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"...MOOCs are just the latest incarnation of bringing watered-down versions of culture, knowledge, and learning to a mass audience. What we see as the courses' flaws may well be their strengths, and they have the potential to carry those strengths to a broader audience than ever before. Problems arise only when we think of MOOCs as university courses rather than as learning for the masses. Yes, the vulgarians who run Coursera and Udacity deserve to be swept into the dustbin of history, and the fact that they seem not to have figured out how to profit from their enterprises suggests that they'll soon be hoist by their own capitalist petard. When they are, the real action can begin. As the history professor Jonathan Rees puts it, the fast-­approaching post-corporate-MOOC world "will almost certainly be a period of real pedagogical innovation conducted by people who are more interested in actual education than they are in becoming famous or just making a quick buck."..."

Giusto! Aspettiamo che l'azione inizi (e forse si può dire che è già iniziata! ;-) )

Non rinuncerei mai alla possibilità di usare i mezzi tecnologici per la diffusione della conoscenza, tuttavia è vero: non c'è nulla che possa sostituire la relazione didattica, nel senso di interazione significativa individuale.

"...I don't mean to imply any untoward motives by the makers of MOOCs. I'm not arguing that the content or methodologies of most current MOOCs are wrong because they are based on the dominant Western academic approaches. But I do believe it is important to point out that a powerful emerging educational movement strengthens the currently dominant academic culture, perhaps making it more difficult for alternative voices to be heard."

C'è MOOC e MOOC, of course...

January 9, 2013 by Jeffrey R. Young "...Setting the Price The company also revealed more details about how it would award certificates and how much it would charge for them. Students who want a verified certificate will have to decide early in the course and pay upfront. Paying that fee will put students on what the company is calling the "Signature Track." The company and colleges are still struggling to decide what to charge for the certificates, though in its latest announcement Coursera said the price would run $30 to $100. "It's a huge decision: You're essentially setting a market," said Daphne Koller, a co-founder of Coursera, in an interview this week with The Chronicle. "No one has ever priced this before." Officials also stressed that they would offer financial aid to students who demonstrated that they could not afford the fees but could benefit from the verified certificates. Ms. Koller said Coursera would continue to offer free unofficial certificates to students who passed some of its courses. So why would someone pay for the verified certificates? Peter Lange, provost at Duke University, which plans to offer one of the courses in the new pilot, said each free certificate would have a clear disclaimer on it: "It says something to the effect of, We cannot vouch that the person who got this document took the course or did the work." The new Signature Track could mean serious revenue for Coursera, and for the 33 partner colleges that will get a cut of it. Exactly how the colleges will divide that revenue is still being worked out, it seems. Mr. Lange said the question was on the agenda at the next monthly meeting of Duke's Advisory Committee on Online Education." So, when Coursera staff offered free Statements of Accomplishment as "Recognition" to the volunteers of the Global Translator community, they did so in full awareness of their lack of value and of the mentioned disclaimer

"ThingLink interactive images help students develop 21st century skills and enrich their enthusiasm for learning. Teachers can use ThingLink images as interactive learning modules (ILMs) that activate and inspire students with creative and effective learning experiences. If you're a teacher or student, you can sign up to Education; it's FREE."

"Getting Started Diigo Educator Account Follow these easy steps to get started"

"Lia Commissar - Wellcome Trust - UK How can we ensure that education is ready to prepare learners for the future? And how can we create new learning environments which enhance the benefit of education? Learn about the latest theories, new digital solutions, policies, strategies, research and insights, as our expert speakers shared their enthusiasm for tomorrow's new world of learning. More info: http://bit.ly/1NgVtia"

"Toby Walsh - Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of New South Wales - Australia How can we ensure that education is ready to prepare learners for the future? And how can we create new learning environments which enhance the benefit of education? Learn about the latest theories, new digital solutions, policies, strategies, research and insights, as our expert speakers shared their enthusiasm for tomorrow's new world of learning. More info: http://bit.ly/1NgVtia"

