Applied Abstractions

Harvard Magazine posted an article yesterday about recent discussions and reports about MOOCs and the university's participation in them. One thing that I noticed: REPORTING TO  the Faculty of Arts and Scie nces (FAS) at length for the first time since he was appointed  vice provost for advances in learning  last September, Peter K. Bol highlighted shifts in the landscape for the much-publicized massive open online courses (MOOCs). At the December 3 faculty m eeting, Bol noted that: People who register for free MOOCs, like those offered on edX, differ from conventional students, and are not using them like conventional courses.  Well yeah! I've mentioned before that MOOCs are not comparable to traditional college courses because the people enrolling in them have a variety of goals for the course. Traditionally, college courses are part of a whole curriculum whose aim is to educate students in certain relevant fields, and a specific discipline. These students are usuall

Learning Styles do not exist (or DNE for you mathematicians). There I said it. I know many of those in the education community and industry have presupposed this conjecture as the basis for many long careers. I understand that many of you at this moment are saying "But I know I'm an auditory learner." I get that it seems like a simple, logical explanation for why some methods work and others don't. But under even a little scrutiny, it doesn't work. The reason for this post: I recently went to a workshop that I thought was going to be about teaching techniques focused on using applications, but turned into "How to Teach with Learning Styles". For the first 45 minutes I squirmed in my chair as kinaesthetic, visual, and audible were bandied about and how a 5-minute survey would help students determine their preferred method of learning. There was a glimmer of hope when the facilitator said "Now even if a student has one of these learning styles, that

For this week a couple of articles, an announcement by Facebook, and an updated graphic of the LMS market. Open Source Winter 2014 - Facebook's partnership with a number of universities continues with thier Open Source course continuing into Winter 2014. The program offers a bridge between what software developers do with the academic subject of computer science. Increasing the relevance of academic disciplines is always a good thing, especially for Facebook who can scout out new talent before they're even on the market. Common Core State Standards: What do they have to do with Higher Education? - Faculty Focus has an overview of how the CCSS affects higher education, and while helpful if you have never heard of the CCSS, is painfully short and lacks details. How do these standards affect remediation? How can college systems better integrate these standards into their curriculum? What about all these anti-CCSS advocates, are they worth listening to? How do (or could) thes

In looking at some previous posts, it seems that this last November 12th was the 1-year anniversary of this blog! In this last year I've learned quite a bit about blogging, and made some changes: Got rid of tagged articles in my RSS feed creating full posts. Initially this was pretty helpful, but I found that it clogged things up. I still do this for jobs I find. Incorporated a semi-consistent Monday MOOC News feature. I've been trying to write this each week and have many, many  drafts of this feature that only have one or two links, that don't say much.  Failed at posting a weekly article about my teaching . I still like this idea, and may try it again Winter Term. Sharing the challenges of teaching as an Adjunct is important, not just for the therapeutic aspects, but also to explain to others what it is we do, and how higher education is changing. If you have any suggestions for the blog, articles, formats, or anything else, feel free to comment below. I am alway

Saw this ad and thought you all might be interested: Adjunct Positions - Traditional Program - Warner Pacific College - Portland, OR . I know as much as the ad says, and am not affiliated with the poster. Good luck! via Math Adjunct Jobs in Portland, OR | Indeed.com at November 06, 2013 at 12:33AM

Between teaching, freelance projects, and settling a new apartment I have been a bit lax in writing new posts. To recommit to this blog, here is the Monday MOOC News. Debt-Free Degrees - Former Acting Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary education at the U.S. DoE David Bergeron, and philanthropist Steven Klinksy, propose a new accreditation association called Modern States that would accredit specific courses and not whole degree programs. This would allow MOOCs to grant credit for specific courses, reduce student costs, allow the creation of competency-based education models, and other good things. I think this would work, but creating it in the current environment, with faculty concerns of corporatization of the university, federal scrutiny of for-profit institutions, etc., would be difficult. Not saying it shouldn't be tried, just unsure how successful it will be. MOOCs: Corporate Welfare for Credit - Salon has an insightful look into MOOCs, but creates a clunky argument

