Is it time to re-think transition into a digital and networking knowledge based society

A report from the Work Foundation in the UK concluded that young people not in employment, education or training lacked not only formal qualifications, but the 'soft skills' needed in today's economy such as communication. Literacy skills for the twenty-first century are skills that enable participation in the new communities emerging within a networked society. Skills that enable students to exploit new simulation tools, information appliances and social networks; skills that facilitate the exchange of information between diverse communities and the ability to move easily across different media platforms and social networks (Jenkins et al, 2006, p. 55). The transition into a digital and networking knowledge based society is set to continue, and requires new skills sets. Meanwhile, traditional and digital technologies are converging and becoming more integrated; and changing how we find, use, present and understand information. All of these will require new literacies not only for work but for living a fulfilled life, coping with the new complexities of our societies, and engaging as a citizen. Learning traditions of the past will not adequately equip students for the unimagined literacies of the future. Thus, edcuational settings and paradigms has to be changed and there are urgent needs for innovative, creative trasitions for learning and to acknowledging the social context for change and thinking outside traditional boxes.

 By freeflyer09

  

Sheila Moorcroft argued in her blog 19/06/2012 on What Does It Mean To Be Literate In The 21st Century? that transliteracy has been coined to highlight the need to be able to 'read and understand' concepts and ideas across a growing range of formats and platforms - oral, print, visual, digital - as technologies merge and integrate, enabling radically new approaches to presentation, verification and distortion of content. They focus ever more on critical thinking, the ability to question, analyse, challenge; seeing arguments from different perspectives; articulating ideas. She finished her blog post with: The question will be what skills, taught where, when, how and by whom? Soft skills and the new literacies will need to be part of the process.

Leu et al (2004) point out that changes in how literacy is defined and taught must be considered within today’s social context. They identify three forces at work to change the nature of literacy:

• global economic competition within economies based increasingly on the effective use of information and communication
  

•  the rapid emergence of the Internet as a powerful new technology for information and communication

• public policy initiatives by governments around the world to ensure higher levels of literacy achievement including the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) (p.1575).

In order to maximise the teaching and learning potential of technology, it is often argued that students need to learn:

• how to be critical and informed users of technology
• to locate, evaluate and synthesise information
• to interact safely and responsibly online
• to make informed choices when creating texts, considering how purpose audience, contexts and    choice of medium influence texts.

This is exactly what IPTS and JRC (Redecker,  Leis,  Leendertse, Punie,  Gijsbers, Kirschner,  Stoyanov and Hoogveld, 2010) are addressing in The Future of Learning Preparing for Change. They argue for the overall vision for learning in the 21st century is personalisation, collaboration and informalisation. They also semphazise inclusion, participation and engagement both in educational and employment settings and contexts.

  

From: newequitypartners.org

A social revolution is underway and on nearly every ones confession, as homes and workplaces embrace the use of digital technology as a normal part of everyday life, but... 

...what are we doing with this knowledge? and how are we working towards this transition and paradigm shift especially in education, all from K-12 to Universty education and research and LLL?

Will MOOC’s Forever Change Higher Education?

An interesting movement seems to be on its way. The OER (Open Educational Resources) and OEP/OEC (Open Educational Pracitce and Culure) development, the launch of MOOC and open badges seems to be driving forces. Now it is happening in Universities as well. Joe DiDonato wrote yesterday on July 18, 2012, under the heading Will MOOC’s Forever Change Higher Education? that Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs, are expected to draw millions of students and adult learners from around the world. Will we now see with MOOC that Universities are Reshaping Education on the Web. What is  a MOOC then?

 
As part of a seismic shift in online learning MOOC is reshaping higher education, Coursera, a year-old company founded by two Stanford University computer scientists,  announce that a dozen major research universities are joining the venture. In the fall, Coursera will offer 100 or more free massive open online courses, or MOOCs, that are expected to draw millions of students and adult learners globally.  

Ramin Rahimian for The New York Times

Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng of Stanford are adding 12 universities to Coursera, the online education venture they founded.

So far, MOOCs have offered no credit, just a “statement of accomplishment” and a grade. But the University of Washington said it planned to offer credit for its Coursera offerings this fall, and other online ventures are also moving in that direction.  To earn credit, students would probably have to pay a fee, do extra assignments and work with an instructor. Finally maybe the Open Badge movement by Mozilla will become a reality

cityofbelvedere.org

OCL4Ed12-06

I have recently, 20 June – 3 July 2012, attended the workshop  OCL4Ed12-06

 

The free online workshop on open education resources (OER), copyright and Creative Commons licensing was a really fantastic intitiative with  fantastic resourses from all over the world. The workshop aimed to set a new world record -- collaborating on the world's largest capacity building initiative on open content licensing in the formal education sector.

