online learning

Musaic – A New Treasure Trove of Advice from Music Professionals! [musicmattersblog.com]

On 11/26/2014, in music, online learning, online media, online tutoring, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Musaic – A New Treasure Trove of Advice from Music Professionals! — from musicmattersblog.com

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

As I’ve attended music teacher workshops and conferences over the years, one of the highlights has always been attending master classes. I love watching other teachers interact with students and gleaning insights that I can utilize in my own teaching. Musaic – an initiative of New World Symphony – seeks to bring masterclasses and dozens of other videos from professional musicians right to your fingertips! In addition to masterclasses, you can view a growing collection of performances, tips, and how-to videos that will prove beneficial to music teachers and students alike. What a great project!

Also see:

Helpful resources from Michigan Virtual University re: online learning/learners

On 11/26/2014, in K-12 related, Michigan, online learning, student-related, by Daniel Christian

MVU releases guide to help schools navigate the virtual learning journey — from mivhs.org, as posted on September 17, 2014

Excerpt:

MVU…released a guide for mentors of online learning students, “Mentor Fundamentals: A Guide for Mentoring Online Learners,” that is intended to provide an understanding of the fundamental elements of mentoring or coaching students for success with online courses.

Download the mentor guide »

About MVU
Michigan Virtual University® is a private, nonprofit
Michigan corporation established by the State of
Michigan in 1998 to serve as a champion for
online learning. It is the parent organization of the
Michigan Virtual School®, Michigan LearnPort®, and
Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute™.
Visit www.mivu.org for more information.

Excerpts from MVU’s mentor guide:

Why Students Choose Online Learning
The State Virtual School Leadership Alliance shared the following evidence that state virtual schools meet the 10 attributes of Next Generation Learning (as established by Next Generation Learning Challenges). From the student’s point of view, online learning is attractive because it is:

Personalized to my needs and learning goals.
When students select their courses, they take greater ownership.
Flexible so that I can try different ways to learn.
Online learning allows scheduling to accommodate health, athletic, job and family circumstances.
Interactive and engaging to draw me in.
Students meet people outside their community in a safe environment, and multimedia used in online learning provides different ways of learning.
Relevant to the life I’d like to lead.
Students gain more experience using the 21st century technology tools used in college and in the workplace.
Paced by my own progress measured against goals I understand.
Students can move faster or slower through assignments and track their own progress toward their goals.
Constantly informed by different ways of demonstrating and measuring my progress.
Educational technology can measure and share tudent progress quickly.
Collaborative with faculty, peers, and others, unlimited by proximity.
Students can access learning materials and resources – including local, state, and national experts – using online communication tools.
Responsive and supportive when I need extra help.
Communicating outside the typical school day is supported by the online learning culture. Many students – and teachers – report they spend more time interacting online than in the face-to-face classroom.
Challenging but achievable, with opportunities to become an expert in an area of interest.
Online learning reinforces lifelong learning skills and promotes information literacy and communication skills as well as thinking and problem-solving skills.
Available to me as much as it is to every other student.
Online learning can direct the talents of some of the most skilled educators to the most underserved populations. A zip code does not have to determine learning options any more.

Profile of a Successful Online Learner
Instructors with years of online teaching experience agree that students who have successful, satisfying experiences learning online share several critical characteristics. Review these characteristics and answer these questions for and with potential online learners.

Good Time Management:
Can the student create and maintain a study schedule throughout the semester without face-to-face interaction with a teacher?
Effective Communication:
Can the student ask for help, make contact with other students and the instructor online, and describe any problems she/he has with learning materials using email, text messaging and/or the telephone?
Independent Study Habits:
Can the student study and complete assignments without direct supervision and maintain the self-discipline to stick to a schedule?
Self-Motivation:
Does the student have a strong desire to learn skills, acquire knowledge, and fulfill assignments in online courses because of an educational goal? Can she/he maintain focus on that goal?
Academic Readiness:
Does the student have the basic reading, writing, math and computer literacy skills to succeed in the class?
Technologically Prepared:
Does the student know how to open, create and/or save a document; use various technology tools (e.g., dictionary, thesaurus, grammar checker, calculator); and identify various file formats (e.g., doc, xls, pdf, jpg)? (from Michigan Educational Technology Standards for Students 2009).

