CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-15 16:39:05 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 6 +1s)

Aaron Bady and I talk MOOCs, For-Profits, Ideology at UC-Irvine

2013-05-15 15:46:52 (4 comments, 4 reshares, 4 +1s)

Is it a good thing that over 90% of students drop out of MOOCs?  Are MOOCs basically the Darwinization of higher education?  Are MOOCs like a Google search algorithm for filtering and sorting out the top students?  

Keith Devlin, professor at Stanford and the "Math Guy" on NPR who has taught a MOOC on math,  argues so:
http://devlinsangle.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-darwinization-of-higher-education.html

"MOOC education is survival of the fittest. Every student is just one insignificant datapoint while the course is running. Do well, do poorly, struggle, drop out - no one notices. But when the MOOC algorithm calculates the final ranking, the relatively few who score near the top become very, very visible. Globally, talent recruiting is a $130BN industry (Forbes.com, 2.12.12). It's "Google search for people" in action."

More of histho... more »

2013-05-14 14:32:27 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 9 +1s)

When Mashable starts using this new kind of sharing you know Google+ is becoming popular.
Just in case it's not very clear, when you click on the view button this is what happens. Whenever you share a Mashable article to Google+ your name will now be added to the page you shared to your circles.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/113493854651753327245/posts/DBnYHXH3cDu?partnerid=gplp0

2013-05-13 20:01:03 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Josh Kim makes (& discusses) three points. My favorite pullquote, one that may apply here as we combine old and new acquaintances, is:

What I learned from Mom is that individual collegial relationships aggregate up to a professional network. One cannot simply "make" a professional network. Rather, a professional network needs to be nurtured over many years through mutually beneficial interactions.

1. EdTech Is Really About Relationships
2. Even the Best EdTech Relationships are Complicated
3. Relationships Translate Into Networks

[shared in different form at +John Kellden's Conversation Community]

2013-05-13 19:52:09 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Preaching to the choir, sort of. But a nice short discussion that may help my students... the ones who are online all the time, yet don't seem to connect.

2013-05-10 21:25:14 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Well, will you just look at this group! I'm glad to see some familiar names and looking forward to meeting everyone else.

2013-05-10 00:12:58 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

So, I won't be able to attend this May 21 event at Cal State Channel Islands.

It's both affordable and interesting on the face of it (See the $50 registration! See the +Michael Wesch keynote!)

...but I'll be wrapping up my semester and attending end-of-term meetings and all that. The 4-1/2-hour drive each way won't work... (Yes, as a matter of fact I DO remember my undergrad days when I'd drive that far for a much smaller payoff.)

So we may have to convince the organizers that it could still be affordable as a live-streamed event.

(via +Larry press)

Attn +Marc Oehlman +Troy Challenger +Barbara Beckmeyer 

#edtech   #CalState   #education  

2013-05-09 23:22:22 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Take control of what you get notified about ...
A big hello to all Goobies (Google+ newbies)! This #GPlusQuickTip might save you some head ache.

You might still be at a stage here at #GooglePlus  where notifications don't bother you much. That will change though, I promise you. If you follow my advise about how to Get noticed on Google+, quick (http://bit.ly/147DwxV) you might wish soon that your little red box in the top right corner of your G+ page would slow down a bit. Well, you are in control. Just go here (http://bit.ly/147DwxV) and choose what you want to get notified about. You can even elect the circles that can notify you.

I know this is an old hat to all experienced plussers, but we must never forget that every day G+ gains thousands of new users and they are all amongst your followers. Do you remember when you were new here and appreciated that... more »

2013-05-09 21:47:03 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

"Educators should not be focused on being disseminators of information, but rather being cultivators of curiosity"  #tedtalks

Another great Ted talk that premiered in PBS last night (55:31)

2013-05-09 20:13:44 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Talk on innovation arising from MOOCs and modular courseware
http://bit.ly/115pSOT

Read the annotated slides or watch the video.  

2013-05-09 19:21:25 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

They're real, and they're here

2013-05-09 17:45:54 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

http://www.knewton.com/blended-learning/

2013-05-09 16:29:06 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Epic Google Hangout

Participants:
+Bruce Tizes +Doug Breitbart +Jim Sear +david pinto +Barry Kort and +John Kellden

We didn't record it, but the chat transcript got saved. Epic stuff, will turn it into presentable shape and doc for wider consumption and plunk it down here and/or in Deep Stuff.

Big thanks to all the participants.

Illustration by Marc Ngui:
http://www.bumblenut.com/drawing/art/plateaus/index.shtml

2013-05-08 22:39:54 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Online communities are using the power of play to solve complex research problems.

http://www.pnas.org/content/110/18/7104.full

2013-05-08 16:07:49 (16 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Hi everyone, today Coursera is very proud to announce that we are collaborating with major publishers to provide free access to text books for courses on the Coursera platform, powered by Chegg's e-reader! Learn more here: http://bit.ly/10aWEef

2013-05-08 14:51:24 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

New blog post: Answering your questions about Open Badges

http://dougbelshaw.com/blog/2013/05/08/answering-your-questions-about-open-badges/

2013-05-08 00:15:29 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

I just stumbled across this #hashtag  guide. Seems useful for G+ as well as #Twitter .

Of course I like #excessivelylonghashtags  for humorous effect but I use them sparingly. It's an art.

2013-05-07 23:56:08 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Great system :-)

2013-05-07 23:40:12 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

It's getting closer to being just right. http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2013/05/new-question-types-in-google-forms.html

2013-05-07 21:56:02 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

2013-05-07 20:49:55 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

We’re “80% of the way” to fake meat that’s indistinguishable from the real thing - http://tcrn.ch/YD7QC0

2013-05-07 16:09:30 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Or, we could just do less e-mail. (Wait... wha...?)