For this week a short list of links: This blog post by Jenny Gray gives a good perspective from the 'other' side of the looking glass. It is always helpful to remember that there are actual people on the other side of the screen, who may or may not have our proficiencies with technology. With MOOCs reaching an ever-widening audience, we should be mindful of how we use, and construct technology. Melissa Hunder has a good summary of a LinkedIn discussion about having a 'messy classroom'. I use this approach for in-class assignments, but can see these ideas of 'messy' or 'strategic ambiguity' applying to an appropriate MOOC. A few Chinese universities are signing up with edX to host their MOOCs. I'm curious how they'll structure their courses, and how/if they will be monitored by the Chinese government. I am not currently involved with any MOOCs, but I am teaching two developmental math courses at a small community college. Hopefully I

This week a few pieces of MOOC news. Wesleyan wants to change the world Wesleyan president, Micheal Roth, announced a new course offered through Coursera called How to Change the World . Its a six week course that covers a range of topics (the environment, poverty, gender, etc.) and has a recommended workload of 3-5 hours. Given the breadth of the topics and the amount of time that will be taken to go over them, I'm not expecting much world changing from the course. Mashable might think so, but then again they sponsored the event this course was announced at . Europe's MOOCs The Gray Lady did a piece on Europe's MOOCs. What most interests me about the European market is the dynamic between the course provider's country of origin's culture, language, and local-specific issues, and how they relate to the wider market. However this may just be an American's fascination of countries that are smaller than most US states. New UK MOOC provider, Future Learn S

Not much MOOC news since last week's post , but I thought I'd point you in a few different directions; some analysis articles, people I listen to about this subject, and some fun stuff. One blogger's analysis of another blogger's post, in another blog Jimmy Daly over at EdTech Focus on Higher Education wrote a post about the recent MOOC for credit brewhaha, and mentions Johnathan Tapson's article at pandodaily and his application of the Gartner Hype Cycle to MOOCs. Tapson makes a number of good points defending MOOCs (the completion rate boogeyman being one) and gives plausible predictions as to the future of MOOCs, and Daly takes the Gartner Hype Cycle a bit further by adding a more detailed graph. Give Tapson's article a read, and Daly's a once over. Stephen Downes Stephen Downes is a Canadian education researcher at the National Research Council of Canada. His blog discusses education news, MOOCs , education technology, and plenty of other good st

Saw this ad and thought you all might be interested: Instructional Designer - Social Studies (Downtown Seattle) . I know as much as the ad says, and am not affiliated with the poster. Good luck! via craigslist seattle | all jobs search "instructional design" at September 11, 2013 at 02:21PM

It looks like my favorite MOOC provider Coursera is making (some) money. From their blog : At Coursera, we want to help you get recognized for your achievements in online learning, whether it is earned in a degree program or in a single online course. For this reason, we launched  Signature Track  in January of this year, which gives students the opportunity to earn Verified Certificates in recognition of their hard work and successful completion of some of Coursera’s rigorous course offerings... 25,000 sign ups and $1 million in revenue, and in light of this, we’d like to share more about this program and the achievements of the students. For those that don't know, signature track does include a 'Verified Certificate' but also some premium services. These services are similar to those freemium services, or free-to-play games that give you special services after you pay a bit of money, individualized support, quicker response time from staff/faculty/TAs, etc. Initially

I've been planning to do a regular Monday MOOC News article for some time now, compiling my own experiences with MOOCs, and discussing some of the current news and trends. Yesterday I was busy with a few small projects, applying for teaching positions this fall, and there was a general lack of MOOC news. Today has been almost the complete opposite, so let's get into it. EdX and Google get in bed together. So it seems that EdX and Google are teaming up to launch MOOC.org sometime next year in the hopes of creating a platform for MOOCs. Individuals, businesses, educational institutions and others would be able to offer their own MOOCs through this platform, similar to having your videos hosted on YouTube . This seems confusing to me, doesn't Google have something like this in Course Builder ? What does EdX have that Course Builder doesn't? Well, users for one. Course Builder really hasn't had wide-adoption, and with their university partners, EdX's standing in