Also see:

MVU’s Online Learner Readiness Rubric

Here’s a peek at the Minerva Project’s classroom of the future — from washingtonpost.com by Matt McFarland
Check out five ideas that could impact the way we live, work and play.

Excerpt:

“Think of the fanciest version of Google Hangouts or Skype designed to be a classroom,” explains a student. “It’s very different than a traditional classroom, but in a way it’s what a traditional classroom distilled down to its purest form I feel like would look like,” says another.

Also see:

Pre-university online learning experience positively influences higher education study skills says new research (IOE)

On 11/20/2014, in higher education, K-12 related, lifelong learning, online learning, UK, youth, by Daniel Christian

Pre-university online learning experience positively influences higher education study skills says new research — from Anne Keeling, Media Relations for Pamoja Education
New research says online learning prepares 16-19 year olds well for university

London – A research study by the Institute of Education University of London (IOE), England has explored the impact of online learning on 16-19 year olds and its influence on their learning experience at university.

The study was conducted between February and July 2014 and involved a literature review, a self-report survey with university students, interviews between an IOE researcher and university students, and interviews between an IOE researcher and online teachers.

The results, published in November 2014, were based on the responses of 108 university students aged between 17 and 23 from 36 countries (primarily the US, UK and India). 58 of those surveyed had studied at least one two-year subject online as part of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP), delivered by UK-based Pamoja Education.

Of all 108 students surveyed, 78% said they considered it important in university to be able to plan and coordinate group tasks using online tools such as calendars, scheduling tools and discussion applications. 94% said having the ability to find academic resources online is valuable. 78% of all students who responded said that at university they try to solve learning problems by themselves. And 84% said it is definitely important to be able to set goals to help manage studying time for their university course.

Those students surveyed who had participated in online learning at school said that they had gained proficiency in a range of online learning tools that they were now using as part of their university working practice. They said that the online learning experience had helped them develop confidence in using technology to source information and that they were more likely to carry out their research online. Students believed studying online had helped them to become independent learners able to manage their own time. They felt that in comparison with other students they were less likely to need to turn to their university lecturers for practical help. IBDP online students who were interviewed by an IOE researcher commented that learning to study online had come with its own set of challenges, but that developing their skills within the supported environment of their school had been a beneficial experience that was now effectively helping their university study.

One student said “Studying online is different from attending regular classes. You have to be self-motivated to study on your own and set your own deadlines. Personally, I learned a lot from taking an online course because it helped me prepare myself in terms of scheduling and allocating time.” Another said “I had to be independent and in charge of my own learning so this has helped me be able to work this way.”

Ed Lawless, Principal of Pamoja Education says: “The research suggests there is a shift from school learning to university study, and that a good online learning experience helps students to prepare for that shift. It helps them to develop the ability to work with a whole range of online media, and to develop an awareness of managing their personal progress which university students recognise as an essential part of their study requirement.”

Teachers who were interviewed spoke about the importance of providing a supportive learning environment for school age online learners. Several teachers suggested that online learning provided students with a safe environment that allowed them to take risks, make mistakes and learn from their experiences and this had better prepared them for university

An overview of the IOE research: http://goo.gl/HC9NX2

A video of Professor Martin Oliver from the Institute of Education talking briefly about the outcomes of the IOE research: http://youtu.be/lChG3haprL8

Notes:
Pamoja Education is a social enterprise working in cooperation with the International Baccalaureate (IB) as the only provider of online IBDP courses for students aged 16-19. It has been delivering online IBDP subject learning to students around the world since 2009.

