Author: Stephen Downes

I was asked: But i have some questions about my research. First i need ten-year findings of connectionim learning theory, second (Read more…)

Responding to a story in Inside Higher Ed called Signs of Surrender in Public Higher Ed. John Warner uses as a metaphor the ‘surrender’ of the press, as follows: The rationale for Time’s move is that the magazine can now “explore new revenue opportunities,” which is code for the “native

Stephen Downes December 10, 2013  Access I’d like to begin with the issue of access. This is not where I usually begin a talk, because the main thing, I have to say, about issues of access is that’s, to be outside the scope of the areas that I work in.

This post is to introduce you to our Learning and Performance Support Systems program, a new $19 million 5-year initiative at the National Research Council that I will be leading. If I had to depict LPSS in a nutshell, I would describe it as a combination of the MOOC project

Again these talks are all in French so my note-taking may be inaccurate in places. Denis GilletEcole Polytechnique Federale de LausanneEnvironnements personnels d’apprentissage ou d’enseigments xMOOCs – the good    – democratozation of access to learning    – rethinking the way knowledge is transmitted – flip the classroom    – rethinking the role of

Summary notes from the conference in Lyons – most of it was in French (except the Tony Bates talk) so there may be some inaccuracies in my notes.  John DanielMOOCs: Comment Sortir du Labyrinthe? – MOOCs – created in Canada    – a revolution in higher education    – an evolution, not

This is my contribution to the WISE online debate – you can find other contributions here. The democratization of the MOOC cannot be underestimated We have reached the point in the history of MOOCs where the initial excitement is waning and people are beginning to ask questions about whether MOOCs

Interview with Patrick Flanagan, who was doing research for New Brunswick Community College (NBCC). Patrick Flanagan: OK, thanks very much. So the first thing on my list of questions I sent you is about MOOCs representing a shift in teaching and learning, is what we’re talking about here basically a

I was asked by Jane Wilde: Would you be willing to give us a brief response to any one of the following questions. I know each is potentially big, and we don’t want to impose. So maybe you could answer with the first thing that comes to mind.  What is

I was asked, I think that it would be of a great interest that you (as a world wide reference in education) can write a very brief review (between 200-300 words) about your vision regarding ePortfolios. (Graphic: Helen Barrett http://electronicportfolios.org/balance/index.html ) e-Portfolios have been around for a number of years

The following is a set of responses to interview questions I answered over the weekend. 1.      Chinese readers firstly know you and George Siemens by the theory “connectivism”. How did you start your cooperation initially? What is the background (or reason) you create this theory? Can you introduce the meaning

I was interviewed by Chris Parr for an article that appeared in the Times Higher Education supplement today (October 17). This is the full set of responses I sent for that interview. Typos on both sides are preserved for historical accuracy. On 30/09/2013 6:44 PM, Parr, Chris wrote: Great –

A New Strategy for Higher Education and TrainingShirley Alexander Some intro stuff about the buildings being built for the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS).   – leads to questions about designing learning for the future   – reference to the old ‘cranking ifo into students’ heads diagram – claims about the future:      

On 2013-10-12 9:02 AM, Matthias Melcher wrote: If we consider, on one hand, all the aggregated connectionpatterns that make up a simple concept or word in an individual,and OTOH, in a society or a community of practice, we considerthe small part of knowledge of that society that roughlycorresponds to one

Marc Clarà and Elena Barberà have advanced at least two articles now where they argue that there are three problems with connectivism. One of these is Learning online: massive open online courses (MOOCs), connectivism, and cultural psychology (Distance Education, 34:1, 129-136). The other, behind a paywall, is Three problems with

Questions 1.    Please introduce yourself to our readers. I am a researcher for Canada’s National Research Council, the federal government scientific agency. I specialized on online learning, media and collaborative technologies. Since 2001 at NRC I have worked on learning object standards and repositories, content recommender systems, collaborative content authoring

Response to David Wiley (his post) > Which initiatives that use “open” properly would you suggest the whole world read about instead of the Fauxpen Education Alliance? I don’t want to be a self-promoter, but… I have planned and run all my MOOCs openly since 2008. Moreover, they have all

“The notion of students as change agents is a relatively new concpt.”  — Malcom Ryan Rachel Winston How we can shape the development of a new culture of learning by creating a new partnership between students and educators.– political view of the prevailing culture 1. why NUS thinks is an

Making Optlists Preparing for the MOOC-REL course I filled in a full set of optlists. An ‘optlist’ is the information required to create a dropdown list. These lists create predefine options in the forms people use to create new posts, events, pages, etc. So, for example, a ‘post’ might have

This is from another site (more shortly) but I’d like to share he especially for people interested is messing around with gRSShopper but not being able to get it to work. The steps below are actual steps I followed today, warts and all, to set up a new instance of