and Washington, D.C., - March 5, 2012 Today Creative Commons, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Open Society Institute announce the launch of the Why Open Education Matters Video Competition. The competition will award cash prizes for the best short videos that explain the use and promise of free, high-quality Open Educational Resources-or "OER"-and describe the benefits and opportunities these materials create for teachers, students and schools.