The Institute of Education is a world-leading university specialising in education and the social sciences. Founded in 1902, the Institute currently has more than 7,000 students and 800 staff. In the 2014 QS World University Rankings, the Institute was ranked number one for education worldwide. It has been shortlisted in the ‘University of the Year’ category of the 2014 Times Higher Education (THE) awards. In January 2014, the Institute was recognised by Ofsted for its ‘outstanding’ initial teacher training across primary, secondary and further education. In the most recent Research Assessment Exercise two-thirds of the publications that the IOE submitted were judged to be internationally significant and over a third were judged to be ‘world leading’. www.ioe.ac.uk

From DSC:
This research doesn’t surprise me at all. Those students/learners who can succeed online have to be disciplined. They have to take more responsibility for their learning and are more independent. Online learning is not for everyone. But as with anything, practice can make a big difference. Thanks Anne for the study/research tip here. Students who take online courses are only doing themselves a favor, as most likely, online learning will be a key part of their future learning ecosystems throughout their careers.

.

Addendum on 11/26/14:

MVU releases guide to help schools navigate the virtual learning journey — from mivhs.org, as posted on September 17, 2014
Excerpt:
MVU recently released a guide for mentors of online learning students, “Mentor Fundamentals: A Guide for Mentoring Online Learners,” that is intended to provide an understanding of the fundamental elements of mentoring or coaching students for success with online courses.
Download the mentor guide »

Excerpt from mentor guide:

Why Students Choose Online Learning
The State Virtual School Leadership Alliance shared the following evidence that state virtual schools meet the 10 attributes of Next Generation Learning (as established by Next Generation Learning Challenges). From the student’s point of view, online learning is attractive because it is:

Personalized to my needs and learning goals.
When students select their courses, they take greater ownership.
Flexible so that I can try different ways to learn.
Online learning allows scheduling to accommodate health, athletic, job and family circumstances.
Interactive and engaging to draw me in.
Students meet people outside their community in a safe environment, and multimedia used in online learning provides different ways of learning.
Relevant to the life I’d like to lead.
Students gain more experience using the 21st century technology tools used in college and in the workplace.
Paced by my own progress measured against goals I understand.
Students can move faster or slower through assignments and track their own progress toward their goals.
Constantly informed by different ways of demonstrating and measuring my progress.
Educational technology can measure and share tudent progress quickly.
Collaborative with faculty, peers, and others, unlimited by proximity.
Students can access learning materials and resources – including local, state, and national experts – using online communication tools.
Responsive and supportive when I need extra help.
Communicating outside the typical school day is supported by the online learning culture. Many students – and teachers – report they spend more time interacting online than in the face-to-face classroom.
Challenging but achievable, with opportunities to become an expert in an area of interest.
Online learning reinforces lifelong learning skills and promotes information literacy and communication skills as well as thinking and problem-solving skills.
Available to me as much as it is to every other student.
Online learning can direct the talents of some of the most skilled educators to the most underserved populations. A zip code does not have to determine learning options any more.

History Channel bringing online courses to higher ed –from edtechmagazine.com by D. Frank Smith

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Television and higher education are being married through a new partnership between A&E Network’s History Channel and the University of Oklahoma.

The network has announced a 16-week, paid, online course focusing on U.S. history from 1865 to the present. The accredited course will involve video lectures produced by History Channel staff, quizzes, discussion groups and social interactions. The series is priced at $500 for college students, and $250 for lifelong learners.

Also from their press release (emphasis DSC):
History® Digital partners with the University of Oklahoma to offer the first TV network-branded online course for college credit — from historychannel.ou.edu

New York, NY (October 28, 2014) – A+E Network®’s HISTORY® Channel will partner with the University of Oklahoma to offer the very first TV Network-branded online course for transcripted college credit or for the lifelong learner. HISTORY® Channel’s United States, 1865 to the Present course enrollment will launch on October 28 at History.com/courses and will be taught by award winning teacher, OU professor, and renowned historian Steve Gillon. The announcement was made today by Dan Suratt, EVP, Digital Media, A+E Networks and University of Oklahoma President David L. Boren.

