Author: Stephen Downes

This is an unedited transcript created by the Google Sound Recording on the Pixel 4 (the main reason I bought this phone in fact) of the webinar I gave July 30, 2020.. Thank you very much Sarah and I’m still waiting for that invitation to speak in Antarctica. Any time

If you expect change, what do you think the “new normal” will be for the average person in 2025? What will have changed most? What will not change much at all? Despite the economic turmoil that resulted from the pandemic, the net result will be an increased recognition of the

PDF versions of the Full Paper and References. Presented at EDEN 2020 – Presentation page. Abstract The growth and development of learning analytics has placed a range of new capacities into the hands of educational institutions. At the same time, this increased capacity has raised a range of ethical issues.

Someone asked me by email, do you have any advice on how to come up with blog post ideas? I recently launched an informational website, so far I have around 40 articles and I’m already finding it difficult to come up with ideas that aren’t just a regurgitation of something

“We have no wish to denigrate or criticize online distance education,” write the authors of Pandemic politics, pedagogies and practice, “but rather, the aim of this brief editorial is twofold: First, we want to raise a series of critical cautions, based on previous papers and special issues published in the

Note: I received a request for responses to some questions in my email. The questions were quite involved and it would take me quite a while to type answers. But also, in relation to a work-related question, I had been looking at AI-based transcription. And also, my new Audio-Technica microphone

Responding to an enquiry about assessment. – what about the practical work that must be done in the laboratory? It depends on the laboratory, but mostly, students will not be able to reproduce the laboratory at home. During our current crisis, both practice and assessment in the laboratory will have

Alex Usher points out quite correctly that universities will need to be online by the fall. We’re not likely to be out of the Covid woods by then, and in-person classes will likely be limited and few. So he proposes this:for each of the (say) 100 courses with the highest

I have a lot of sympathy for those working in educational technology positions at schools and universities today because they have been thrust into the unenviable position of converting a recalcitrant faculty of teachers and professors into overnight online instructors. Such a conversion would never have happened without an external

Martin Weller has released his book 25 Years of Ed Tech today. It’s a nice read; you are encouraged to check it out. But I have to confess, on having looked at the table of contents, I thought that it captured my career pretty well. Of course, that was not

This is part two of a series. If you haven’t read part one, you should do so now. Click here to read part one. OK them welcome back. Let’s begin by reviewing what we’ve done in part one, because it’s not obvious. First, we created a repository on GitHub. We

This is a really interesting project that allows you to write posts in markdown, MS Word or Jupyter notebooks and publish them in a blog using GitHub pages. No website needed! But the instructions are far from clear, so here’s a step-by-step version. Login to GitHub. If you don’t have

With even the World Economic Forum embracing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) I thought it would be an appropriate time to check my own activity and see whether I’m supporting the goals in what I do. It’s also a good time to review just what they are and

Learning with technology is different from learning with textbooks or learning with classroom instruction. In these, the focus is on understanding and remembering. It is content based. The learning objective is defined as mastery of this body of knowledge. Learning with technology, by contrast, is outcome based. It is defined

https://adaptivelearninginelt.wordpress.com/2020/02/10/more-research-needed/I am broadly sympathetic with the arguments offered by Philip J. Kerr in this recent post, but I have disagreements around the edges, enough that I think more discussion is warranted. Also, while Kerr is more focused on artificial intelligence in education (AIEd) research, I will address my remarks to

I just want to take a few moments to consider Bryan Alexander’s comments about flying to conferences. As most readers know, I have flown to hundreds of academic conferences over the years. So I guess I would be considered a prime offender in this regard. Except – I don’t see

This is the analysis of the UNESCO OER resolution I provided to the Canadian Commission for UNESCO prior to the discussion and vote on the resolution concerning Open Educational Resources It is now a matter of historical record that the resolution did pass. Here is the final resolution. Here’s an

Summary of a talk by Baltasar Fernandex Manjon at CELDA 2019 ie.ft.com/uber-game Serious games –         Have been used successfully in many domains – medicine, military –         But low adoption in mainstream education –         So we say we’re working in ‘game-like simulation’ http://getbadnews.com –         Fake news, trolls, e-influencers http://play. (Read more…).com

Summary of a talk by Ekwow Spio-Garbrah at eLearning Africa. The challenge for everyone is to find out how gto give back before moving to the next level of existence. Mentorship is one very important way to do so. Also to pick up on what Jef said about talent and

Summary of a talk by Linda Nanan Vallee at eLearning Africa. I felt close to something Jef said earlier, about the mission we have on Earth. So I just wanted to share some very personal things, because I fel like we are a family. When I was young I wanted