On 06/03/2011,
in 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, architecture, art, Canada, computer science, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, distance education, graphics, immersion, interactivity, programming, research, United States, visualizing information, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
On 05/30/2011,
in Canada, change, creativity, education technology, innovation, IT in HE, pedagogy, teaching & learning, technology (general), vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
On 05/27/2011,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, blended learning, Canada, change, digital learning, distance education, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, faith, future, hybrid learning, K-12 related, learning spaces, multimedia, online learning, pedagogy, professional development, smart classrooms, teaching & learning,
by Daniel Christian
On 04/20/2011,
in 21st century, Canada, collaboration, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, formal learning, informal learning, social learning / networks, social media, web-based collaboration, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Grades: the candle snuffer of the love of learning — from “for the love of learning” by Joe Bower
From DSC:
When I look at the gradebook functionality within Moodle, my head begins to spin. If we really need that much complexity built into our grading systems, we are probably emphasizing grades waaaaaaaaaayyyyy too much.
How can we get more towards passion-based education/learning?
On 02/09/2011,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Canada, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, learning agents, learning ecosystem, personalized/customized learning, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
Elementary, my dear Watson: Jeopardy computer offers insight into human cognition — from Sentient Developments by George Dvorsky
Also see:
- The DeepQA Project — from IBM; the overarching principles in DeepQA are:
- Massive parallelism:
Exploit massive parallelism in the consideration of multiple interpretations and hypotheses.- Many experts:
Facilitate the integration, application and con-textual evaluation of a wide range of loosely coupled probabilistic question and content analytics.- Pervasive confidence estimation:
No single component commits to an answer; all components produce features and associated confidences, scoring different question and contentinterpretations. An underlying confidence processing substratelearns how to stack and combine the scores.- Integrate shallow and deep knowledge:
Balance the use of strict semantics and shallow semantics, leveraging many loosely formed ontologies.
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On 01/29/2011,
in Canada, learning theories, participation, teaching & learning, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
Connectivism & Connective Knowledge in Action — from ZaidLearn
This is my first reflection (posting) for the Connectivism and Connective Knowledge course (CCK11), which is a 12-week open online course facilitated by Stephen Downes and George Siemens. This course will explore the concepts of connectivism and connective knowledge and explore their application as a framework for theories of teaching and learning. Participation is open to everyone and there are no fees or subscriptions required…
On 12/03/2010,
in Canada, change, future, game-changing environment, using teams,
by Daniel Christian
On 11/18/2010,
in Canada, convergence, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, learning theories, social learning / networks, trends,
by Daniel Christian
SketchC3 — Crowdsourcing and Collaborative Storyboaring Platform for Multimedia Development Projects
On 11/06/2010,
in Canada, collaboration, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital textbooks, digital video, multimedia, tools, vendors, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
— item originally seen at Stephen Downes blog
On 09/02/2010,
in Canada, disruption, higher education, innovation, personalized/customized learning,
by Daniel Christian
The Wild World of Massively Open Online Courses — from unlimitedmagazine.com by Emily Senger
Would you participate in a class with 2300 other online students?
In a traditional university setting, a student pays to register for a course. The student shows up. A professor hands out an outline, assigns readings, stands at the front and lectures. Students take notes and ask questions. Then there is a test or an essay.
But with advancing online tools innovative educators are examining new ways to break out of this one-to-many model of education, through a concept called massively open online courses. The idea is to use open-source learning tools to make courses transparent and open to all, harnessing the knowledge of anyone who is interested in a topic.
George Siemens, along with colleague Stephen Downes, tried out the open course concept in fall 2008 through the University of Manitoba in a course called Connectivism and Connective Knowledge, or CCK08 for short. The course would allow 25 students to register, pay and receive credit for the course. All of the course content, including discussion boards, course readings, podcasts and any other teaching materials, was open to anyone who had an internet connection and created a user profile.
“The course was the platform, but anyone could build on that platform however they wanted,” says Siemens. “There’s this notion that technology is networked and social. It does alter the power relationship between the educator and the learner, a learner has more autonomy, they have more control. The expectation that you wait on the teacher to create everything for you and to tell you what to do is false.”
Also see:
On 08/09/2010,
in accreditation, Canada, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education,
by Daniel Christian
The Broken Accreditation System — Quote below from Stephen Downes
Links to an article by Ben Miller at The Quick and the Ed — dated August 6, 2010
Per Downes:
I have long said the accreditation monopoly will be ended, and though this looks like an attack on the for-profits, it is actually the first brick through the window of the accreditation system. Not that the for-profits are blameless – far from it. They have gamed the system mightily. “The first two hours of the hearing were devoted to damning undercover video of admissions counselors encouraging prospective students to lie on aid applications; inflating career earnings potential; and admitting they weren’t going to repay $85,000 of their own loan debt.” But as nothing will change the nature of the private sector, the only locus of reform will have to be the accreditation system itself. Thus we read, “there are some fundamental problems about accrediting agencies and the accrediting system that hurt its ability to provide the oversight and accountability functions we desire.” This will end only with the end of legislated accreditation, and though the government money may be harder to obtain (as, inevitably, it will be) the floodgates will be opened. It can end no other way.
From DSC:
This is yet another part of the “perfect storm” that’s brewing in higher education.
Also see:
http://www.quickanded.com/2010/08/the-broken-accreditation-system.html