…

The groundbreaking 16-week interactive, immersive course, which will be offered during the Spring Semester, officially begins on January 12, 2015. Utilizing the strengths of both HISTORY® Channel and OU, “United States, 1865 to the Present” has been rigorously designed by an academic team from OU and will be taught by Professor Steve Gillon, the scholar-in-residence at HISTORY®Channel and professor at OU. Combining professionally-produced and engaging video lectures with quizzes, discussion groups and social interactions between student and professor, as well as selectively integrated multimedia assets from HISTORY® Channel, this course has been created to offer a singular and collaborative learning experience to a wide range of students.

From DSC:
Interesting partnership/collaboration effort here…again, this endeavor gets at the idea of using teams of specialists to create and deliver content. Also interesting here are the lower pricing structures and the idea of addressing lifelong learners.

The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV

Finding New Business Models in Unsettled Times — from Educause.com by Paul J. LeBlanc
If the core crisis in higher education is one of sustainability, being focused on the job to be done and having a grasp of the forces shaping higher education gives institutional leaders a new way to think about recasting their future.

Excerpts:

“What to do?” is the question that so many college and university presidents struggle with right now. We seem to be sitting at the heart of a perfect storm where a lot of things are happening faster than our ability to predict and strategize. We can respond to this stormy weather as medieval farmers did to the next day’s weather: by simply waiting to see what arrives and then taking action, often inadequately. Or we can recognize that we actually have the tools, the technology, and the know-how to reinvent U.S. higher education in ways that will address its current failings.

…

Those established entities that survive are able to harness the innovations and rethink their business models to better serve their customers. Those that eventually disappear typically adopted one of two strategies: (1) hunker down and hope to ride out the storm by doing more of the same; or (2) try a little of everything. Neither strategy works very well, and as a result, once-great and seemingly unassailable companies have disappeared or, at best, survived as mere shadows of themselves. That’s the scenario that many current critics of traditional higher education posit and even welcome, often pointing to other industries that have seen enormous disruption—music, publishing, journalism, and retailing—to presage the impending doom for traditional higher education.

…

But there is no one higher education to reinvent, and colleges and universities do no one job. Higher education encompasses the following purposes:

A coming-of-age higher education that meets the needs of recent high school graduates, usually providing a purposeful living/learning community that provides ample opportunities for self-discovery and growing up
A workforce-development higher education that focuses on working adults and that provides job and career opportunities while creating a talent pipeline for employers in a local economy
A research higher education that seeks to add to the store of human knowledge, creating breakthrough, innovative solutions to a wide range of problems
A status higher education that provides a value-added network of peers, as well as access to and maintenance of privilege and social status
A civic-good higher education that works to produce a more just and responsible society
A cultural-improvement higher education that creates and/or supports the arts and humanities and instills in its graduates the taste and refinement to support and appreciate the arts

…

The need to reinvent underlying business models is increasingly urgent.

.

Other items from Educause:

Flexible Option: A Direct-Assessment Competency-Based Education Model
The University of Wisconsin Flexible Option CBE model focuses on assessment rather than credit hours, letting students undertake academic work at their own pace and prove mastery of required knowledge and skills through rigorous assessments.

A Tuition-Free College Degree (EDUCAUSE Review) — by Shai Reshef

Excerpt:

First, brick-and-mortar institutions have expenses that virtual universities do not. So we don’t need to pass these expenses on to our students. We also don’t need to worry about capacity. There are no limits on the number of seats in a virtual university: nobody needs to stand at the back of the lecture hall. In addition, through the use of open educational resources and through the generosity of professors who are willing to make their materials accessible and available for free, our students do not need to buy textbooks. Even professors, the most expensive line in any university balance sheet, come free to our students. More than 3,000 higher education professionals—including presidents, vice chancellors, and academic advisors from top colleges and universities such as NYU, Yale, Berkeley, and Oxford—are on-board to help our students. Finally, we believe in peer-to-peer learning. We use this sound pedagogical model to encourage our students from all over the world to interact and to study together and also to reduce the time required from professors for class assignments.