"Allan Päll - Secretary General of the European Youth Forum - Belgium Miles Berry - Principal lecturer in Computing Education at the University of Roehampton - UK Jo Swinson - Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills in the UK's coalition Government of 2010-2015 - UK Pedro De Bruyckere - Educational scientist at the Artevelde Hogeschool - Belgium Are we equipping young people with the skills they need to participate, contribute and compete in our technology-oriented society? What specific new skills are needed? Are schools and universities the right places to teach these so-called '21st century skills'? On December 4, OEB 2015 experts debated on the motion "This House believes 21st Century skills aren't being taught - and they should be" More info: http://bit.ly/20zkM8R"

"UC Berkeley announced Wednesday that it would restrict public access to existing educational content after a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation concluded that many of the video captions did not meet standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Campus will instead invest in developing new online content with necessary accessibility features, according to campus spokesperson Roqua Montez. Montez said that because of limited viewership of more than 20,000 course capture videos and a projected cost of at least $1 million for captioning, campus decided not to revamp the videos deemed inaccessible. "On average, the older videos were watched for less than 8 minutes," Montez said. "(It) doesn't make sense to go back and do that, given the budget climate we are in. We had to weigh that as a factor.""

Articolo sull'annuncio di Berkeley del ritiro dalla visibilità pubblica dei video non conformi ai requisiti di accessibilità

"March 20, 2013, 4:55 am By Steve Kolowich The State University of New York's Board of Trustees on Tuesday endorsed an ambitious vision for how SUNY might use prior-learning assessment, competency-based programs, and massive open online courses to help students finish their degrees in less time, for less money. The plan calls for "new and expanded online programs" that "include options for time-shortened degree completion." In particular, the board proposed a huge expansion the prior-learning assessment programs offered by SUNY's Empire State College. The system will also push its top faculty members to build MOOCs designed so that certain students who do well in the courses might be eligible for SUNY credit. Ultimately, the system wants to add 100,000 enrollments within three years, according to a news release."

"Livemocha is a social network service that supports language learning through audio-visual lessons and peer tutoring tools. Launched in September 2007, the platform has over 5 million registered members from over 200 countries. Lessons are provided for 36 different languages. While the standard lessons are freely accessible for registered users, the platform also offers "premium content" for a fee. Livemocha is more than just "Rosetta Stone on the Web." A unique selling point of the educational Web community is its collaborative approach to language learning: Members of the Livemocha community do not only learn a foreign language, they also tutor other community members in their native language. Users are encouraged to form learning tandems and offer feedback on their partner's speaking or writing exercises. The Livemocha platform supports this peer learning practice through comment features, voice recording and social awareness tools. For ETC Journal, I interviewed Clint Schmidt, Livemocha's Vice President of Marketing and Products. Clint has an impressive success record of developing marketing and product functions for a variety of high-growth Internet companies, including Half.com, eBay and ZoomIn.com, India's leading photo sharing and printing site. Clint holds a BSE in Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania."

"Helping Educators World Wide Integrate Technology into their Teaching"

Una bella raccolta di risorse per la formazione continua, scovata sul blog di Annarita

Una raccolta di risorse open per la scuola, dal blog di Annarita

Fueling their enthusiasm is the explosion of massive open online courses, or MOOCs, the new species of free classes prestigious universities are offering to students around the world. As educators debate what the classes mean for the future of traditional universities, one thing is clear - they provide a vast laboratory to study learning, using a trail of electronic data to examine what resources or study habits best help students, whether they take courses online or in traditional classrooms.

With the increasing popularity of online education has come a profusion of Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs), Open Courseware (OCW), Open Educational Resources (OER), and other general educational resources that can be accessed online.

Courses in Italy - Education

This site is designed for geography students and teachers to find interesting, current supplemental materials.  To search for place-specific posts, browse this interactive map.  To search for thematic posts, see http://geographyeducation.org/thematic/ (organized by the APHG curriculum).