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Category Archives: Uncategorized

Stanford Learning Analytics Summer Institute

Thursday, December 6, 2012

MOOCs have been rather selfish, absorbing all of the attention in the edtech space in 2012. It has been all MOOC all the time. In the background, many initiatives have continued to advance including entrepreneurship in education, participatory pedagogies, the maker movement, and learning analytics. Through SoLAR, we have been active in setting up a [...]

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EdTech Innovation Conference, May 1-3, 2013

Monday, November 5, 2012

I’m rather excited to announce the EdTech Innovation conference in Calgary, Alberta, May 1-3, 2013. The conference has a Canadian focus, but we welcome international attendees who are interested in EdTech innovation: EdTech Innovation is a national conference, hosted by Athabasca University in Calgary, May 1 -3, 2013, bringing together startups, researchers, and technology purchasers [...]

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Sometimes, you suck Canada

Thursday, November 1, 2012

I was 8 years old when I officially became a Canadian citizen. For our family, moving from Mexico, Canada was a land of opportunity. Literally. It was an opportunity for a quality of life that was not accessible to us in Mexico. My parents, as with most immigrants, were hard working. I remember my dad [...]

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Innovation in Education: Companies outside of USA?

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Innovation in education is getting attention globally. Entrepreneurship may well be the force that finally brings structural change to higher education after 800 years. The epicentre of edtech innovation is the USA. At least, that’s the impression I get from the blogs and news sites that I follow. In particular, Audrey Watters is an excellent [...]

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Call for Papers, Journal of Online Learning and Teaching

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Valerie Irvine, Jillianne Code, and I are editing a special issue of Merlot’s Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (.pdf). The journal theme: massive open online courses (MOOCs). Extended abstracts of ~500 words are due Nov 15, 2012. Full papers due January 31, 2013. Please consider submitting if you’ve taken a MOOC, taught one, or [...]

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Future of Higher Education

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

On Monday, Oct 8, we kick of the Current State/Future of Higher Education open online course. This course will run for six weeks, covering these topics. We’re using Desire2Learn as a platform, in addition to the gRSSHopper software (developed by Stephen Downes and used in our open courses since 2008). If you want to join, [...]

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Writing a book: xEducation

Monday, September 17, 2012

Bonnie Stewart, Dave Cormier, and I have signed on to write a book on MOOCs and other such trends in education. The book will be published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2013. Unfortunately, and I recognize the irony, the book will not be open. So we’ve set up a blog as field notes for [...]

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The challenge of coherence

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Slides from recent presentation: The Challenge of Coherence from gsiemens

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Designing and running a MOOC (in 9 easy steps)

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Designing and Running a MOOC from gsiemens

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Never teach alone

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Teaching is a solitary profession. Obviously students are involved and social processes are needed for discussion on important topics, but the *act* of teaching is solitary. Part of my interest in open online courses is the prospect of the internet thinning classroom walls and reducing barriers to teaching and learning opportunities. Educators need to get [...]

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