First Year Disorientation: Retention and Community in Higher Education, Part 1
I grew up in Minnesota and went to college at the University of Oregon. In high school, I had an incredible group of friends. I was never the cool guy per se, but I felt appreciated, influential, and comfortable. My first year in Oregon was a social mess. I was lonely and often depressed. In […]
Web 2.0 to Take Down Blackboard
In the Chronicle this afternoon there was a choice quote: Weller says new Web tools (such as wikis and video-capture technology) put power in the hands of students, but traditional learning-management systems (such as Moodle and Blackboard) emphasize central control by the learning institutions, so he predicts that “monolithic LMSs will be deserted, digital tumbleweed […]
An Open Letter to Umair Haque, Applying for Revolutionary Status
Dear Umair, Your Open Challenge was intriguing. Your manifesto required action. We would like to apply for “revolutionary” status under your definition. If you have not yet found your five projects to advise, we humbly submit ours for consideration. We are a start-up determined to organize the world’s education. The data model of education needs […]
It Will Be Amazing, If People Use It . . .
I got a very straightforward question on Facebook today from a staff person at a very large school: About your software: do you have evidence that students will use it? How do you suggest schools get students to do that? (Just wondering if students would see this as one more “hoop” to jump through and […]
What’s the Responsibility of the Digital Consumer
Most of the conversations I’ve read about the importance of digital identities (here and here) put the responsibility on the producers of the information to be more aware of what they are posting online. Like teaching students about their digital identity so next time the student will pause to think about what they post online […]
Why Students and Faculty Sometimes Miss Each Other
The current crop of adults grew up in a world of physical identity where behavior was modulated according to where someone was. The audience was clear. One could swear in front of friends – Not at school. The current generation of students grew up in a world largely influenced by digital identity were the reality, […]
Please Stop Buying and Building Walled Gardens For Higher Ed
There was an article a few days ago in the Chronicle with the headline “Colleges Create Facebook-Style Social Networks to Reach Alumni.” The first paragraph claims “hundreds of college alumni associations have begun to offer their own online social networks . . ” To me, this seems like a very sad waste of time and […]
It’s Not a Technical Challenge, It’s an Education Challenge
Getting to an engagement increasing social and academic recommendation platform for college is not a technical challenge. That part is mostly sitting in the open. It’s an education challenge.
Teaching The Google Effect and Digital Identities
Have you ever Googled yourself? What did you find? What didn’t you find? This morning Will Richardson wrote about several conversations he’s had with principals and administrations regarding if and how they use Google when hiring new employees: “When you have some applicants lined up for a teaching vacancy, do you “Google” them? Seems a […]
Yah, What He Said
From The Chronicle this morning: Mark David Milliron, from Catalyze Learning International: OK, what happens at Amazon after you buy a book? People like you who bought this book also bought this, this, and this, right? They immediately give you that kind of a choice. They do data mining about the past, predictive modeling about […]