…

Five years ago, University of the People was a vision. Today, it is a reality. In February 2014, we were awarded the ultimate academic endorsement of our model: University of the People is now fully accredited. With this accreditation, it is time for us to scale up. We have demonstrated that our model works. I now invite colleges and universities and, even more important, the governments of developing countries to replicate this model to ensure that the gates to higher education will open ever more widely. A new era is coming—an era that will witness the disruption of the current model of higher education, changing the model from one that is a privilege for the few to one that is a basic right, affordable and accessible for all.

See:

https://www.uopeople.edu/programs/online-bachelor-degree-programs/

Beyond the MOOC Model: Changing Educational Paradigms — by James G. Mazoue
Four trends – MOOC-based degrees, competency-based education, the formalization of learning, and regulatory reform – are shifting educational practice away from core tenets of traditional education, indicating not a transient phenomenon but rather a fundamental change to the status quo.

Excerpt:

According to Georgia Tech’s recent survey, initial reviews from the first cohort of OMS CS students are positive: 93 percent recommend the program to others and nearly two-thirds said their experience exceeds their expectations. If data from the OMS CS show that MOOC-based degrees are viable, others will follow with an array of offerings that will compete directly with on-campus programs.

Some may quibble that the $6,600 OMS CS is not modeled on real MOOCs because of its price tag. However, this misses the larger point: namely, that a quality online degree offered at scale for a nominal or greatly reduced cost is a more attractive alternative for many students than an on-campus degree. In deference to purists who might balk at calling a degree program that charges tuition a MOOC, we can call it a MOD (for Massive Online Degree). Whatever we call it, it will be bad news for on-campus degree programs. With competition, we can expect a MOD’s cost to go down; it is not unreasonable to think that it might go down to a negligible amount if cost recovery shifts from charging students for the acquisition of knowledge to a model based on learning assessment and credentialing. In the end, students — if we let them — will be the ones who decide whether a MOD’s value outweighs the additional cost of an on-campus degree.

…

Far from fading into oblivion, data show that MOOCs are in fact increasing in global popularity. The case for dismissing MOOCs as an educational alternative, therefore, has yet to be made.

Team-based content creation/delivery is pulling ahead of the pack!

On 11/04/2014, in A/V -- audio/visual, collaboration, communications, creativity, digital audio, digital learning, digital storytelling, digital video, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, higher education, immersion, innovation, interactivity, learning ecosystem, love of learning, media/film, Michigan, multimedia, online learning, participation, play, psychology, real-world assignments, relationships, religion, social learning / networks, social media, society, sociology, story, storytelling, student-related, surviving, teaching & learning, transmedia, universities, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, using teams, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

Last week I attended the 20th Annual Online Learning Consortium International Conference. While there, I was inspired by an excellent presentation entitled, “A Disruptive Innovation: MSU’s Surviving the Coming Zombie Apocalypse – Are You Ready to Survive a New Way of Learning?“ The four team members from Michigan State University included:

Glenn R. Stutzky | Course Instructor
Keesa V. Muhammad | Instructional Designer
Christopher Irvin | Instructional Designer
Hailey Mooney | Course Librarian

Check out the intro clip on the website about the course:

From the description for the presentation:

This session highlights MSU’s award winning, groundbreaking online course that fuses social theory, filmmaking, social media, and viral marketing while students survive an apocalyptic event. http://zombie.msu.edu/

MSU created and used powerful digital storytelling and multimedia to overlay real, experiential, immersive learning. Important content was relayed, but in a way that drew upon your emotions, your ability to solve problems and navigate in a world where you didn’t have all of the information, your ability to work with others, and more.