I'm starting a company to formalize my freelance work, and to grow the services I offer. You can read more about it here  Academic Designs . My service offerings would include the following types of projects; Developing the curriculum and courseware for a developmental mathematics program at a college or university. Refine course objectives of an existing course. Work with a school district or individual school to revamp their Grade 6-12 mathematics curriculum to align to the Common Core State Standards. Consult on the creation of online courseware that aligns to the Quality Matters rubric in an unofficial capacity. Moodle support, training, and workshops. There are also plans for a few products that align to the Grades 6-12 CCSS mathematics standards, and small Moodle plug-ins. I am looking to grow both my client base, and my contractor base. If you know of either, feel free to send them my information by copying and pasting the below: Academic Designs Lin

As you may or may not know, I have moved to Portland, Oregon from Brooklyn, New York. My fiance and I have moved back to Oregon for a number of reasons; closer to family and friends, while we enjoyed the New York lifestyle it didn't fit us long term, and we would like to start a family here. What this means for you is my posts should be more in-depth, more frequent, and the job leads may focus on institutions, companies, and start-ups based in the Pacific Northwest. With my job and project prospects looking a bit more distributed, I will have more time and more reasons to post here. If you live in Portland, or in the surrounding areas, feel free to contact me to discuss the education technology trends of the area. I'm looking forward to getting to know the Portland market, its needs, and how I can help.

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Hi all, I hope you have enjoyed my rantings, ravings, and job postings, but I will be taking a break from the blog for about a month. I am traveling and have a few projects in the works that need my attention. I'm hoping to be back late July/early August. If you'd like to get in touch with me, feel free to use the links on the right. Best, Robert

At the moment I am actively taking the following MOOCs: Coursera: Internet History, Technology, and Security - The course is very heavy with videos from the instructor, Dr. Charles Severance, containing interviews, lectures, and the occasional office hours. The quizzes are multiple choice, and are fairly easy once you watch the videos. There is a peer graded assignment that was just posted for extra credit. I was thinking of joining their Signature Track , but thought against it, since this isn't a core part of my career.  Udacity: How to Build a Startup - Fairly straightforward entrepreneur course (as 'straight' as it could possibly be) that seems to rely on products the instructor is familiar with, namely his own. While he says they're not necessary the two texts he recommends are The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company (his own), and Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers

Teaching online courses I've encountered many student issues dealing with technology. From using the right browser, to understanding the LMS. The most persistent problem though was not with specific programs or websites, but basic connectivity. A good number of my students were stealing wifi to take their online  course! Those that weren't either had basic internet, or were going to places where it was free. So I wasn't surprised when reading this article from Mercury News about high-school students taking online courses, that their biggest issue was students having internet access at home. From the article: It turned out some of the low-income teens didn't have computers and high-speed Internet connections at home that the online course required. Many needed personal attention to make it through. The final results aren't in yet, but the experiment exposed some challenges to the promise of a low-cost online education. And it showed there is still a divide betwe

I was contacted by a recruiter looking to fill a Manager of Online Instructional Course Development position in the New York area. You should have at least a familiarity with technology enough to know online communities and resources. Math content knowledge is the most important of the position. This position is a kind of project manager and lead to implement the program and build the online library. If you want more details, feel free to contact me at robert.weston.82@gmail.com .

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So I've been growing my LinkedIn profile recently to expand my contact list, and to look for freelancers. My home institution is gearing up for a few initiatives that will need instructional designers, writers, copyeditors, and support personnel. I thought if I were to grow my contact list now, we would have an easier time finding qualified people. In connecting to other people I noticed that a number of them used LinkedIn's Skill & Expertise section, and endorsed me for specific skills. These were people I just added as a connection who I didn't know before. I thought it was a bit strange, not knowing these people how would they know I'm qualified in anything? After some reflection it seems like Skills & Expertise is a ripe area for inflation, in a similar way that grades are. Greater competition forces greater 'numbers' (grades, number of recommendations) to be highly coveted. A quid pro quo of grades and instructor evaluations/skills & expert

Education Week has been doing some decent coverage of the CCSS and the recent backlash. Today they posted two articles about the CCS: What Do Math Educators Think About the Common Core? - Erik Robelen writes about math teacher's opinions of the CCSS, that he gathered at last week's annual meeting of the NCTM . The opinions are positive and look forward to challenging standards.  Poking Fun at the Common-Core Opposition - Benjamin Riley at New Schools Venture Fund writes a fake memo detailing the 'conspiracy' of the Common Core that has been found out by a "...band of truth seeking American patriots would see through our ruse and reveal our true intentions."

