Posted this to fellow Royal Roads learner Clint LaLonde's blog today. His question was - Building an Edtech library - What would you recommend?
My response (cos all the really good resources had already been mentioned lol)
Not directly related to edtech or online learning, these books provide more of the back story or the context that we need to be able to swim in the whitewater of new learning practices and paradigms:
Peter Senge's "The Fifth Discipline" - talks about generative learning, systems thinking and barriers to growth and learning. I think it's a must read for anyone who works in a learning environment (aka everyone)
Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler's "Connected" - all about social networks, how emotions are contagious and the impact this has had on human evolution. This is the backstory. Critical to understanding the impact of social media now.
Chris Anderson's "Free" - He authored "The Long Tail". Again, this provided context for the way the world is going. You can download the free abridged audiobook of "Free" from www.hyperionbooks.com/free
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
BEAST Facilitation Skills
Demonstration of one way to facilitate the BEAST cognitive skills session from the SAM program.
On a whim today I decided to see what kind of video quality I could get from my bottom of the line Acer laptop, the free version of Debut Video Capture software and Windows Movie Maker that comes with Windows. It was the end of a very long day but wanted to demo something for my group so I did and recorded it.
After all of 5 minutes editing (added title, trimmed the end and added credits) I uploaded to BlipTV (also free) and within 20 minutes (during which time I had a shower and relaxed) BlipTV had not only rendered it, it was auto posted to my blog, my facebook and Twitter. Perma link here http://www.blip.tv/file/2607870 Crazy thing is it that it is also monitized. Blip.TV share 50% of ad revenue with show creators. Now if schools could do that and 50% of revenue.. well, that would be a cool business model to look at.
I also uploaded to TeacherTube and a Ning site I maintain for Aboriginal Justice Workers in BC. TeacherTube is still deciding if I can post it or not. Ning rendered and provided embeddable code in about 15 minutes.
The sounds not the best but it works. I'm kinda impressed.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
A Virtual Revolution Is Brewing for Colleges - washingtonpost.com
Link above to an article about how the education system may change due to increase in online format. The author suggests that with the move to online learning that the quality of education will falter. He also suggests that newspapers have learned by shock that they can be replaced. He doesn’t say this directly but the implication is clear. I personally don’t think that this is a foregone conclusion. I think that by anticipating what might happen, the education system can create a participatory, innovative and new system structure for the next generation.
He compares the impact of the (social) net(work) has had on newspapers to the possible impact on universities and colleges. He says “… we will see a structural disintegration in the academy akin to that in newspapers now. The typical 2030 faculty will likely be a collection of adjuncts alone in their apartments, using recycled syllabuses and administering multiple-choice tests from afar.”
I think the opposite is also possible.
I foresee a time when learners will be able to take courses from the best of the best and that collaborative learning will replace, to a large extent, individual-centered learning tasks. In some ways this is business as usual for institutions.
The goal of formal public education is to create a workforce. The workforce required over the next generations is one that is networked, can collaborate and, is less ego-centric. The cost of that, if not managed well is that the cream will have a harder time rising to the top. The benefit however could be a world that learns through innovation, anticipation and participation rather than shock.
He compares the impact of the (social) net(work) has had on newspapers to the possible impact on universities and colleges. He says “… we will see a structural disintegration in the academy akin to that in newspapers now. The typical 2030 faculty will likely be a collection of adjuncts alone in their apartments, using recycled syllabuses and administering multiple-choice tests from afar.”
I think the opposite is also possible.
I foresee a time when learners will be able to take courses from the best of the best and that collaborative learning will replace, to a large extent, individual-centered learning tasks. In some ways this is business as usual for institutions.
The goal of formal public education is to create a workforce. The workforce required over the next generations is one that is networked, can collaborate and, is less ego-centric. The cost of that, if not managed well is that the cream will have a harder time rising to the top. The benefit however could be a world that learns through innovation, anticipation and participation rather than shock.
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