“This innovative course integrates current research and science on catastrophes and human behavior together with the idea of a zombie apocalypse. In doing so, we actively engage with students as they think about the nature, scope, and impact of catastrophic events on individuals, families, societies, civilizations, and the Earth itself.”

“Our innovative approach to teaching and learning features: students as active participants, the instructor becomes the facilitator, storytelling replaces lectures, zombies become the catalyst of teaching, a “zombrarian” (librarian) drives research, and the students emerge as digital storytellers as a way of assessing their own learning.”

Others outside MUS have found out about the course and have requested access to it. As a result of this, they’ve opened it up to non-credit seeking participants and now various people from police forces, Centers for Disease Control, and others are able to take the course. To make this learning experience even more accessible, the cost has been greatly reduced: from $1600+ to just $500. (So this talented team is not only offering powerful pedagogies, but also significant monetary contributions to the university as well.)

For me, the key thing here is that this course represents what I believe is the direction that’s starting to really pull ahead of the pack and, if done well, will likely crush most of the other directions/approaches. And that is the use of teams to create, deliver, teach, and assess content – i.e., team-based learning approaches.

So many of the sessions involved professional development for professors and teachers – and much of this is appropriate. However, in the majority of cases, individual efforts aren’t enough anymore. Few people can bring to the table what a talented, experienced group of specialists are able to bring. Individual efforts aren’t able to compete with team-based content creation and delivery anymore — and this is especially true online, whereby multiple disciplines are immediately invoked once content hits the digital realm.

In this case, the team was composed of:

The professor
Two Instructional Designers
and a librarian

The team:

Developed websites
Designed their own logo
Marketed the course w/ a zombie walking around campus w/ brochures and a walking billboard
Used a Twitter stream
Used a tool called Pensu for their students’ individual journals
Made extensive use of YouTube and digital storytelling
Coined a new acronym called MOLIE – multimedia online learning immersive experience
Used game-like features, such as the development of a code that was found which revealed key information (which was optional, but was very helpful to those who figured it out). The team made it so that the course ended differently for each group, depending upon what the teams’ decisions were through the weeks
Used some 3D apps to make movies more realistic and to create new environments
Continually presented new clues for students to investigate. Each team had a Team Leader that posted their team’s decisions on YouTube.

They encouraged us to:
THINK BIG! Get as creative as you can, and only pull back if the “suits” make you! Step outside the box! Take risks! “If an idea has life, water it. Others will check it out and get involved.”

In their case, the idea originated with an innovative, risk-taking professor willing to experiment – and who started the presentation with the following soliloquy:

Syllabi are EVIL

Syllabi are EVIL and they must die!
Listen to me closely and I’ll tell you why.
Just want students to know what is known?
See what’s been seen?
Go – where we’ve been going?
Then the Syllabus is your friend,
cuz you know exactly where you’ll end.
But if you want to go somewhere new,
see colors beyond Red, Green, and Blue.
Then take out your Syllabus and tear-it-in-half,
now uncertainty has become your path.
Be not afraid because you’ll find,
the most amazing things from Creative Minds,
who have been set free to FLY,
once untethered from the Syllabi.

Glenn Stutzky
Premiered at the 2014
Online Learning Consortium International Conference
October 29, 2014

“The number of infected in Michigan has reached critical mass.” CSM Quintero #sw290 pic.twitter.com/F6m8ZaoRyG

— MSU Zombie (@MSUZombies) June 19, 2014

They started with something that wasn’t polished, but it’s been an iterative approach over the semesters…and they continue to build on it.

I congratulated the team there — and do so again here. Excellent, wonderful work!

By the way, what would a creative movie-like trailer look like for your course?

