I was planning to write a descriptive post about the new UNC Learning Technology Commons, but there is already some excellent coverage. UNC’s Matthew Rascoff wrote a blog post on Medium that captures the basics quite well: A compelling recent report from EDUCAUSE proposes that the “Next Generation Digital Learning Environment” will be based on a “‘Lego’ approach,” […]
Jim Groom
Cracks In The Foundation Of Disruptive Innovation
The overuse of Clayton Christensen’s disruptive innovation theory has rightly been criticized in education circles for years. I say rightly in that judging a non-commodity public good with the same theory as disk drives is a silly notion without some extensive analysis to back up that extrapolation. As Audrey Watters wrote in 2013: Rather, my assigning […]
The EDUCAUSE NGDLE and an API of One’s Own
I have been meaning for some time to get around to blogging about the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative’s (ELI’s) paper on a Next-Generation Digital Learning Environment (NGDLE) and Tony Bates’ thoughtful response to it. The core concepts behind the NGDLE are that a next-generation digital learning environment should have the following characteristics: Interoperability and Integration Personalization […]
Wanted – A Theory of Change
Phil and I went to the ELI conference this week. It was my first time attending, which is odd given that it is one of the best conferences that I’ve attended in quite a while. How did I not know this? We went, in part, to do a session on our upcoming e-Literate TV series, […]
Dammit, the LMS
Count De Monet: I have come on the most urgent of business. It is said that the people are revolting! King Louis: You said it; they stink on ice. – History of the World, Part I Jonathan Rees discovered a post I wrote about the LMS in 2006 and, in doing so, discovered that I […]
Changing the Narrative
As Phil mentioned, he and I were both lucky to attend the MOOC Research Initiative conference, which was a real tour de force. Jim Groom observed that even the famously curmudgeonly Stephen Downes appeared to be enjoying himself, and I would make a similar observation about the famously curmudgeonly Jonathan Rees. If both of those guys can […]
Educational Technology and the Sources of Innovation
Based on Jon Udell’s excellent post, I spent the weekend getting reacquainted with work of Eric von Hippel, the researcher who pioneered the study of user-driven innovation. What’s interesting about von Hippel is that his research hits on the common themes of the open education movement, but does so in a slightly different key. Briefly, there are […]