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. Although we're currently nowhere near this idea, how can businesses, educational institutions, and governments alike not consider the importance of giving individuals control over their digital archives? Or their learning analytics data?17
    2. 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. If we want Domain of One’s Own to flourish as a space for student agency than we need to balance structured guidance with playfulness and empowerment.
    2. how to balance supporting a system as complex as Domain of One’s Own without dictating how people use it
    3. realize that the web was not something that happened to them but they were happening to
    4. An overarching value we try to embrace when we talk about the domain choice is one of agency: participants should be able determine for themselves how they wish to be known and found on the Web.
    5. give a student an individually-controlled space for reflection and growth
    6. Oh, and some people also thought that perhaps it would benefit a student to have an online presence that they could create, develop, and take with them when they graduated from UMW.
    7. The other reason I worry about our dependence on WordPress is that we run the risk of recreating the very dynamic that Domain of One’s Own seeks to challenge
    1. At the very least, the tool should allow for robust formative assessment, and should be capable of giving timely, helpful feedback to learners.

      The “at the very least” part makes it sound as though this were the easy part.

    1. created by people working together on their own.
    2. 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.