The Education Gadfly blog posted The emperor is mostly naked: Responding to Common Core critics , an insightful response to critics of the Common Core. I agree with most of their points, but this one caught me: Fabrication #3: The Common Core strips local school boards of their authority over curriculum Regardless of whether this is a fabrication or not, I've always been annoyed with the assumption that local control of education is the best way of organizing our primary education institutions. We have thousands of school districts doing the same things; creating lesson plans aligned to state standards, developing their own training materials, and training faculty. This system worked great when graduates would compete for jobs locally. Teachers and administrators would be trained in fairly constrained domains, and could develop curricula and materials that target those jobs. But we are no longer competing with the town down the highway. We are competing with Rio de Janeiro, Be

Saw a few jobs that look interesting: E-Learning Instructional Designer / Technical Writer  - Unsure of who it is for, but you would be working with engineers. Contact Biology Item Writer  - It says it requires a PhD in Biology, but if you have a Masters and experience writing Biology items, give it a go. Let them tell you 'no'. Macmillan is looking for a Freelance Media Producer .  Good luck!

The Cavalier Daily's article Rate my MOOC discusses the differences between the standard bearer of student angst RateMyProfessors , and the creation of MOOC review sites, Top Free Classes , Grade My Course , and CourseTalk . The article discusses the inherent biases of the review sites, given the properties of the students. Traditional undergraduates usually use RateMyProfessors when they feel strongly about a course, usually negative feelings. I have found that it is unlikely that a student who passed a course, and enjoyed it will take the time to write a review. The drive to assign blame is unfortunately greater than the drive to offer positive feedback. Students who use the MOOC review sites, the article claims, are those that strive through the course and complete it. For these students, the blame for not completing the course rests solely on them because there are no outside forces require them to take these courses. Undergraduates on the other hand have to take courses the

MarketWatch posted this article New Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Delivered by Blended Schools Network Using SoftChalk Platform  yesterday about a course offered by Blended Schools Network (BSN), through SoftChalk , using Google+ . Hear Mark Radcliffe from BSN discuss the course; While there is a lot of edu-tech babble and self-promotion in that video, he does have a point. Educators need to become more comfortable using technology. But, my question is, how will this course do that? From the press I don't get a sense of what the assessments and resources will be. It being a MOOC I may enroll as a lurker and pick and choose the parts I want to participate in. Reading the article I couldn't help but get a little cynical. This is a great visibility booster for BSN, SoftChalk (which is going up against both well-heeled LMS, and open source ones), and Google+ (which could use a boost). On the other hand, it may prove a useful experience. Time will tell.

Thought this looked like a good opportunity;  http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?FullSite=1&Job_DID=JHQ05P705FWFVY9CHX2  . Seems that Priestley Publishing , a small publisher in Vermont is looking for freelance math item writer.

Open Universities Australia has just released a new MOOC platform, Open2Study . The platform has courses from a number of colleges and universities; International College of Management, Macquarie University, Polytechnic West, and TAFE NSW - Sydney Institute. Their current course offerings are business and humanities focused, with 10 courses to start. The Conversation wrote an article about the new platform. This new platform may be a good outlet for Australia's over educated workforce , and grow distance education institutions. With  Moodle HQ  located in Perth, Western Australia, I may have to make a trip out there.

My home institution is in the middle of a Moodle conversion from 1.9 to 2.3. We use a Moodle-specific host who has a variety of plug-ins, and enhancements to core Moodle. They're great, but the conversion process for courses that use their products are cumbersome. If anyone has an easy way to move courses from Flexpages in Moodle 1.9, to a weekly format in Moodle 2.3, I'm all ears.

