"Coffeecourses can be done at your own pace at any time that suits you... Each course is made up of quick (~10 minutes) tasks that can be completed whenever you have time, sitting down with a good cup of coffee..." Nice idea! Application for digital literacy?
"And here's the thing: we still don't. We never do. We have never been good at predicting the future, and so raising and educating our kids as if we have any idea what the future will hold is not the smartest notion."
"The educational thought experiment I wish to undertake concerns curriculum. Not the specific content of curriculum, but the idea of curriculum, what any curriculum is, regardless of subject. Like Copernicus, I propose that for the sake of better results we need to turn conventional wisdom on it is head: let's see what results if we think of action, not knowledge, as the essence of an education; let's see what results from thinking of future ability, not knowledge of the past, as the core; let's see what follows, therefore, from thinking of content knowledge as neither the aim of curriculum nor the key building blocks of it but as the offshoot of learning to do things now and for the future."
"Technology stewards are people with enough experience of the workings of a community to understand its technology needs..."<--useful idea for digital literacy? Wider in scope than teaching/eLearning advocates. Hope to chat with Nancy in Hobart.
Suggestion of a license to make writing available to libraries. Idea seems reasonable on the surface but wonder if it will become divisive, especially the institutional sub-set.
the Group Pattern Language Project's exciting new deck of 91 full-colour cards to help facilitators and participants make their group process work more effective. The deck is accompanied by a 5-panel explanatory legend card and a booklet describing the purpose of the deck, how it evolved, and some ideas for games and other activities using the deck.
Links to various articles:
"The German tradition of social pedagogy has become associated with social work. This tends to obscure its educational credentials as 'education for sociality', particularly to English-language readers. Here we explore its history and current status."
Interesting idea designed to codify pedagogy and encourage discussions about teaching values. That last bit reminds me of Auckland Uni's Heart project.
Excellent article on a different approach to getting teachers engaged with elearning (and any pedagogical innovation). I think we've already bed this overall idea i.e. that we need teachers to participate in the design of their courses but this provides structure around it and also theoretical underpinning.
"It was just 18 months ago that we were living in the "Year of the MOOC." Massive open online courses-MOOC for short-were supposed to revolutionize the way people learned and deliver high-quality education to the masses. But the idea faced a tough 2013. The co-founder of Udacity, an early pioneer in free online education, admitted that his company initially had a "lousy product," while studies showed that hardly any students were actually completing the courses offered by such services at all."
thoughtful article on the idea that path dependance has led to an academic publishing system that works but is sub-optimal in the new technology environment.
Deakin trying out a MOOC with some interesting assessment ideas - mainly assessed via peer review and awarding of badges, formal credit on payment of $495 fee involves an interview with the student as well as learning artefacts.