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| English: Open Access logo, converted into svg, designed by PLoS. This version with white background. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
New video released: a conversation with philosophers Richard Holton and Peter Suber on open access
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
New video released: a conversation with philosophers Richard Holton and Peter Suber on open access
New video released: a conversation with philosophers Richard Holton and Peter Suber on open access
Monday, November 19, 2012
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
The natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands
So much to enjoy.
http://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryCC1V1Cate
Thursday, November 1, 2012
some notes from talk by John Baker #CFHE12
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| English: John Baker, CEO of Desire2Learn (Photo credit: Wikipedia |
JohnBaker, Desire2Learn
Founder, President, and CEO, John Baker Recording
Tuesday, October 30, 11:00 AM EDT (Current offset: UTC/GMT -4 hours)
Presentation Title: The Desire2Learn Story: Problem Finding, Passion, Perseverance (Note: this was rescheduled from week 3)
* 80% of Students doing online courses are on campus.
* John is a keen on Problem Finding and finding solutions.
Innovation 40% team is R&D.
* All work areas have whiteboard walls
* As CEO John was told responsible for creating a inspiring work place.
* Video lawsuit against Blackboard being entirely transparent brought together as a company.
* Don't want to loose the other parts of education such as sport.
* Enduring tech partner with education.
* Accepted 80million of venture capital to help innovate.
* local presence local teams on the ground.
* Where to go with Assessment
* Higher ed partner with industry
* E portfolio making these real and peer assessments to drop box
Related articles
Desire2Learn, a Blackboard Competitor, Plans to Expand With $80-Million in Financing 
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Reading Penetrating the fog #cfhe12
Penetrating the Fog: Analytics in Learning and Education
"A hallway conversation essentially vaporizes as soon as it is concluded. However, every click, every Tweet or Facebook status update, every social interaction, and every page read online can leave a digital footprint. Additionally, online learning, digital student records, student cards, sensors, and mobile devices now capture rich data trails and activity streams."
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
#oped12 Daphne Koller: What we're learning from online education
Some developments about this!
OPEN LETTER FROM ROBERT MEISTER, CUCFA, TO DAPHNE KOLLER, FOUNDER OF COURSERA
Daphne Koller and the Problem with Coursera
Coursera is a for-profit company that has joined with top universities to deliver free online courses. The “free” part sounds great until we realize the real intent of companies like Coursera is to transition into producing monetized, for-credit university courses. To many academics this represents a conflict of interest that compromises the independence and integrity of higher education institutions. I agree and here’s why:Sunday, October 7, 2012
Friday, October 5, 2012
Open and the cost to Education #oped12
ASSIGNMENT FOR #OPED12
"In your blog/discussion forum reflections, address the distinctions of openness in terms of access vs. cost. What are the concerns that this raises for open universities?"
Once your given a topic to do its amazing the amount of noise one begins to hear in this area it appears that some of the debate reflects a concern that open anything may hurt the viability of education which is a bit sad as we gather from our readings the opposite effect has been fairly well proven through research undertaken.
Looking at these articles again I have strayed somewhat off the path with publication costs oops.
http://theconversation.edu.au/anu-vice-chancellor-issues-moocs-warning-9881#comments
The comments on this by several Australian academic professors is enlightening.
"I think that the funding model for our higher education sector is in need of a major national review. If it does not come in the near future it will come eventually as the government's level of funding fails to keep all current institutions going."
&
"Perhaps one of the reasons university administrators are having trouble getting their head around MOOCs is because its not about revenue, it's about public good."
http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2012/10/04/does-open-access-tackle-perpetuate-or-exacerbate-the-matthew-effect/
I did even know about this before.
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| Folio 27r from the Lindisfarne Gospels contains the incipit Liber generationis of the Gospel of Matthew. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
In sociology, the Matthew effect (or accumulated advantage) is the phenomenon where "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer".[1][2] In both its original and typical usage it is meant metaphorically to refer to issues of fame or status but it may also be used literally to refer to cumulative advantage of economic capital. The term was first coined by sociologist Robert K. Merton in 1968 and takes its name from a line in the biblical Gospel of Matthew:
For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken even that which he hath.