The workshop and resources was sponsored by the OER Foundation, COL Chair in OER at Otago Polytechnic and UNESCO-COL Chair at Athabasca University)

There were participants from all over the world, over 500 participants from some 80 countries. What a learning resourse and environment! ...and direct feedback on forums from peers and from experts throughout the globe.

Knowledge is a public good. By using OER  a return to the core values of education, namely to share knowledge freely can become true. The workshop is also availabel at http://wikieducator.org/Open_content_licensing_for_educators/Home

The open content materials were developed openly and collaboratively by dedicated volunteers from the OER Foundation, WikiEducator,  the OpenCourseware Consortium and Creative Commons with funding support from UNESCO.

Thanks to all develoeprs and to all co-participants!
The workshop was one of the very best one I have attended, and teh design, the resourses and the online feedback.

Let the OER remix begin!
Let the open educational practice and culture develop and grow globally....

Lego för kreativitet eller en effektiv bromskloss?

Så gott som i alla barnfamiljer finns legoklossar och färdiga byggsatser med diverse olika tema, beroende på ålder och intresse i familjerna. Anders Milder  skriver i SDS den 11 juni 2012 om Fabriker och mallade drömmar som fokuserar på "att slå vakt om den traditionella skolan är en effektiv bromskloss för kreativitet , innovation och egensinnighet." (Milder, SDS B4).

LEGO är ett system av byggelement av plast som utvecklades 1949 av dansken Godtfred Kirk Christiansen (1920-1995). Det tillverkas och säljs av det danska leksaksföretaget LEGO A/S. LEGO kommer från danskans leg godt, på svenska "lek bra." LEGO introducerade de första plastklossarna 1949 under namnet Automatic Binding Bricks. Dessa tidiga klossar såldes i askar med klossar i olika storlekar som kunden fick bygga samman efter eget huvud.

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Photo credit: S.W. Clyde, National Scenic  
 Byways Online

Under 1990-talet befann sig Lego i kris. De lösa legobitarna i boxar sålde allt mindre. Först när ledningen bytte inriktning och satsade på byggsatser vände utvecklingen och företaget kunde räddas. Sedan 2000-talet har LEGO tillverkat en rad olika byggsatser med figurer och scener ur Hollywoodfilmer. I samband med premiärerna av Episod I, II och III av Star Wars-filmerna gjordes exempelvis LEGO-figurer av Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Han Solo med flera. Även skepp från filmerna, som Millennium Falcon har använts som förlagor till Legobyggsatser. LEGO har även gjort Legobyggsatser med Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Spindelmannen med mera.

 



 




       

Skiftet i produktionen innebar att förutsättningarna för leken förändrades. Barnen gick från att skapa  utifrån sina egna huvuden och kreativitet till att följa exakta instruktioner. Legovärldarna byggs idag steg för steg – och sätter man inte samman bitarna på det sätt som står i manualen har man gjort fel skriver Mildner. Känns pedagogiken igen? Seth Godin, amerikansk författaren tar Lego som ett exempel i ”Stop Stealing Dreams” – ett försök att starta en bred debatt om hur skolan måste omformas. För varför är det egentligen lättare att sälja byggsatser än lösa bitar i en tid som vår? Kanske eftersom instruktionsmanualskulturen svarar exakt mot vad föräldrarna förväntar sig av sina barn och vad barnen har drillats till att göra i skolan. Godin skriver: Vi går in i en tid där idéer och nytänkande kommer att vara fullständigt avgörande. Ändå lär vi dagens unga att det viktigaste är att de följer mallar och instruktioner. Han för det så långt att kanske har ekonomin i och med detta förändrats för alltid.

                                                                                    

David Weinberger har påpekat att den smartaste personen i ett rum inte längre är den som står längst fram och föreläser. Eller ens den kollektiva kunskapen som finns bland personerna som sitter och lyssnar. Nej, den smartaste personen i rummet är rummet självt, det nätverk som sammankopplar människorna och tankarna som finns där med dem som befinner sig utanför. Frågan är då: hur bygger vi sådana smarta rum? Eller kanske: vad händer med de barn som inte får tillgång till sådana? Detta är inte något som dagens skola ens försöker besvara. Liknande tankegångar tas upp i A New Culture of Learning by Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown. De fokuserar på kollaborativt lärande och tar upp spel och spelmiljöer som lärande miljöer. Det kollaborativa lärandet är också något som Downes och  Siemens förespråkar o konnektivsmen som lärandets teori.

