Stephen Downes Reflects Open Education Projects and Potential

Via Stephen Downes
Stephen Downes talk at the Educational Computing Organization of Ontario, Richmond Hill, Ontario:

Open Education: Projects and Potential

View more documents from Stephen Downes.

“The internet offers society the opportunity to provide access to a free or affordable education for all. This concept is known as ‘open education‘ and is the subject of various projects, such as ‘Open Education Resources’ (OER) or the Open Courseware Project (OCW). This talk looks at the principle of open education, major projects, and reflects the role played by educational technology, and outlines some of the challenges.”

The best thing now, is to stop writing, explore the slides, click play (audio), listen, learn, reflect, unlearn, reflect again….Enjoy 🙂

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Free Worldwide K12 Online Conference! Awesome!

Via Wesley Fryer

K12 Online Conference – Nov 18

“Free worldwide online conference for educators centered on 21st century learning!”

The K-12 Online Conference invites participation from educators around the world interested in innovative ways Web 2.0 tools and technologies can be used to improve learning. This FREE conference is run by volunteers and open to everyone.

When you have time, please explore their K-12 Online Conference blog, K12Online Twitter feed, Facebook page, and K-12 Online Conference Ning. Or why not swoosh-learn more about the 2009 conference presenters. They even have viral “teaser trailers”, where you can get short (30 – 60 second) glimpses about their upcoming sessions! Here we go:

• “Around the World with Skype – Alrededor del Mundo con Skype”
  Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano (presented in both an English and a Spanish version)
• “You Might Be a 21st Century Leader if…”
  David Wells
• “Ways of Working”
  Chris Betcher
• “The Virtual Heroic Journey”
  Kevin Hodgson
• “If You Host It, They Will Come”
  Jen Wagner

Do you really want to bridge the divide?

Enrich and empower everyone with web-enabled mobile learning devices, and embrace web 2.0 tools to create, share, communicate, collaborate, and inspire learning to every corner of the world.

It is seriously that ______! 🙂

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3 Interesting Malaysian Learning Initiatives in a Swoosh!

CerdikNet

CerdikNet is the result of an effort made by teachers in Kuala Lumpur to assist primary and secondary students to explore their subjects through interactive and engaging online learning activities (e.g. English activities). Also, you can try out the online learning activities without needing to login. Thumbs up for that!

EDUWEBTV

Alright, if you can’t speak or understand Malay, this site might be… but wait! Here, you will find more than 1400 short videos that give you a glimpse into the wonders of Malaysia and education, and of course free tuition to many subjects. Although, you might not understand the Malay language well, I am certain you will learn a lot by simply watching some of the videos here. If you are a Malaysian reading this (post), then just forget or ignore what I just wrote. In short, a great site to get some insight (at least visual!) into the Malaysian education system. Yes, we have a lot of bright and happy kids here, like anywhere else in the world.

iBoxX IPTV

Yes, now you can even get tutors at your command in your home TV. Alright, this one is not free. And I usually do not promote anything that cost anything in any of my blogs. So, the reason I am bringing it up here, is that Malaysia (and Singapore of course!) are kind of fanatic about after-school tuition, and believe it or not, it is a RM 5 Billion Ringgit (approx. 1.5 Billion US Dollars!) market here (in Malaysia).

So, no wonder some innovative dudes are trying to capitalize it using digital media, too. However, it would be wonderful if every single primary and secondary student in Malaysia got equal, fair and open access to quality online tuition for free, breaking down the barriers that favors too much the rich, or people that can afford it.

I HAVE A DREAM

Better yet, I have a dream! Let’s improve our schools, our curriculum, our assessment approaches, and totally do away with any form of tuition beyond the taxing school hours. Yes, let’s move away from memorizing everything from ants to pants, and empower our students with more time to think, discuss, and reflect together about whatever they are learning. Finally, let them play (games) more, so that they can nurture their competitive and creative abilities, without the exam-oriented roller-coaster stress ride.

Do you know what (no!), I never paid for any tuition, or went for any extra tuition (as much as I can remember) throughout my whole life, and to be honest I didn’t turn out that bad after all (until now!). I had my primary and secondary school in Norway, so that probably explains a bit.

Yep, I got lousy memory, too! But, I do think and reflect a lot 🙂

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UK’s Higher Education Blueprint to Become a World Class University

Via Stephen Downes

The Future of Universities in a Knowledge Economy

The higher education blueprint (click above) by Higher Ambitions, sets out a course for how universities can remain world class, providing the nation (United Kingdom) with the high level skills needed to remain competitive, while continuing to attract the brightest students and researchers.

Click here to read a nice reflective summary by Derek Morrison. Unless you want to read the full report, start with the Executive Summary (1.7MB). Interestingly, the executive summary weighs literally more than the Full Report (1.1MB)! Now, that is unusual (and innovative). Though, according to page count, the Full Report (120 pages) knocks out the Executive Summary (20 pages) big time. Difficult dilemma! Your call! Be serious…!

