CultureLibre.ca is my other blog – In French. Today marks its 7th anniversary… Over 1931 posts, 45000 unique visitors and 100000 page views.
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Thanks!
Olivier
This blog post from The Atlantic (The Digital Education Revolution, Cont’d: Meet TED-Ed’s New Online Learning Platform by Megan Garber) gives more insight on the new TED-Ed platform.
In addition to templates for content and customization,
Most intriguing: Teachers can customize the lessons they create on a student-by-student basis, using the TED-Ed platform both to track individual student progress and to tailor questions to student interests and skill levels. The site offers real-time feedback to students, letting them know when they get answers right and providing hints when they get answers wrong.
You can also watch a promotional video I already added to OutFind.ca.
Sounds really cool!
The student strikes in Québec and the debate surrounding higher-education costs are but a single example of the pressures affecting universities. Here are some interesting takes on this issue:
TEDxRyersonU – Dr. Alan Shepard – Think Different: Why Universities Need to Change
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC7gJ3SmDJw&w=400&h=233]
You might like “Imagining the Future of the University” on the Chronicle of Higher Education blog by “Prof. Hacker” on March 15, 2012.
Also of interest, is this article by John Tagg in Change (the Magazine of higher learning) called Why Does the Faculty Resist Change?. The article presents the difficulties in managing and optimizing the curriculum in universities.
In my personal opinion, Universities are a complex ecosystem where a multitude of fauna and flora interact to create and foster a learning environment for individuals and society at large. It imposes itself a style constraint, where “democracy” is taken to a level of consensual decision-making with little regard to the end-result. Process over outcome. This is not bad in and of itself, just something one does not encounter in many places – I would assume the United Nations and perhaps (still) certain government agencies…
The problem is that everybody is involved in decisions, but it is hard to find someone responsible. Discussion is key and we all take a (small) step at the same time. Frustrating and inefficient for some, fascinating and collaborative for others. I haven’t yet figured out the key elements that can halt or hurry a project, but I assume humility and openness are key elements.
But trying to get a project to start is not obvious, but absolutely rewarding given the potential benefits for society!
Here are a few reports that people around me have praised or hated, listed in no particular order, just to keep track of should I have a sleepless night:
Think Like A Startup: a white paper to inspire library entrepreneurialism by Brian Mathews
Redefining the Academic Library : Managing the Migration to Digital Information Services by the University Leadership Council (on which Jeff Trzeciak participated)
Ithaka S+R Library Survey 2010: Insights From U.S. Academic Library Directors
Peter Hernon, “Becoming a university library director“, Library and Information Science Research, 33-4 (October 2011), pg. 276-283.
MOOCs, MITx and Udacity. Should university education be open to all and free of cost? These and related questions are explored in two recent blog post on The Guardian’s Higher Education Network blog.
MITx is testing alternate delivery mechanism, with a low-cost course on electronics this semester (and more announced in the Fall). Also of note, Steven Schwartz‘s mention Sebastian Thrun’s Udacity, great examples of open education. But most interesting are the MOOCs.
Bonnie Stewart presents open online learning environments called Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). For an introduction to Moocs, watch this video :
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW3gMGqcZQc&]
Actually, the MOOC.ca initiative is housed at the University of Prince Edward Island – they’ve used the technology to launch a MOOC for new students called xpu.ca.
For more information, see this MOOC Guide Wiki.
Hat tips to Bonnie Stewart for her great post and to Steven Schwartz for his Universities leading the way with education technology, both on the (newly discovered) Higher Education Network blog on The Guardian.
The French blog OWNI proposes an interesting summary of the state of gamification in schools ( in French, bien sûr).
This post starts off with a mention of the report, submitted on April 3rd, by a member of parliament, Yvelines Jean-Michel Fourgous, called “Apprendre autrement à l’ère du numérique” – note that gamification in French is “ludification” – this kind of detail is important to this Montrealer 😉
This same MP (Jean-Michel Fourgous) penned a report 2 years ago entitled “Réussir l’école numérique” calling for an increase in computers in classrooms.
Also mentioned is the BBC game Angler, where a robot traverses a digital universe based on a player’s understanding of geometry, as well as the US-based schools Quest to Learn and finally the consultancy Ludoscience
Concordia University announced that it will be closed on March 22nd due to the student protest against tuition increases.
In addition, professors have shown support to the students, by signing a letter criticizing tuition increases and changes to university financing in the Province of Québec. I am proud to have added my name to this letter.
The people behind the inspirational TED conferences (Technology, Entertainment, Design) have launched a new “Education” channel to pair up educators and animators in the hopes of creating awsomeness:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfJ5XG5i2aw&w=640&h=360]
The iPad seems to help students better connect with the content at hand.
“Students’ interaction with the device was more personal. You could tell students were more engaged,” said Coleman Kells, principal of Amelia Earhart Middle School. “Using the iPad was more normal, more understandable for them.”
Tablets could be less daunting to students, too. Marita Scarfi, CEO of digital-focused marketing agency Organic, says that moving textbooks to mobile devices will reinvent learning.
“Now you don’t know if a book is super huge and formidable,” Scarfi says. “Learning can be done in snackable chunks. It could be reoriented.”
The article from Wired provides links to the study and other bits on this initiative.
The Canadian Association of Information Science has delivered its latest issue of its Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science (via Project Muse on behalf of UT Press, the publisher), vol. 35 issue 4.
A few articles seem particularly interesting, such as:
Enhancing Skills, Effecting Change: Evaluating an Intervention for Students with Below-Proficient Information Literacy Skills / Renforcer les compétences pour induire des changements : évaluation d’une intervention auprès d’étudiants possédant des compétences informationnelles inférieures à la maîtrise
Don Latham
Melissa Gross
pp. 157-173
and
Subject Guides in Academic Libraries: A User-Centred Study of Uses and Perceptions/Les guides par sujets dans les bibliothèques académiques : une étude des utilisations et des perceptions centrée sur l’utilisateur
Dana Ouellette
pp. 226-241
Of course, all articles seem interesting, but there is so little time to read everything!