—Matthew 25:29, King James Version.
http://www.jmmsweb.org/issues/volume3/number2/pp97-99
"Many OA advocates (myself included), will often frame OA as an almost Socialist ideal: free information for the masses, or at least for those free thinkers who wish to consume it. But we cannot forget that we operate within an academy that has an unnerving habit of co-opting labor in a rather unsavory fashion, as seen in Mark Bousquet’s (2008) blistering How the University Works. There is a danger that the ideals of OA can be utilized by a corporate ideology which seeks to further co-opt unpaid academic labor, as well as [page 99] making professional editing redundant (in much the same way as teaching by tenured PhDs is replaced by the contingent labor of graduate students). Mandated requirements for OA by universities and government agencies certainly have the potential to unbind scholarly communication from the economically privileged. However, when such mandates rely on unpaid labor, they also have the potential to erase the skills of academics and publishing professionals who may otherwise reasonably demand an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work. "
Monday, September 24, 2012
#oped12 articles you start to notice
Since starting the readings for the mooc I am doing "Openness in Education" I have started to see a broader perspective
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| This image was selected as a picture of the week on the Farsi Wikipedia for the 13th week, 2011. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
"COMMONS-BASED peer production is a socio-economic system of
production that is emerging in the digitally networked environment.
Facilitated by the technical infrastructure of the Internet, the hallmark of this
socio-technical system is collaboration among large groups of individuals,
sometimes in the order of tens or even hundreds of thousands, who cooperate
effectively to provide information, knowledge or cultural goods without relying
on either market pricing or managerial hierarchies to coordinate their common
enterprise."
https://apps.lis.illinois.edu/wiki/download/attachments/15979/Benker+et+al+(Peer-production+and+virtue).pdf
"Like many of the bedrock technologies that have come to define the digital age, the Internet was created by — and continues to be shaped by — decentralized groups of scientists and programmers and hobbyists (and more than a few entrepreneurs) freely sharing the fruits of their intellectual labor with the entire world. Yes, government financing supported much of the early research, and private corporations enhanced and commercialized the platforms. But the institutions responsible for the technology itself were neither governments nor private start-ups. They were much closer to the loose, collaborative organizations of academic research. They were networks of peers."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/magazine/the-internet-we-built-that.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
"Going forward, IA need to ensure that the key players in Washington realize that the people building the modern Web do not consider themselves to be part of the 47 percent, 53 percent, 99 percent or 1 percent. When our politicians talk about entrepreneurship, innovation and competitiveness these days, they’re often really thinking about behemoth corporations and the types of tax cuts and politically-motivated moves that will turbo-charge the next quarter. Instead, they should be thinking long-term and talking about keeping it cool for kids to finish school, study programming and make their first job working at a startup with the potential to change the world. We built the Internet — let’s not forget it."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/post/the-internet-we-built-it/2012/09/20/33d939d2-032d-11e2-9132-f2750cd65f97_blog.html
"But he bottom line question he asks is this: At what point should publishers expose the book’s entire content to all the search engines? And while he offers no easy one-size-fits-all answer, he does point to the example of Craig Mod, whose book Art Space Tokyo has been published in digital editions across multiple platforms, “within two distinct ecosystems:”
1. open [the web]
2. and closed [iBooks, Kindle, and other ereaders]
http://publishingperspectives.com/2012/09/should-you-expose-all-your-books-content-to-search-engines/
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
#oped12 Why are Australian Universities avoiding this movement?
Benefits of Membership
The mission of the OCW Consortium is to serve both the individuals who use OCW and the institutions that make OCW possible. The Consortium provides a gateway to OCW projects and courses for the entire OCW community, fostering the success of the OCW movement and articulating its benefits. Through its public-relations efforts, the Consortium educates general audiences about the movement, directing potential users to resources that best suit their needs. For members, the Consortium marshals broad expertise regarding the ongoing development of open education projects and connects its members with an even broader network of OER practitioners. In other words, the OCW Consortium is an ideal meeting place for people wanting to make structured contributions to the development of open education worldwide.
I have found a paper that looks at the Australian Universities case in depth.
I have found a paper that looks at the Australian Universities case in depth.
#oped12 Webcast Invitation: Connecting the Dots between Open Access and Open Educational Resources September 27, 2012 (SPARC)
Connecting the Dots between Open Access and Open Educational Resources
Another free SPARC online event
Thursday, September 27th, 2012
12:00 - 1:00PM EDT (use helpful time converter)
Registration is free, but required. Please RSVP by September 25th.
This Webcast only requires an Internet connect (no phone dial in needed).
This Webcast only requires an Internet connect (no phone dial in needed).
Webcast Invitation: Connecting the Dots between Open Access and Open Educational Resources September 27, 2012 (SPARC)
Friday, September 14, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
#oped12, College Textbooks | Read Free Online | Flat World Knowledge
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| Flat World Knowledge (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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| Flat World Knowledge: Open College Textbooks (Photo credit: opensourceway) |
Just started new mooc called:
openness in education
and this is a resource I had not heard of before mentioned in a lecture by David Wiley.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Friday, July 27, 2012
Help Save Art History AUSTRALIA
Save art history: why La Trobe needs to support cultural life in Australia
By Joanna Mendelssohn, University of New South WalesLa Trobe university’s art history department is set to be abolished, with a consultation period over the changes to the university’s humanities program to end this month.
