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October 3, 2014

News Round-Up: October 3

Becky's posted her news round-up which is my reminder to do the same! Here are some items that really got me thinking in the past week or so (and here are the previous round-ups).

Education dystopia #1: triumph of the silos by Bryan Alexander
This series of posts on different dystopian futures for higher education is really excellent. OU seems to me stuck in the "Silos stand tall" scenario, which is his first of four scenarios. See also his Slideshare of the four dystopias.

Let’s get systematic, baby… by Brian Lamb
Fantastic collection of links to the outburst of LMS blog posts over the past couple of weeks.

The Tools Are Not Collaborative by Mike Caulfield
This is one of those LMS blog posts, pointing out that so-called collaboration tools in Blackboard et al. are not really collaboration tools at all.

As the learning management system turns by Jonathan Rees
This is one of my favorite of the recent LMS posts. Jonathan's advice (and I agree) is "Be your own LMS!"

The MOOC Misstep and the Open Education Infrastructure by David Wiley
Wiley's excellent indictment of the sham openness of MOOCs applies, sad to say, to OU's Janux project too: "The horrific corruption perpetrated by the Udacity, Coursera, and other copycat MOOCs is to pretend that the last forty years never happened. Their modus operandi has been to copy and paste the 1969 idea of open entry into online courses in 2014. The primary fallout of the brief, blindingly brilliant popularity of MOOCs was to persuade many people that, in the educational context, “open” means open entry to courses which are not only completely and fully copyrighted, but whose Terms of Use are more restrictive than that of the BBC or New York Times."

Future of Faculty Development: Cultivating Meaningful Experiences by Enoch Hale
Great blog post that contrasts the attitudes between students and faculty with regard to shifting student and teacher responsibilities.

How to Develop a Sense of Presence in Online and F2F Courses with Social Media by Debbie Morrison
I was so excited that Debbie featured my students in this article as examples for Pinterest and Twitter, along with other social tools.

Jaxon Co-Creates Online Technology Course for Faculty
Nice write-up about Kim Jaxon and Connected Courses. I sure wish I could lure some OU folks to participate in Connected Courses! More about Jaxon's work here: The Case for Open Courses in Higher Ed: Q&A with Connected Learning Educator Kim Jaxon.

Mia Zamora: Helping Other Educators Experience Connected Learning by Howard Rheingold
Fantastic portrait of Mia Zamora and how she participates in a web of connected learning.

The psychology of open: On wrestling your inner MOOC and Of monsters, contemplation and information by Mariana Funes.
Fantastic blog posts about the dynamics of people's fear of connected learning experiences on the open web.

How Educators Can Assist Learners in Developing a Growth Mindset by Jackie Gerstein
Another wonderful blog post from Jackie Gerstein about facilitating and coaching a growth mindset with students.


And this LMS Sales Call video totally cracked me up!