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Imagine how transformative it would be if we could combine self-paced, self-directed postsecondary learning (which has been around in one form or another for millennia) with online delivery of content that has embedded in it both the sophisticated assessment of learning and the ability to diagnose learning problems, sometimes even before the learner is aware of them, and provide just-in-time interventions that keep the learner on track. Add to that the opportunity for the learner to connect to and participate in groups of other learners, and, to link directly to the faculty member and receive individualized attention and mentoring. What you would have is the 21st-century version of do-it-yourself college, grounded in but well beyond the experienced reality of the thousands of previous DIYers such as Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Thomas Edison.

"FlexCourse, a teaching and learning platform offering self-paced online degree programs, comes from a combination of acclaimed technological assets and programs of UniversityNow, which were acquired by NUS, and enhancements and customization by NUS developers; NUS affiliate John F. Kennedy University is the first to integrate FlexCourse, with classes starting in September"

"In a chapter titled "What College Could Be Like," Mr. Khan conjures an image of a new campus in Silicon Valley where students would spend their days working on internships and projects with mentors, and would continue their education with self-paced learning similar to that of Khan Academy. The students would attend ungraded seminars at night on art and literature, and the faculty would consist of professionals the students would work with as well as traditional professors."

"For open participants in ds106, we can dispense of the entire "I dropped out of another &$*#ing MOOC" because there is nothing to drop out from. No one-pace-for-all ramming speed schedule, no weekly lectures, no multiple guess quizzes. We have a very easy to understand Getting Started Guide, itself with not one way to do this course but TWO, the Fast And Easy Way and the Blogging Way."

While many children's home lives are abuzz with the same platforms and devices as the 21st century workplace, school just hasn't kept pace, and in many classrooms pedagogies are barely more inclusive of new technology than they were in the 1980s. We desperately need to improve on this record, which is why schools need to make hiring educational technology professionals -- whether specially trained classroom teachers or dedicated staffers -- a top priority.

"Static knowledge was useful when the pace of change in the world was slower than it is now. The focus now is on having the ability for lifelong learning and contributing. The internet enables this through the sharing of vast amounts of information and the opportunities for collaboration across the classroom and across the world!"

Digital badges are receiving a growing amount of attention and are beginning to disrupt the norms of what it means to earn credit or be credentialed. Badges allow the sharing of evidence of skills and knowledge acquired through a wide range of life activity, at a granular level, and at a pace that keeps up with individuals who are always learning-even outside the classroom. As such, entities not traditionally in the degree-granting realm-such as museums, associations, online communities, and even individual experts-are now issuing "credit" for achievement they can uniquely recognize. At the same time, higher education institutions are rethinking the type and size of activities worthy of official recognition. From massive open online courses (MOOCs), service learning, faculty development, and campus events to new ways of structuring academic programs and courses or acknowledging the granular or discrete skills that these programs explore, there's much for colleges and universities to consider in the wide open frontier called badging.

"The University of Florida made an unusual offer to more than 3,000 high-school students who would otherwise have been rejected for admission: Pass two semesters of online coursework, and then you can enroll on the campus. But less than 10 percent of them took the offer. Joseph Glover, the provost, defended the new option, called the Pathway to Campus Enrollment, or PACE, saying it hadn't been well explained. "This year, now that the program is in place and there is time to advertise and explain what it is all about, we hope to get a better response," he told The Gainesville Sun. Pathway builds on UF Online, the online-only undergraduate program that state legislators pushed for about two years ago."

nstitutions employing a team-based approach to the creation and delivery of education content and experiences will differentiate themselves and succeed, even as the pace of change - both in technology and in the disciplines - accelerates, says Daniel Christian, a senior instructional designer at Calvin College. Teams, comprised of a range of technology and subject content specialists, will be structured and function differently at each institution, but they all share a prime advantage: the ability to guide their institutions to thrive in higher education's increasingly competitive environment.

"The National University System, for example, is developing  a variety of initiatives aimed at bringing down the cost of a degree, including through FlexCourse?, a teaching and learning platform that offers faculty-supported, variably-paced online degree programs at an affordable price point of $8,500 annual tuition. The platform is initially being offered in conjunction with John F. Kennedy University, through JFKU Online --  both part of the National University System."

"The Center for Educational Measurement (CEM) at Excelsior College and Cengage Learning recently partnered to begin planning and development of a product called a CourXam, which combines a self-paced digital course with a proctored, college-credit-bearing examination and is powered by Learning Objects, a subsidiary of Cengage Learning. Unlike a college course, CourXams will be available directly to consumers."

"I thought of these facts this past weekend when I tried an online course for the first time. Because I wanted to brush up on my programming skills, I signed up for a Udacity computer science class on Friday. I was drawn in by the fact that there were no deadlines-I could put the class off if I got too busy for it. This concern was somewhat unwarranted, as I had finished half the class by Sunday evening. I realized that I had binged-on a class."

"If you want to learn a new skill, a great way to start is to create an outline for exactly what it is you'll learn, why you want to learn it, and how you plan to do so. Consider this your personal learning plan. It is your guide. It keeps you accountable and helps you stay focused. And it only takes a little bit of time to create!"

"blogs with more frequent posts tend to receive more traffic than blogs that post once a month, as new content brings in new page views, but in this case the goal isn't necessarily to bring in hoards of traffic, it's to get your readers used to coming to your blog. It's to create a posting schedule people who follow your blog can remember, so that they know when to expect your next post. "

"Personalized learning puts each student at the center of their own learning. Teachers are empowered to customize instruction to meet their students' individual needs and interests. Students are empowered to become self-directed learners and develop the habits, mindsets and behaviors that lead to academic and personal success."

"Self-Directed Learning It's what's for breakfast.   Welcome to a new book by author, educator, and entrepreneur Blake Boles."

"students have to (first) be comfortable with the technology, (second) they have to understand the educational use of the technology, and (third) they have to adjust to new instructional methods that use technology. Expecting that they will quickly and easily make the transition to blended learning is a recipe for failure."

Web accessibility online courses.