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What we're seeing most recently, and what I'm very excited about, is going from that linear model to a much more non-linear idea. The digital learning experience is becoming really a collection of inter-related learning nuggets, that you might take very different paths through, depending who you are and what your needs are, and how you learn most effectively.

" [This approach] is really not trying to mimic what we would do in the physical world, but starting from an entirely digital form, and really being very thoughtful about what the learning outcomes are that we're trying to achieve, and how can the technology enable us to achieve those outcomes. There are many things that are very different about how you would design learning and work, if you really are doing it from a digital-first standpoint. In trying to do the latter, what are some of the principles you keep coming back to? "

"His overall charter is to create the digitally enabled university. That encompasses many areas, including flipping the classroom, tapping into learning analytics, and embedding digital literacy into the core curriculum."

As current and future student populations-made up of Millennials and Gen Zs, a generation collectively now referred to as Generation C-become even more digitally reliant, we'll see more students flock in record breaking numbers to flexible learning environments.

What's contributing to this growth? "Flex-classes," a preferred learning style among Gen Cs that offers "flex-attendance" options to join classes "in-person" or "online" throughout the duration of a course, allowing students to more efficiently, and affordably, learn anytime, anywhere.

In fact, if the current enrollment growth rate continues, nearly half of all college students will be enrolled in a flexible online learning course by 2020.

"This week, the Connected Learning Research Network, a research group that I chair, released a report (PDF) that outlines how connected learning environments are designed and how they can benefit youth in networked society, especially the underprivileged and vulnerable. The report calls for several core changes in education, including: * Close the gap between the no-frills learning that too often happens in-school and the interactive, hands-on learning that usually takes place out of school; * Take advantage of the Internet's ability to help youth develop knowledge, expertise, skills and important new literacies; * Use the benefits of digital technology and social networking to combat the increasing reality of the haves and have-nots in education. "

"Digital Storytelling 106--better known as "ds106"--sprouted in 2010 as a computer science class on digital storytelling at University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Founded by Jim Groom, educational technology consultant Alan Levine, and instructional technologists Martha Burtis & Tom Woodward, ds106 has evolved into a model for all instructors and students who aspire to experience, explore, and extend connected learning."

ds106 as gold standard for open...amazing...

"The site provides science students and educators, at levels from kindergarten to college, with a free online space to create, collaborate and share their own digital drawings, Wang says. It initially was inspired by Frankel's Picturing to Learn project, where MIT and Harvard undergraduates majoring in science created drawings to explain scientific phenomena to high school students, according to Wang. Excited about the potential for drawing as a tool for students and science enthusiasts in and out of the classroom, Wang saw an opportunity in that space to infuse new energy and greater creativity into science education, he said."

Digital Pedagogy Lab is host of a five-day practical institute that explores the role and application of digital technology in teaching. The institute has three tracks, providing hands-on practice with and discussion of networked learning, digital identity, new media, and critical digital pedagogy.

This Institute is almost full (and a tad pricy) in August in lovely Madison, WI. Interesting stuff.

"While technology is still at the core of the model, the kernel in the center of that core is games and "game-like" learning. In the process of finding its feet, Quest ditched the "school for digital kids" tagline and replaced it with "Challenging students to invent their future." A "challenge," in fact, is a key component of any game, one of many game terms that all Quest students master. Game-related activity - such as creating an overarching narrative for a unit of study, inventing a board or other "analog" game or performing a dramatic role-play exercise - is the container for all curricular content, from algebra and sex education to memoir writing and conflict resolution. "

"Digital literacy is getting a sense of your networks. It's like learning a new city, invisible but beautiful, and baffling when you don't know how a new city works. But then, as you roam around, it can start to make sense. You get more comfortable, and in time, your rhythms come together with its, and you can feel the city. You can cross the street safely and get what you need from the city. You can make friends there, and find safety, and love, and community. We all live in this common city now, and we just need to learn to see it. We live in an age of networks, and it's an amazing age."

"Guidelines for designing teaching and learning for a digital age The book examines the underlying principles that guide effective teaching in an age when everyone,and in particular the students we are teaching, are using technology. A framework for making decisions about your teaching is provided, while understanding that every subject is different, and every instructor has something unique and special to bring to their teaching."

This would be a tremendous addition alongside the Campus Learning Center, the Writing Center, etc.

"Instructional design is, or should be, nothing less than pedagogy intelligent about the medium within which learning happens. If you teach in an LMS, you are an instructional designer. If you teach in a room, you are an instructional designer. At our institutions, instructional designers or engineers or technologists should be as filled in about pedagogy as teachers are. They should not content themselves to be carriers of content from one format to the next. They should be experts in digital delivery, and consultants to collaborate with."

Via Stephen Downes's recent post; a nice accessible summary discussion for non-techies about how technology is changing teaching. Good teaching resource, I think.

"The period - the full-stop signal we all learn as children, whose use stretches back at least to the Middle Ages - is gradually being felled in the barrage of instant messaging that has become synonymous with the digital age"

""We happily give children paint brushes when they're young, with no experience - it should be exactly the same with technology. "The BBC micro:bit is all about young people learning to express themselves digitally, and it's their device to own."

"THE EDITORS OF THE Public Library of Science (PLOS) family of scientific journals recently decided to give their authors much more specific instructions for sharing data. They announced that "authors must make all data publicly available, without restriction, immediately upon publication of the article." They defined data as "any and all of the digital materials that are collected and analyzed in the pursuit of scientific advances," and now require authors to provide a "data availability statement" that serves the purpose of "describing where and how others can access each dataset that underlies the findings.""

As new technologies allow digital lessons to be tailored to various learning styles, a growing number of programs are evolving to enable students with disabilities to take online courses created with their needs in mind.