While one art history department might not seem like much, the repercussions will be felt throughout academia and the art world. If it is cut, it will leave only one fully fledged art history department left in Victoria, limiting the choice for students and affecting the future of Australian galleries and museums.
The Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ) and the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) have both written in protest about the national implications of this destruction. And many of those who support the department have signed an online petition protesting the cuts.
But when the department is thriving with good student retention rates and staff with high research output – the question is, why close it down at all?
A visual world
“Society changes. The world is a more crowded and in parts a more dangerous place. Post-Cold War realities, new technology and globalisation have altered the way we do almost everything.”So said Tim Murray, La Trobe’s dean of humanities and social sciences, in last week’s Age justifying the cuts made to the humanities school. It is a pity that Murray, as quoted above, so clearly demonstrates his own failure to grasp either the nature of the changes that our society is undergoing – or that a part of the solution lies in one of the very academic disciplines he is attempting to eliminate.
Over the last century, the greatest single change that has taken place in how humanity receives and gives information has been the surging power of the visual image. The revival of scholarship that came with the Renaissance was the power of the printed word and consequent mass literacy. With the 20th century so came cinema, and later the rise of digital technologies.
Visual information now crosses boundaries of language and culture. Younger generations are able to gleefully critique visual artefacts. Indeed, the average adolescent is now as aware of the many layers of meaning contained within a YouTube video as any medieval parishioner following the Christian narrative via stained glass window and statuary.
Art history teaches the vital visual skills needed for students to understand a society that now communicates so much through image.
An Australian contribution
Studying visual images also gives a sense of structure to the past. Art history is a far easier entry into the world of the early Renaissance, for example, than Chaucer’s English.
Tiepolo’s The Banquet of Cleopatra takes the viewer to the opulence of 18th Venice. While art history scholarship about the work links the painting both to the Court of Catherine the Great and the financial crisis faced by the Soviet Union when they sold it in 1932. Art history enables us to understand both subject matter and composition, bringing the past into our present.
Last year the exhibition The Mad Square, curated by an Australian art historian, illuminated the culture of inter-war Germany, giving thousands of visitors a context with which to understand German angst and the rise of Hitler that were the equivalent of volumes of written text.
In Australia, it is art history that enables us to understand the myths of nationalism in Tom Roberts’ The Shearing of the Rams, as well as promoting the recognition of Aboriginal cultures with both analysis of Papunya artists and resurgent urban Aboriginal communities.
It is, in short, both a central discipline in any study of the humanities, and a close partner with many other disciplines including history, literature, classics, archaeology and the social sciences.
Time of change
Fifty years ago the teaching of art history in this country was effectively the preserve of the rich – received by those few students who could spend their long vacations in the great museums of Europe – while mere mortals struggled with mediocre colour slides and limited local collections. Australian art history, too, was then a field awaiting significant scholarly research.
But art history departments in Australian universities have been central in changing that. Now, thanks to J-Store and Google’s art projects the riches of Europe and America are there for all. Australian art museums are freely opening aspects of their collections online and the digital research project, Design and Art of Australia Online is rapidly expanding our knowledge of the nature of Australia’s visual past.
Murray has suggested that “Young people …don’t expect things to be done as they were a generation ago.” And he’s right, but art historians are hardly suspicious of the digital age – we relish its many opportunities. But just as these technologies are opening up new opportunities to art historians and students alike, La Trobe is trying to close itself off from this world.
From graduates to leaders
The scholarly arts community well knows the valuable contribution that generations of La Trobe staff and students have made to the cultural life of this country. Tony Ellwood, a La Trobe graduate, is about to take up the position of Director of the National Gallery of Victoria. Mark McDonald, another La Trobe graduate, now works at the British Museum while Laurie Benson is curator of international art at the National Gallery of Victoria. Patrick McCaughey, a former NGV director, also once taught at La Trobe.The department’s academic staff, whose jobs are now under threat, includes Dr Caroline Jordan, one of the finest scholars of 19th century Australian art and Dr Lisa Beaven whose recent study of the 17th century collector, Cardinal Camillo Massimo, received a glowing review in the Burlington Magazine.
The wider arts community is well aware of these unfolding events – the Melbourne Art Network has published a letter by former NGV director, Patrick McCaughey. While students have been vocal on Arts Hub.