Millennials move TV content beyond the TV set — from statista.com by Felix Richter

Excerpt:

You will find more statistics at Statista

From DSC:
Why post this here?

Because as expectations around where people are going to get their entertainment-related content change, so will new doors open for where they will get their educationally-related content.

.

The Living [Class] Room -- by Daniel Christian -- July 2012 -- a second device used in conjunction with a Smart/Connected TV

Companies creating their own academies/schools: 2 recent examples

On 10/13/2014, in corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, creativity, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, disruption, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, online learning, pace of change, personalized/customized learning, training / L&D, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Last week, I ran across 2 postings that involved companies creating their own platforms and methods of educating and training folks — especially for their own industry and their own business needs. They were:

A relevant aside/excerpt from Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie – October 10, 2014 | #851 – Updates on Learning, Business & Technology

Stephen Colbert – “Appointment TV” – Carol Burnett Perspective: Last night, a fun convergence happened between the Stephen Colbert TV Show, Learning, Carol Burnnett and Appointment TV.

As you may know, MASIE Productions is co-producing Love Letters – Starring Carol Burnett starting tomorrow on Broadway. She was interviewed on the Colbert TV Show and asked about the change in how people watch and consume media and content.

Stephen Colbert noted that when her show was on decades ago, she had 50 million viewers each week for the Carol Burnett Show. Carol noted:

* Every Saturday night there were these shows on in row: Archie Bunker, MASH, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, Carol Burnett

* She joked that, back then – in 1967 – “There was only 1 channel on TV” – though there were only a few 🙂

* But, she said that the difference was that it was “APPOINTMENT TELEVISION” – People made a plan, to sit together with family and friends, and watch a show together – as others did at the same time around the country.

I loved her phrase “APPOINTMENT TELEVISION”. In relates directly to Learning. Much of what we did, for decades, was “APPOINTMENT TRAINING” – a parallel to the same trend in the workplace. But, now the shift is towards many – many – more options – and viewer/learner freedom to choose when, what, how long and how often.

Also see:

Is innovation outpacing education? — from techpageone.dell.com by Dmitry Sheynin
Futurist Thomas Frey believes ‘micro-colleges’ will educate the workforce of the future.

Online learning could fundamentally change role of universities [Christensen; Smith]

On 10/01/2014, in 21st century, colleges, community colleges, disruption, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, new business models, online learning, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Excerpt:

Higher education institutions are poised for a massive shake-up, not unlike what tech companies experienced in the 1980s during the rise of the PC, said EDUCAUSE’s first general session speaker.

…

“Disruption is always a great opportunity before it becomes a threat,” he said.

…

“In the future, I don’t think universities themselves will be nearly as prominent as they have been in the past,” he said.

Also see:

EDUCAUSE 2014: Has the disruption begun? — from extremenetworks.com by Bob Nilsson
.
Michael B. Horn on Disruptive Innovation in Higher Education: How online competency based learning is changing the higher education landscape — from lambdasolutions.net by Sean Hougan

Stephen Downes: ‘This is the next era of learning’ — from online-educa.com

Excerpts:

This year we are building on work we have undertaken over the last few years to develop and deploy the next generation of learning technologies, which we are calling ‘learning and performance support systems’. This is the outcome of an internal prototype called Plearn – ‘Personal Learning Environment and Research Network’ – and develops the idea of learning support based on personal and individual needs. This is not simply ‘personalised’ learning, it is a step beyond that. Rather than offering a customised version of some generic offering, we propose to enable each learner to develop their own custom programme from the ground up.

Our application, which launches in a limited beta September 30, provides individual learners with the tools and support necessary to access learning from any number of providers – not just educational institutions, but also their friends and mentors, their current and future employers, community and social programmes, and much more. Built on current and evolving learning technology standards, it provides access to MOOCs, to traditional learning management systems, to stand-alone courses and software, and even to the world of the Internet of things.

