25 Matching Annotations
  1. Aug 2022
    1. To be clear, I don’t see John’s progress as a reflection of my teaching. He discovered how to use speech-to-text tools to help him write. He showed up and worked hard every day in our virtual classroom. He took initiative and persevered— all skills I didn’t teach him.

      Useful reminder, connected to our goals and roles, as learning pros. Some of us celebrate when people empower themselves through learning. Yet, some people have issues with the fact that there hasn't been an intervention.

      My little quip:

      People learn despite teachers.

  2. Nov 2017
    1. mandate the use of "learning management systems."

      Therein lies the rub. Mandated systems are a radically different thing from “systems which are available for use”. This quote from the aforelinked IHE piece is quite telling:

      “I want somebody to fight!” Crouch said. “These things are not cheap -- 300 grand or something like that? ... I want people to want it! When you’re trying to buy something, you want them to work at it!”

      In the end, it’s about “procurement”, which is quite different from “adoption” which is itself quite different from “appropriation”.

    1. On this model, students are responsible for their own education, often forming communities or societies to collaborate. Professors typically worked one-on-one with students, but from time to time would be enlisted to offer a series - or 'course' - of lectures on a given topic. The lectures could be (and often were) public, and were frequently attended by other professors in the same field.

      Reminds me of @KevinCarey1 describe the original university of Bologna, in his End of College. Don’t have the quote handy (one of many cases where #OpenAccess would allow for more thoughtful discussion), but the gist of that paragraph sounds similar to what @Downes is describing here

    1. And I see no good reason why we should require the production of educators and students to be fair game for resellers who want to pluck it for free out of the commons and charge money for it to those not lucky enough to be a part of our community.

      To many a student, the notion that somebody else could profit from their “free labour” is particularly offputting. Including (or especially) those who prepare to become the heads of commercial entities.