The closing of art history will hardly ensure the “future vibrancy” of La Trobe (the university’s supposed motivation). Instead, the lights will be dimmed.
Joanna Mendelssohn is on the executive of the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand and (with Anita Callaway) Editor in Chief of Design and Art of Australia Online.
This article was originally published at The Conversation. Read the original article.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Dreaming Weaving Learning Bytes
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| Cover of Tate's The History of King Lear (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Great Blog fighting censorship through education and design.
Cordelia - Nothing
King Lear - Nothing!
Cordelia – Nothing.
King Lear – Nothing will come of nothing; Speak again.
Silence. Stillness.
Disconnection. Nothingness.
Having recently experienced a tech meltdown ( CristinaSkyBox), issues regarding the relevance of being connected, of teaching digital citizenship/identity, of engaging learners and teachers with technology for education, it is no surprise that concerns about mobility have been most on my mind.
It is never sufficient to explain how mobility needs to be integrated into classrooms. Mobility of being able to connect without firewalls, mobility to use mobile phones – above all, the mobility to inspire minds. In many institutions world over, the rule of no mobile phones in the classroom is still strongly preached and enforced.
I really think it is amazing we continue to condone the censorship that is ongoing in our schools.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Education Rethink: 11 Reasons Teachers Aren't Using Technology #edcha...
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| Some educational technology to try (Photo credit: haikugirloz) |
Thursday, July 12, 2012
ALIA Keynote address July 11 2012 Michael Kirby
KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT ALIA BIENNIAL 2012 "DISCOVER" CONFERENCE
I am going to say this was one of the most memorable and moving keynote addresses i will probably ever have the joy of experiencing this person is amazing and i agree a national treasure that is irreplaceable. Saturday, June 30, 2012
Today’s health-care decision: In Plain English : SCOTUSblog
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| SCOTUSblog 10:18 am - HCR Ruling (Photo credit: justgrimes) |
Thanks Greg.
Friday, June 29, 2012
The lecturer: yes, there are jobs out there for journalists | Crikey
Another reason why high school students need access to social media in Australia as illustrated this article by:
Jenna Price
Jenna Price
But what breaks my heart is the way in which young students, about to graduate, ask me if they will ever get work as journalists. My always truthful answer is — it depends.
Are you doing the best kind of journalism you can do? Can you break the odd story? Can you deliver it across all media? Can you curate Twitter feeds? Can you do a decent photo gallery? Do you know how to use Twitter and Facebook for research and promotion of your own work? Do you know how to bill? Alan and Arianna will not be the only ones to make their money from online.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Another person who needs saving from extradition
Richard O'Dwyer is a 24 year old British student at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK. He is facing extradition to the USA and up to ten years in prison, for creating a website – TVShack.net – which linked (similar to a search-engine) to places to watch TV and movies online.
http://www.change.org/petitions/ukhomeoffice-stop-the-extradition-of-richard-o-dwyer-to-the-usa-saverichard
- Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia founder
Monday, June 25, 2012
10 Reasons Why Twitter Is Great For Writers
Even writers think twitter is a helpful tool.
http://jasonarnopp.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/10-reasons-twitter-is-great-for-writers.html
THE SWIFT HANDSHAKE
- Jason Arnopp
- London, United Kingdom
http://jasonarnopp.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/10-reasons-twitter-is-great-for-writers.html
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Tree-roots Van Gogh
Just love this Van Gogh one of his lesser known works.
Tree-roots
Tree-roots
(July 1890 - 1890)
Vincent van Gogh
http://g.co/artproject/cay2 |
| Daubigny's Garden, July 1890, Auvers, Kunstmuseum Basel, one of Van Gogh's final works Pickvance (1986), 272–273 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The Saga continues
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| LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 22: A protester wearing a face mask displaying the American national flag next to a placard displaying an image of Julian Assange shows her support for Julian Assange outside the Ecuadorian embassy on June 22, 2012 in London, England. Julian Assange, the founder of the WikiLeaks whistle-blowing website, has sought refuge in Ecuador's London embassy to prevent him from being extradited to Sweden on allegations of rape and assault. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife) |
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| Julian Assange (Photo credit: acidpolly) |
Friday, June 22, 2012
GIF
You have to love the GIF Last week marked the 25-year anniversary of the Graphics Interchange Format, better known to Web surfers as the GIF.
AFL Sydney defeats Geelong June 22 2012
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| Old South Melbourne Football Club shield. The motto, "Aut vincere aut mori", is Latin for "either to conquer or to die". (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Go Swans.
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