I just learned that a New York City based educational publisher is looking for a Supervising Editor, Math K-8 for their print products. Their texts are primarily test-prep focused, but they are looking to expand their offerings. Contact me for more info.

This last week I completed the Quality Matters Peer Reviewer Course , and successfully applied to become a Quality Matters Peer Reviewer. It has taken quite a bit of my time these last two weeks, and I'm a bit behind on LAK13 , and need to catch up. I enjoyed the Peer Reviewer Course, and gained a broader understanding of what QM reviews should focus on. The primary area I had difficulty with was providing balanced feedback without sounding repetitive or insincere. I consistently provided constructive feedback that used evidence from the course and the QM Rubric, but was a bit terse and may have turned off the course instructor. I'm generally good at providing positive feedback to students and faculty, but didn't include many positive statements or comment. I suppose I was focusing on the rubric and the course, and not the fact that there was a person behind the course. I do wish the course relied on individual files less. Almost every link in the course was a separate 

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In Learning Analytics and Knowledge 2013, the first assignment, Analytics: Logic and Structure  (link is live only if you are registered for the course), has the following description: For this assignment, develop an analytics model to gain insight into a complex topic using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Select a particular topic or subject area that interests you (current events, historical activities, a learning challenge) and detail how you will "interrogate" this subject using various analytics tools or techniques. Your project can be in the form of a presentation, a blog post, a video, a simulation, or other digital artifact. The important aspect of this assignment is to walk through the processes and considerations that pre-date tool selection. There are additional details, but this is the core charge of the assignment. I commented on the assignment in the forums : Our first assignment seems to allow for a wide variety of projects. This is  understanda

Introduction There is an effort within US public K-12 schools to analyze student performance, and use that analysis to improve schools. The most public and political aspect of this effort has been the use of this data to measure teacher effectiveness. A few school districts have released student and teacher information (Los Angeles, New York City, etc.), and have made them widely available. This data can be used to answer basic questions about student and teacher performance. Questions My main question; is this a good idea? Are student scores a good reflection of teacher effectiveness? There are a few other related questions I'd also like to explore: Are the analysis methods between school districts transferable?  Is the value-added model a 'good' one? Should parents use the teacher ratings/rankings to make decisions about where their child goes to school? Do these ratings/rankings say anything useful about college and work readiness, unemployment, crime, etc.?

Jay Cross at the Internet Time Blog has compiled 195 posts about MOOCs . Plenty by George Siemens, who is currently teaching CN-1370-LAK2013 Learning Analytics and Knowledge 2013   (which is pretty great so far), a few by Stephen Downes, but most seem to be a bit older. With MOOCs changing, seemingly, everyday , current articles are necessary.

Two events today reminded me about the necessity of meeting new people, and building connections. I've been focused over the last few months on courseware development, a LMS upgrade, Google Apps for Education integration, numerous MOOCs I've been taking, and the odds and ends of helping to run online courses. Growing my network has not been a very high priority. The first reminder was finishing Sonia Sotomayor's memoirs  My Beloved World . In it she details a rough upbringing, and charts her trajectory through Princeton, Yale Law, being an ADA, private practice, volunteer work, and ends with her entering a federal judgeship. She is very frank about growing up in the Bronx, and discusses difficult and emotional issues she lived through. She is equally frank about how her network of people helped her to get where she is today. After entering Princeton it seems that opportunities opened up to her because she naturally enjoyed meeting people. She discusses how when meeting so

Will Oreums' article Online Class on How To Teach Online Classes Goes Laughably Awry on Slate is a bit too snarky for its own good. It does sum up the recent press about the course fairly well, but he does get a few things wrong; In other words, Morrison concludes, "The honeymoon with MOOCs is over." A Twitter hashtag for the course,  #foemooc , stands as a testament to the wreckage. Most of the tweets on #foemooc are a testament to the amount or reporting about the issue, not the MOOC itself. Right after the course was canceled, there were around 30-40 tweets from students about the course. As of the writing of this, most tweets are either news organizations riding the story or Instructional Designers proclaiming the necessity of 'intelligent' (in their view) design for courses of all sizes. The failure of a Coursera course about Coursera courses is clearly an embarrassment for company and concept alike.  The course wasn't about Coursera courses spec

