Connected Learning: Reimagining the Experience of Education in the Information Age This weekend, I am attending the Third Digital Media and Learning Conference, hosted by the MacArthur Foundation, as part of their efforts to help build a field which takes what we have learned about young people's informal learning, often through the more playful aspects of participatory culture, and apply it to the redesign and reinvention of those institutions which most directly touch young people's lives -- schools, libraries, museums, and public institutions. Today, the MacArthur Foundation is releasing an important statement about the underlying principles they are calling "connected learning," a statement which helps to sum up the extensive research which has been done by the DML network in recent years. Their goal is to foster a wide reaching conversation not simply among educators but involving all of those adults who play a role in shaping the lives of young people -- and let's face it, that's pretty much all of us. For more information, check out this website.
Extender Conjoncture : Une troisième révolution industrielle est en vue L'économiste américain Jeremy Rifkin présente ce mardi à Paris son dernier essai sur les mutations en cours de l'économie et les bases d'une croissance durable tout au long du XXIe siècle. Voici sa vision du futur. «Une troisième révolution industrielle doit prendre le relais de notre modèle actuel, à bout de souffle», assure l'économiste américain Jeremy Rifkin. Ce modèle alternatif repose sur les énergies vertes et sur Internet, estime Jeremy Rifkin. Après l'alliance de la vapeur et de l'imprimerie au XIXe siècle, et celle du moteur à explosion et de la télétransmission au XXe siècle, la troisième révolution industrielle basée sur la combinaison des énergies renouvelables et de la communication en réseaux dématérialisés a débuté. Cinq préalables à une nouvelle révolution industrielle Plusieurs étapes doivent être franchies pour pouvoir entrer dans cette nouvelle ère économique, comme il l'explique dans son dernier essai*, présenté mardi à Paris. Ce modèle peut paraître futuriste.
Online learning: pedagogy, technology and opening up higher education | Higher Education Network Is online learning the answer to widening participation in higher education? Photograph: Stringer Shanghai/Reuters Higher education has always been fond of its acronyms and they don't get much more prolific than the current four letters doing the rounds. From the December 2011 launch of MITx Stateside to the University of Edinburgh's decision to join the Coursera platform, MOOCs (or Massive Open Online Courses) have barely been off the education news menu. Nor was the Observer alone in recently asking: "Do online courses spell the end for the traditional university?" Of course, the provision of off-campus higher education is not a recent development. By definition, online learning is the meeting of technology and pedagogy – and universities are still exploring the right balance between the two. MOOC cheerleaders point to their potential for widening access to higher education. But while take-up is growing so too are drop-outs. Where do you sit in this debate?
Etudiante, je hais les partiels, marathon des nerfs pour perroquets Si l’on se réfère à la terminologie en vogue, je suis actuellement étudiante en quatrième année dans une « grande école » dont on ne cesse de vanter la qualité de l’enseignement. On évoque souvent le désintérêt des jeunes pour l’école. Pourtant, il y a quatre ans lorsque j’étais encore la candidate n°4307, j’ai senti mon cœur faire des claquettes sur mon estomac en remettant ma copie aux surveillants. Je sors d’une session d’examens. Au bout de huit pages... un « peu clair » Il y est souligné que la correction n’aide en aucun cas l’étudiant à progresser, puisque les fameux « partiels » ne donnent lieu à aucun retour. De même, le rapport souligne que le contrôle continu est rarement assorti d’un réel travail sur les difficultés de l’étudiant. La note sur 20, nuancier de 80 humeurs Autre aberration : la note sur 20. Comme le souligne très bien le rapport, si le professeur pousse jusqu’au quart de point, cela laisse jusqu’à 80 possibilités à sa subjectivité de s’ébattre sur votre copie.