At the core of LPSS is a system we call the ‘personal learning record’ (PLR). A person’s LPSS system keeps track of everything related to learning – exercises followed, tests taken, games and simulations attempted, work read – and stores that all in a single location. In this way, unlike a learning management system, it combines data from the learning environment, the work environment and even the social environment, thus enabling adaptive learning software to close the loop between learning and performance. The PLR is also combined with a learner’s personal library and their personal e-portfolio, and links to credentials offered by and stored by learning institutions, employers, and social network activities, such as badges.

Also see:

With a shout out to
Ana Cristina Pratas for her Scoop on this

Also see:

Coursera’s MOOCs go to work: What MasterCard is learning [Anders]

On 09/05/2014, in corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, online learning, training / L&D, vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Coursera’s MOOCs go to work: What MasterCard is learning — from forbes.com by George Anders

Excerpt:

An intriguing strategy tweak is taking shape at Coursera, the pioneer of massively open online courses, or MOOCs. While Coursera still opens its (virtual) doors wide to anyone who wants to take a free course for the fun of it, the company also is welcoming big firms such as MasterCard, BNY Mellon, AT&T and Shell, as they seek new content for employee training and development.

…

At MasterCard, two Coursera offerings have attracted a following, says Charles Silvestro, the payments company’s vice president for global talent development. One is a course on web applications that’s been offered to 2,500 employees; the other is a behavioral economics class taught by Duke professor Dan Ariely that’s been offered to 300 marketers.

2014 Student and Faculty Technology Research Studies — from educause.edu / ECAR

From the ECAR RESEARCH HUB
This hub contains the 2014 student and faculty studies from the EDUCAUSE Technology Research in the Academic Community research series. In 2014, ECAR partnered with 151 college/university sites yielding responses from 17,451 faculty respondents across 13 countries. ECAR also collaborated with 213 institutions to collect responses from more than 75,306 undergraduate students about their technology experiences.

Key Findings

Faculty recognize that online learning opportunities can promote access to higher education but are more reserved in their expectations for online courses to improve outcomes.
Faculty interest in early-alert systems and intervention notifications is strong.
The majority of faculty are using basic features and functions of LMSs but recognize that these systems have much more potential to enhance teaching and learning.
Faculty think they could be more effective instructors if they were better skilled at integrating various kinds of technology into their courses.
Faculty recognize that mobile devices have the potential to enhance learning.

Excerpts from infographic:

Could the concept behind NPR One be applied towards other educational/training-related streams of content?

On 08/12/2014, in 21st century, media/film, microlearning, mobile learning, more voice more choice more control, multimedia, online learning, online media, personalized/customized learning, streams of content, TVs, by Daniel Christian

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

NPR One is the new audio app that connects you to a stream of public radio news and stories curated for you. Informing, engaging, inspiring and surprising. From the ends of the earth to the tiniest corners of your city.

…

Your stream is thoughtfully curated…

From DSC:
Makes me wonder how this sort of service might relate to other educational/training-related services…for example, streams of curated content delivered to you via customized playlists of learning, sent to your mobile devices or your smart/connected TV. Such pull-related methods — vs. push-related methods — could be very useful and engaging.

What's the best way to deal with ever-changing streams of content? When information has shrinking half-lives?

From DSC:
With a shout out and thanks
to the Indiana Jen blog,
where I originally saw this

Learning Ecosystems

Musaic – A New Treasure Trove of Advice from Music Professionals! [musicmattersblog.com]

History Channel bringing online courses to higher ed [Smith]

New items from Educause including “Finding New Business Models in Unsettled Times” [LeBlanc]

Millennials move TV content beyond the TV set [Richter]

Companies creating their own academies/schools: 2 recent examples

Online learning could fundamentally change role of universities [Christensen; Smith]

Coursera’s MOOCs go to work: What MasterCard is learning [Anders]

Could the concept behind NPR One be applied towards other educational/training-related streams of content?

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