So this is an interesting development, just received this email; Dear Robert Weston, We want all students to have the highest quality learning experience. For this reason, we are temporarily suspending the "Fundamentals of Online Education: Planning and Application" course in order to make improvements. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause. We will inform you when the course will be reoffered. Yours,  Fatimah This being the first week, there were a few issues that seemed solvable. Group assignments disappearing in a shared Google Spreadsheet, discussion forums not allowing you to refine your search by sub topics, and student complaints about 'chaos' were surmountable. The one area that remained consistent, but questionable, was the content. The 'brain based learning' paper I mentioned in my last post was suspect.

The Coursera course Fundamentals of Online Education: Planning and Application (FOEPA) started on Monday with a number of issues; We were instructed to create groups of 20 students using a Google Spreadsheet. Seems simple enough, but with a few thousand people trying to edit a single document at a time, it quickly became a morass. Rows were copied, people were deleted from groups, and the site used their mobile theme because of the load. I never realized how limited Coursera's discussion forums are. I can't search by discussion forum, see a person's posts (namely mine) on one page, and change the default viewing method.  Having the default to a discussion forum be that you subscribe to it, with no options for digest emails, has blown up my inbox. Sure its a pretty simple thing to change, but its annoying. For the first assignment we were asked to respond to a few readings. Below is one of my responses. The article Online Teaching and Classroom Change: The Trans

Today is the last day of the first week of the Data Analysis course offered by Coursera, taught by Jeff Leek. In going through the videos I'm a bit surprised by Jeff's reference of Wikipedia as an additional resource for students. I always get the feeling that academics are always suspicious of Wikipedia, and that its a dark secret that all people, including themselves, actually use the site. As soon as he mentions Wikipedia, I had kind of a 'Well duh!' moment. Why wouldn't you use such a huge database of semi-reliable information? Naturally he has a caveat emptor moment in one of his videos, but most people taking the course (I would imagine) have grown up with the site, or at least know its quirks. I am also enrolled in Fundamentals of Online Education: Planning and Application offered by Coursera, taught by Dr. Fatimah Wirth, which starts tomorrow (1/28). Her experience at NASA, and doctorate thesis are particularly impressive. She uses the ADDIE method of ins

In order to develop a rich community of courseware developers, there needs to be a variety of people, companies, and organizations whose aims, costs, and product offerings are different. On this front, over at the Higher Ed Management blog , Dr. Keith Hampson (who is 'publisher' of the site? Is he bounding blog entries and publishing them? Is this a boomer thing?) has an interview with Dr. John Boersma , CEO for Adapt Courseware . In the interview he discusses the company's courseware development process. Two things caught my eye, the first;  We start by fine-graining course content – defining 200 or more learning topics for a typical three-credit course, each with its own set of learning objectives. This is a time intensive process which, on face value, should increase the level of tracking student performance, and would allow for a wider amount of feedback. I've had similar thoughts of doing this for the CCSS for Mathematics , breaking down each standard into sma

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I've signed up for the webinar Data-Driven Curriculum Mapping - Closing the Loop on Accountability , on January 9th, by Dr. Jane Souza. Granted its through ExamSoft, and I'm sure there will be some product pushing, but the description sounded interesting; Dr. Jane Souza, Associate Dean of Assessment from St. John Fisher College, explores curriculum mapping as an essential aspect of the educational process as institutions face increasing accountability. The presentation will discuss how the process implemented by St. John Fisher College has engaged faculty and provided valuable evidence to improve curriculum mapping, foster research of scholarship and teaching, offer real-time personal feedback to students, and provide direct evidence of learning that can be used for institutional reporting. I'm mainly curious about the 'real-time personal feedback to students' portion, and how its setup. I find it challenging to develop courses with real-time constructive