Just read, learn, reflect, and swoosh out the gems from the report! Although, it is tailored to beefing up the higher education world in UK, I am 99.995% certain we can all learn something very valuable from it… Reading now 🙂

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iRadio – OUM’s Official Internet Radio Station

iRadio – OUM

Open University Malaysia’s (OUM) official internet radio station, iRadio OUM broadcasts segments based on OUM’s courses, blending entertainment and education at your fingertips! Interestingly, it is Malaysia’s first Internet radio station to base its programmes on modules offered by a university.

Although, I have known about OUM’s iRadio initiative for some time, it was first today I really explored it. Earlier today, we (IMU group) had actually visited OUM for some other matters, and during the process we got to learn more about iRadio behind the scenes. I was quite impressed with the energy and passion sparked into this initiative.

You can actually download some of their course module books in MP3 format (audio books!) for free (they are using text-to-speech tools to convert them). If you miss the daily live learning sessions, you can listen or download later from their iCast archive, conveniently organized according to faculty, schools and special segments.

Also, the iRadio team is using web 2.0 tools such as iTunes, Twitter and Facebook to simplify the access, spread the news, and communicate more effectively with their audience. Since launch (2007), they have had online visitors from more than a 100 countries.

Finally, I did manage to listen to some of their iCasts, and it was quite interesting. However, I would strongly recommend that they cut out the background music while people talk, especially when special guests are being interviewed. I was getting quite dizzy and distracted listening to cool music, while trying to grasp what the old Professor was trying to say.

I suppose I am getting too old to multitask my ears while learning. But, overall OUM’s iRadio initiative is a wonderful knowledge and learning sharing model that we should encourage more Universities in Malaysia to explore 🙂

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To Get an MBA or Not? Guy Kawasaki’s Law!

Watch it on Academic Earth

Guy Kawasaki shares his thoughts on whether or not to get an MBA. The problem with an MBA he says is that you believe you are being taught how to manage, and he generally thinks it is impossible to learn how to manage in school. The only way to learn how to manage, according to him, is to do it in the real-world.

Guy Kawasaki discusses briefly ‘Kawasaki’s Law‘ (of PreMoney Valuation) here: Entrepreneurs: Then and Now

Click here for more ‘in-your-face sense making’ lectures from Guy the man! I love his in-your-face honesty and passion.

So, do we need MBA graduates? It depends! Just remember Kawasaki’s law before hiring one 🙂

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Mobile Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training

“…if you don’t have time to read the whole book, be sure to see John Traxler’s Current State of Mobile Learning (PDF), which outlines major categories of mobile learning, discussion of a definition of mobile learning, the case for mobile learning, and attributes of an evaluation of mobile learning.” – Stephen Downes

Please read this free e-book (including myself! Only 281 pages! No big deal!):

Mobile Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training

“This collection is for anyone interested in the use of mobile technology for various distance learning applications. Readers will discover how to design learning materials for delivery on mobile technology and become familiar with the best practices of other educators, trainers, and researchers in the field, as well as the most recent initiatives in mobile learning research. Businesses and governments can learn how to deliver timely information to staff using mobile devices. Professors can use this book as a textbook for courses on distance education, mobile learning, and educational technology.”

Today, I actually spend more time learning and surfing the net using my mobile device (or hand-phone) than my notebook (Don’t use PC anymore!), when I am not officially working. What are you trying to say?

Let’s just download the e-book, and then read, reflect, and figure out how we are going to implement Mobile learning (wherever we are!) to facilitate a more enriching and effective online learning environment.

Whether we like it or not, most students will be using their mobile devices to surf and learn in the near future, and surely they will ask…

Why can’t I access my _____ on my mobile device!
They’re so backward and lost!

Time to change? I mean wake-up 🙂

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100 Best Professors Who Blog

Via Jane Hart

Are you looking for great Professors who blog?

100 Best Professors Who Blog

Whether they’re about science or political science, you’ll find something interesting on each of the blogs found in this juicy collection. Excuse me, I need to find another Professor to spam, I mean bug, I mean… 🙂

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The Global Text Project

The Global Text Project

Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world
– Nelson Mandela

The Global Text Project will create open content electronic textbooks that will be freely available from a website. Distribution will also be possible via paper, CD, or DVD. Their goal initially is to focus on content development and Web distribution, and they will work with relevant authorities to facilitate dissemination by other means when bandwidth is unavailable or inadequate. The goal is to make textbooks available to the many who cannot afford them.

All books will be released under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. This license allows for the ready distribution of texts in a variety of formats.

Now, this is a project I like 🙂

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Academia 2.0 – Be Relevant-Engaging-Fun!

Via Zoraini Wati Abas

You got 90 seconds to get your students’ attention before these young beasts fall asleep! What are you going to do? Think about it!

Just be relevant (at least to them!), engaging and fun, and you will get your students’ attention for as long as you need. Why am I learning this crap? If you can answer them this question convincingly, your chances of success is pretty… 🙂

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