                               

Istället för nytänkande inom utbildning slås vakt om den traditionella utbildningen som institution. Lärandefabriker skapas som fjärmar sig från utvecklingen i resten av samhället, där skolans definition av kunskap mer och mer handlar om i vilken grad eleverna förmår att anpassa sig till systemet. Seth Godin lyfter fram vikten av drömmar. Hur lär vi våra barn och oss själva att bry oss att förverkliga dem? Hur skapar vi lärande miljöer som inte dödar drömmar utan istället när dem – tillsammans med egenskaper som ibland kallas generella kompetenser, för övrigt målområden som framförs inom EU. Egenskaper som inte är mätbara såsom kommunikationsfärdigheter, innovation, mod, stolthet, kunskapstörst och vilja?

Milder, såom flera andra runt om i världen debatterar såledeses att man med rätta kan fråga sig vad vår syn på skolan egentligen säger om oss. Att vi istället för att omformulera vår syn på lärandet ägnar vår tid till att bygga en så effektiv bromskloss som möjligt för kreativitet, innovation och egensinnighet genom att ständigt betona och belöna helt andra saker. 

Stop steeling dreams (What is school for)

                                                                                                          

Power Searching with Google and What would Google do?.

I have just attended the excellent online, selfinstructed course by Google on effecient searching on Google... and again Google have done it! 
I really learned a lot by the course Power Searching, and part of a new world in Google just was opened up to me.


Google Search makes it amazingly easy to find information.Learn together with Daniel Russel  (Google Inc.) about the powerful advanced tools that Google provide to help you find just the right information when the stakes are high.

Daniel Russell
Senior Research Scientist
Google, Inc.

 

The online course are divided in six parts:

• Introduction
• Interpreting results
• Advanced tetechniqies
• Find facts faster
• Checking your facts
• Putting it all together

All part  consists of very informative and motivating film clips (3-7-10 minutes), tasks, with self-corrections and feedback and forum with direct emails to your google accout. Tthe course have three self-assessments:

• Pre-class assessment
• Mid-class assessment
• Post-class assessment

I will strongly recommed to go through the course. I really learned a lot, which I can use from now on in my daily life and for professional use. I am sure that my search results will be more precise and useful from now on. The course-design is very attractive and you really keep the motovation on top.
Will you organise an online course similar like this it is  a very attractive format.

So Google has done a success again!!!
So has also Jeff Jarvis done with his book WWGD , What Would Google Do?
In nearly any question you can ask  What would Google do? 
 ... and sooner or later you will know
....or you can always search for it, when you know effecient searching methods and tools, and then spend your own time to reflect on it  and just do it....


 So we  all need to ask as Jarvis is doing: What would Google do?

What,s the question every business should be asking itself? According to Jeff Jarvis, it,s WHAT WOULD GOOGLE DO? If you,re not thinking or acting like Google - the fastest-growing company in the history of the world - then you,re not going to survive, let alone prosper, in the Internet age. An indispensable manual for survival and success that asks the most important question today,s leaders, in any industry, can ask themselves: What would Google do? To demonstrate how to emulate Google, Jarvis lays out his laws of what he calls "the new Google century," including such insights as: Think Distributed Become a Platform Join the Post-Scarcity, Open-Source, Gift Economy The Middleman Has Died Your Worst Customers Are Your Best Friends and Your Best Customers Are Your Partners Do What You Do Best and Link to the Rest Get Out of the Way Make Mistakes Well ...and More He applies these principles not just to emerging technologies and the Internet, but to other industries-telecommunications, airlines, television, government, healthcare, education, journalism, and yes, book publishing-showing ultimately what the world would look like if Google ran it. The result is an astonishing, mind-opening book that will change the way readers ask questions and solve problems.

The Author about his book: "what I tried to do in the book is reverse-engineer the success of Google and tried to find out the lessons and the laws that have made Google so successful in this new era. […] so we’ll take these lessons and apply them to all kinds of companies. It’s not just about technology […] it’s about any institution in society. […] It’s about thinking differently."
We all need to ask: What would Google do?