Why Don't They Apply What They've Learned, Part I - Do Your Job Better By James M. Lang For two years I taught in a special program in which the same cohort of students took two consecutive courses with me: freshman composition in the fall and introduction to literature in the spring. In both years that I taught the two-course sequence, I was startled to see many students come back from winter break and—on their very first papers in the spring class—revert directly back to those tired strategies that I had worked so hard to help them unlearn in the fall. One such student came into my office early in the spring semester to show me a draft of her paper, and it included a lame reverse-pyramid (i.e., general to specific) introduction. She looked up at me in genuine puzzlement: "You mean that the stuff we learned last semester applies in this course, too?" D'oh! "Far transfer is, arguably," they point out, "the central goal of education: We want our students to be able to apply what they learn beyond the classroom." Many of us state that outright in our courses.
Will We Need Teachers Or Algorithms? Editor’s note: This is Part III of a guest post written by legendary Silicon Valley investor Vinod Khosla, the founder of Khosla Ventures. In Part I, he laid the groundwork by describing how artificial intelligence is a combination of human and computer capabilities In Part II, he discussed how software and mobile technologies can augment and even replace doctors. Now, in Part III, he talks about how technology will sweep through education. In my last post, I argued that software will take over many of the tasks doctors do today. I want to comment on what I consider a far greater misuse of talent and training: that of our children/students, mostly here talking about high school education. Identifying Emerging Trends In Education There are new key trends that I see emerging in education enabled by advancing technology: namely decentralization and gamification. Still, nearly all the attempts at technology in education have mostly failed so far, but I doubt they will continue to fail.
Remembering Can Technology Transform Education Before It’s Too Late? Editor’s Note: This guest post was written by Prerna Gupta, who is CEO of Khush (now part of Smule), whose music apps, like Songify and LaDiDa, have been used to create over 125 million songs worldwide. You can follow her @prernagupta. As technology continues its march toward the Singularity, transforming the way we work, socialize and play at an increasing rate, there is one very important aspect of American society that lags behind: education. Many in Silicon Valley have strong opinions on how education should be improved, perhaps most notably Peter Thiel, who believes we are in a higher education bubble and should be encouraging kids to skip college and pursue entrepreneurship instead. Why is higher education overvalued? It’s because our primary and secondary education systems suck and are thus shifting the burden of educating our population to college. Dave McClure’s fund, 500 Startups, plans to invest in 10-20 education startups this year. There are other examples as well.
Theory and Practice of Onlilne Learning Second Edition Awarded the Charles A. Wedemeyer Award by the University Continuing Education Association. The Charles A. Athabasca University Press is pleased to announce the publication of the 2nd edition of the Theory and Practice of Online Learning at edited by Terry Anderson. The second edition is now available through AU Press. The second edition features updates on all chapters from the first edition and the addition of 4 new chapters (on Mobile Learning, Social Software, Distance Education Philosophy and Financial Decision Making). close window Enrayer la Machine à trier - La machine à trier La jeunesse, le plus bel âge de la vie ? Si les jeunes d’aujourd’hui n’ont pas connu la guerre, la plupart d’entre eux connaissent la galère. On parle souvent de « génération sacrifiée ». La réalité de la France, c’est que sans diplôme le système vous élimine. « La Machine à trier » empêche les plus défavorisés d’accéder à l’emploi. Les jeunes partagent les valeurs fondamentales de la société. un système scolaire élitiste, qui accroît les inégalités plus qu’il ne les corrige ; un marché du travail dont les portes sont fermées aux sans diplôme ; un système social qui n’aide pas ceux qui en ont le plus besoin, qui n’offre aucun filet de sécurité aux plus fragiles. Pour les non diplômés, la jeunesse paraît une voie sans issue. Ce diagnostic, étayé par de nombreuses études, est au cœur de « La Machine à trier – Comment la France divise sa jeunesse ». Des discours sur la jeunesse, on en entend depuis plus de 30 ans. Christian Boghos, directeur de la Fondation ManpowerGroup pour l’Emploi