OLDaily Text Edition ~ Nov 23, 2016

Stephen's Web ~ Link
OLDaily - Text Edition by Stephen Downes Nov 23, 2016
Patience, persistence, and a willingness to grow
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
There's this common belief among innovators and thought
leaders that if other people do the same thing they did,
they can achieve the same results. That's true to some
extent - if you read and write newsletters for fifteen
years like I did, you'll attain a similar base of
knowledge. But in other important ways it's not. Here's
George Couros: "like every other person who starts on
Twitter, I had had a network with the same amount of people
that everyone else starts with; zero.  A network takes
time, persistence, and effort, to develop." This is true,
but another principle of networks is that if you put in the
same effort Couros did ten years ago, you will not get the
same result. You will get a much smaller result. Networks
favour the first mover
http://barabasi.com/f/621.pdf. You would have to go
back in time to do the same thing Couros did. The only way
around this is to find something that's just starting now,
and run with it for a decade. What if it's the wrong thing?
Well, tough luck. The best you can do is to cast your net
really wide and work a lot harder than Couros did.
Comment: Link
Direct Link: Link
Free Arabic-language online courses thrive in popularity
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
Some nice news about MOOCs working as intended. "The
platform reports that it has more than 900,000 registered
users with figures growing by 1,000 a day and reaches
people in 22 countries in the Middle East and north Africa.
The majority of students come from Egypt, Jordan, Algeria,
Saudi Arabia and Morocco." I've seen the platform
Linkcalled Raaq, Edraaq, Raak, and
Rawaq.
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
Investigating the Key Attributes to Enhance Students’
Learning Experience in 21st Century Class Environment
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
I'll skip past the details of the survey of 300 Malaysian
students (at least they're not from a small midwestern
university) and get to the factors identified by the
authors (all quoted, but paraphrased):
group learning can be stimulated by emphasizing work,
relationship, positive attitudes, active participation,
improved leadership, and collaborative learning.
motivation can be stimulated by emphasizing effort and
feeling satisfied though learning
skills development can be stimulated by emphasizing the use
of web resources, enhanced online communication, and
meaningful presentation
knowledge transfer can be stimulated by project management
and readiness for future developments
This all feels a bit made-up, honestly, because these
attributes and factors read more like platitudes than real
findings. You can read the web version (in Flash - ugh)
here Link
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
How to Conduct a Learning Audit
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
Good article on a topic we don't discuss a lot. The idea of
a learning audit is to determine the current state of
affairs of learning in a company or institution, such as
McDonalds (the case used in this article). There's no
secret to conducting a learning audit, but there are
choices to make - for example, whether to conduct it
internally or hire an outside consultant. You look at
people's attitudes ("What are people thinking? Are they
thinking that the training’s accessible? That
it’s easy to find? Do they like the content? Are they
using the content?") an you look at the job profiles. And
you have to assess the learning itself. "You forget to do
things like encouraging learners to reflect, to think about
how it’s relevant, to give them decision-making
practice, to give them repetitions in learning.”
Comment: Link
Direct Link: Link
Archive Link
Discuss Link
Search Link
About Link
Options Link
This newsletter is sent only at the request
of subscribers. If you would like to unsubscribe:
Link
Know a friend who might enjoy this newsletter? Feel
free to forward OLDaily to your colleagues.
If you received this issue from a friend and
would like a free subscription of your own,
you can join our mailing list.
Link
Copyright 2016 Stephen Downes
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License
Link