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Good little video on Critical Thinking and its importance.

"Writing the future: genres, professions and texts" * moving towards learning outcomes: curriculum design, teaching methodology, materials, feedback & dialogue * evaluating & advancing approaches to teaching writing * the path from teaching or researching to presenting and publishing * the creative writing continuum * the critical analysis/critical thinking continuum"

thought you'z might be interested in this..

Free book on future of the internet download under read now) Bunch of essays about impact of internet on society, how internet should be managed, privacy, intellectual property etc . Various perspectives but published by a libertarian think tank. Critical of Lessig for proposing controls on internet development. Some good reads (Dean, beware - lawyers). Also check out the video presentations - panel discussions - some fascinating stuff. This book is both a beginning and an end. Its publication marks the beginning of TechFreedom, a new non-profit think tank that will launch alongside this book in January 2011. Our mission is simple: to unleash the progress of technology that improves the human condition and expands individual capacity to choose.

"Our Space is a set of curricular materials designed to encourage high school students to reflect on the ethical dimensions of their participation in new media environments. Through role-playing activities and reflective exercises, students are asked to consider the ethical responsibilities of other people, and whether and how they behave ethically themselves online. These issues are raised in relation to five core themes that are highly relevant online: identity, privacy, authorship and ownership, credibility, and participation. For more information, download the Introduction to Our Space [pdf], FAQ [pdf], and Road Map [pdf]. All curricular units and lessons are free and available for download below. The full casebook [pdf - 133MB] can be downloaded using the link at the bottom of the page." Critiqued by @downes for not addressing the issue properly "This is "a set of curricular materials designed to encourage high school students to reflect on the ethical dimensions of their participation in new media environments." The content divides into five major subject areas: participation, identity, privacy, credibility, and authorship and ownership. I'm not sure these are the top five things I would list when thinking of ethical dimensions of new media environments. While it's useful that there is a section on flamers, lurkers and mentors I think there should be something about hate, racism and bulling. And while a section on credibility is a good idea, it should be based on the principles of reason and inference, not outrageously bad definitions like this: "Networking-the ability to search for, synthesize, and disseminate information." And this: "Collective intelligence-evidence that participants in knowledge communities pool knowledge and compare notes with others toward a common goal." Wow, those are just wrong. Maybe I need to review this and criticize it more closely."

David Wiley explains his critical position on MOOCs. I think I'm in agreement.

Report by think tank on the future of HE in UK. Recommends credit from Moocs, all academics to have training in teaching & assessment, and a teacher track for academics.

"The book is intended to help administrators gain a basic knowledge base, think critically about some key issues, and get some concrete suggestions for instructional and organizational uses of various digital technologies."

Brian Lamb with another insightful and inciting post on the poverty of critical thinking in Higher Education regarding the future of that self same education. If they don't pull their fingers out their fundaments we are all doomed is the message. And by the way, the 'they' is us.

"Often, the word competency and skill are used interchangeably. While they are related, they are not the same. A competency is a demonstrated ability to perform a particular job or task. A competency includes skills, but also behaviors and the ability to apply those skills in order to perform a job or task. For example, a teacher may know how to use a computer and productivity software (skill), but may not know how to use those skills to increase collaboration and critical thinking in their students (competency)."

A good pitch for the role of coding in developing many key skills in solving problems, critical thinking, understanding behaviour etc.

I like most of these skills and think that they could inform discussion about graduate profiles and student digital literacies.

Abstract Managerialism creates burdens for academics with no evidence for its benefit. Business imperatives override educational. There is needless competition between universities. Research imperatives override education. Global inequalities in educational need are ignored, universities have not kept up with the way young people gain information and initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of higher education are 'tinkering' rather than the required total re-thinking of higher education.

Mainly school sugestions for using Twitter but some could be adapted.

"After preparing their papers, students attached an interactive cover sheet on which they raised questions about the paper they had just completed, thereby identifying the specific areas for feedback."

Hey, I worked with Sue Bloxham at St Martins. She's a great teacher in academic development. I think the 2nd last comment is useful too. The first ones suggest this process will be too hard for students. But we want them to be critical thinkers and they need to make that analysis of their own work too so provide the teaching to support them.

"To meet the goal of "preparing people for an ever-changing world", instructional programs need to apply strategies that focus on the development of critical thinking, problem solving, research, and lifelong learning. Those goals require a sociocultural approach to instruction emphasizing learning from experience and discourse. Sociocultural instructional designers question the applicability of traditional ID models because their molecular approach focuses on controlling the learner and environment, which often leads to inert knowledge. This article develops a sociocultural ID model and compares views of learning, roles of learners and teachers, instructional strategies, and the use of tools with the traditional ID approach."

Critique of telling kids to have a growth mindset.