#netiquette   #email  

2013-05-07 15:13:28 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Two minutes (and a few seconds) with +Eric Schmidt.

2013-05-07 14:46:43 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2013-05-07 14:43:14 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

I can actually.  Can you read it?

Thank your teachers even if you can't read it, though.

2013-05-07 14:17:26 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

This is an older article someone shared while panicking over the #AdobeCreativeCloud  announcement. Interesting suggestions for Adobe CS substitutions.

Updates?

#opensource  

2013-05-04 23:08:58 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

" “Over the last decade, as the literature on the Millennial student has proliferated, it has proven that opinions beget opinions. A scrutiny of the references of a majority of publications and presentations indicates that the ideas being espoused are fundamentally opinions based on observation and perception as well as on student personal satisfaction and preference surveys rather than on evidence-based research methodologies.” (pp. 215-216) They point out that many of the surveys documenting a set of Millennial student characteristics have been done at one or two institutions with populations not always representative of the larger student population. The Millennial cohort includes students from various races, religions, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds."  Right!  And even within those various backgrounds, they are STILL not the same.

2013-05-04 23:01:20 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Self-Affirmation Improves Problem-Solving Under Stress

new research from Carnegie Mellon University provides the first evidence that self-affirmation can protect against the damaging effects of stress on problem-solving performance. Understanding that self-affirmation -- the process of identifying and focusing on one's most important values -- boosts stressed individuals' problem-solving abilities will help guide future research and the development of educational interventions.

"People under high stress can foster better problem-solving simply by taking a moment beforehand to think about something that is important to them," Creswell said. "It's an easy-to-use and portable strategy you can roll out before you enter that high pressure performance situation."

article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130503132956.htm
more »

2013-05-04 18:18:36 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Zen of Small Tasks: Education as Metacognition

"Education is not the learning of facts but the training of the mind to think."
-- Albert Einstein

via +Mani Saint Victor & Isabel Sousa Silva
https://plus.google.com/u/0/110286773978323039098/posts/X6aqrHEPQVS

Metacognition

New Options
https://plus.google.com/u/0/101010252943098026073/posts/VBhRAmauMza

User Behaviour
https://plus.google.com/u/0/101010252943098026073/posts/SUiEn5kmj2t

Education
https://plus.google.com/u/0/s/redesign%20education%20kellden

2013-05-04 17:12:20 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

Just saw a Feb. 2013 interview on C-SPAN (BookTV) with one of the co-authors.

The book seems very interesting and applicable for people who want to understand fair use, as opposed to just proclaiming it loudly so they can do whatever the heck they want.

+Steve Watkins Did y'all consider this one for the T&A Library collection?

The rest of you just settle down, that's our campus library. Deal with it.

#fairuse #copyright #intellectualproperty

2013-05-04 15:17:47 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Anyone interested in #college success or completion rates needs to check out people's responses to +Rhonda Ragsdale's tweet during #SaturdaySchool

(Yep, I'm caffeinated and #multitasking across platforms this morning. Also tuned into #nerdland!)

#studentsuccess

2013-05-04 15:12:42 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

Facebook Blocks Robert Scoble from Adding Comment Content
temporarily, anyway
Robert has frequently praised Facebook's algorithms, particularly with regard to people suggestions for friending. Apparently, Facebook's algorithms that determine whether or not someone's comments should be blocked need some work.

2013-05-03 20:29:35 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Very cool: University of Delaware's Summer Faculty Institute.

Brace Yourselves: Rumor Control says it'll be live-streamed, and we'll even be able to see +Phil Hill at some point...

h/t +Mathieu Plourde for sharing this with us in our EDU Deep Thoughts/Inconsequential Musings Hangout today!

2013-05-03 17:24:54 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

National Council of Teachers of English issues statement against computer assessment of student writing: http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/machine_scoring

2013-05-02 01:25:26 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 2 +1s)

+Laura Gibbs... Seen this?

#reading #longformreading #attention #infotention #multitasking

2013-05-02 00:03:32 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 2 +1s)

Fair Use & Best Practices

Excellent resource from the Center for Social Media covering fair use and best practices in many areas such as:

* academic and research libraries
* documentary film, online video
* poetry
* open courseware
* media literacy education
* scholarly research in communication
* dance-related materials
* media studies publishing
* film and media studies

2013-05-01 22:08:19 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

The guy who wrote this thinks MOOCs may have a role in the AP world. AP has the infrastructure, MOOCs have the content.

#K12 #edreform #MOOC

2013-05-01 21:23:22 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

Breaking free of the credit-hour shackle

Competency-based education (#CBE) looks like the next phrase that will be on everyone's (every education type's) lips.

Only a few months ago, we were hemming and hawing over the differences between "outcomes-based education" and CBE. (Remember, +Phil Hill and +Rovy Branon?) Now, no one in these conversations seems to talk about learning outcomes. Correct me if I'm wrong!

I'm not saying this is a bad thing (though long-time proponents of learning outcomes may, if they have even noticed the shift). I have been suggesting that we need to think of something besides courses in order to get our heads around the disruptions anyway.

I still don't see how competencies will be combined to become a single conventional degree from a particular institution who has many students, each of whom isp... more »

2013-05-01 18:04:03 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Despite the recent wave of faculty pushback on online education (caused in large part by hype over MOOCs), here is a reminder of why we're not going back to the old status quo.