Events

"Academia and the MOOC" is an course I will be facilitating for NJEDge.Net using the Canvas Network.

"Academia and the MOOC" is itself a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) although we will be capping enrollment at a maximum of 2000 participants. (So, it is more of a Big Open Online Course.)

MOOCs are a huge topic in academia right now, but many schools are still wondering if they should be offering them or how they will deal with this alternative to their own offerings.

Can a course where the participants and the course materials are distributed across the web and the courses are "open" and offered at no cost to a very large number of participants who do not receive institutional credit be a worthwhile venture for a college?

The purpose of this particular MOOC is to gather a large group of people from academia who have an interest in this movement and give them information about MOOCs to get them thinking and discussing their impact on education.

This course will begin with some background in the history and development of MOOCs. Then, we will examine MOOCs from the perspectives of five academic roles (teacher, designer, support, administration and student) and we will critique some case studies of successful (and "failed") courses that have been offered. Throughout the course, we will consider how MOOCs might impact those roles and an institution in the near future.

I am referring to this offering as a "course" because it's a term we all understand, but I really believe this is not a course. If you associate courses with textbooks, assignments, grades, assessment, credits and all that comes with those things, then it is not a course because none of those elements exist in this experience. It might be better to think of the "C" in this MOOC as a Conversation, Community or Colloquium. Discussion, as with most online courses, will be at the heart of the experience.

I have written before about unconferences, barcamps and other participant-driven professional development events (usually free) where the attendees set the schedule and lead the sessions. These kind of events often don't have formal "presentations" but people come prepared with materials and will post what their session will be and others go to ones that interest them.

I attended a local one day free traditional conference (WETech) last week that focused on best practices of K-12 teachers using technology. In one session I heard about an upcoming STEAM unconference this summer in NJ.  S.T.E.A.M. stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Math. It's a variant of the most common STEM. 

This event is being billed as Edcamp S.T.E.A.M., an unconference for K-12 educators exploring the intersection of those areas. The event is on July 31, 2013 at Linwood Middle School in North Brunswick, New Jersey. But what really interests me is the addition of the Arts to STEM.

Why add the arts? To quote their website:

Meaningful patterns. Artists create them; Scientists discover them. The arts help us to communicate and share ideas; we use the arts to explain and reflect our culture. How can it be possible to push forward with science, technology, engineering and math without the inclusion of the arts to make sense of it all. Consider all the data that is generated  from myriad sources. Art helps to make sense of that data in what is known as data visualization. Jer Thorp is an expert at taking data and turning it into something more useful. He aims to use “art as an axis to bring those two things [Science and design] together.“

STEAM also emphasizes the creativity and play of experimentation and research which is so important to bringing more young people into the STEM fields. And it encourages the arts, which are often the first area to cut when school budgets are defeated. We should be gathering steam for arts education.

In a post from The Washington Post on the Top 10 skills children learn from the arts, the first skill listed is creativity.

If you're in the NJ area, you should consider attending and participating, but for a wider audience the takeaway for me is the bigger idea of using the arts to encourage STEM efforts.

I will be doing a plenary presentation at Rutgers University's OIRT’s 2012 Technology in Learning Showcase on December 12, 2012 sponsored by the Office of Instructional and Research Technology.     

My topic, "2013: The Beginning of the End of the University," will look at some of the issues and trends in technology that have emerged this year that some are saying will lead to the end of the traditional university and/or the traditional degree. Is 2013 the beginning of the end of the university, or the starting place for University 2.0?

Information at oirt.rutgers.edu/showcase/

I will be attending the NJEDge.Net Annual Conference this week (November 28-30, 2012) and will be doing a presentation on Friday.

My presentation will be part of an IGNITE session where five presenters each get five minutes to speak accompanied by 20 auto-advanced slides at 15 seconds each. The challenge is to “ignite” the audience on a subject - generate awareness and stimulate thought and action on the subjects
presented.

My session is titled "It’s the End of the University As We Know It (and I feel fine)" and it comes out of my ideas about how the next ten years will transform universities in ways that will be frightening for anyone hoping to hold onto the university model that has
existed for almost 900 years. It is very likely that, powered by technology, movements such as open educational resources, MOOCs, big data, non-degree programs and alternatives to a traditional university degree will lead to the end of University 1.0.

What will be the tipping point that brings about not only University 2.0 but also a broader School 2.0?

If you are attending, please stop by my poster session in the afternoon and tell me your thoughts.  For non-attendees, I will post the slides after the conference in a post here.

NJEDge.Net's Conference 9.0 has the theme this year of "Humanizing Technology." The conference is always a vibrant forum for the NJ K-20 community to showcase, discuss and explore best practices on today's campus.

Plenary speakers include:
Jon Landis, Assistant Professor, Ed. Leadership & Ed. Technology, Millersville University
Brett Bixler, Lead Instructional Designer with Training Services, Penn State University
Ellen Wagner, Executive Director for WCET
Kevin Kelly, Co-founder and Senior Maverick at Wired magazine

Also presenting will be Steve Abubato, the renowned NJ broadcaster, who will lead a provocative discussion on issues pertinent to CIOs, CAOs, presidents and provosts at the invitation-only Executive Dinner on Wednesday evening.

On Friday the 30th, there will be a round of Ignite sessions with some of the most innovative educators in the state to motivate attendees to take new ideas away from the conference and into their schools.

And there are many breakout sessions in tracks such as learning innovations, mobility and assessment.

The NJEDge Annual Conference package deal is discounted by 10% off last year’s registration cost. How often do you hear that a conference is lowering prices in this day and age?

Register at conference.njedge.net/2012/register/

Who is Blog Action Day? YOU!

Blog Action Day is a free event for bloggers, social media users, vloggers, podcasters, designers, infographic and data producers.

It is open to people from all countries, languages, backgrounds, and areas of interest. It doesn’t matter if your blog talks about cooking, politics, gardening, animals, development, business, music, culture, science, social change, faith or even yourself.

Blog Action Day is the one day of the year where thousands of bloggers can work together to focus on one important global topic, and help raise awareness and money for charities and social causes.

The theme for Blog Action Day 2012 on October 15 will be “The Power of We.” This theme was chosen because of the popularity of the your suggestions: Community, Equality, Transparency/Anti-Corruption and Freedom, in our theme poll. Secondly, "The Power of We" is a celebration of people working together to make a positive difference in the world, either for their own communities or for people they will never meet half way around he world.

So, what what will you do for your Blog Action Day post?

Register your site today at http://blogactionday.org/register-to-take-part/

Learning with BYOD in the Cloud: Optimizing the Learning Experience with BYOD and Client-Aware Cloud - Thursday June 7, 2012 | 1 pm PST / 4 pm EST

In the current budget-constrained environment, schools are turning to bring-your-own-mobile device approaches to improve access to technology. Having students bring a variety of devices presents challenges to assuring high-quality learning experiences. In this webinar, you will learn how client-aware clouds can help optimize service delivery and improve the learner's experience. Attendees will get an overview of client-aware cloud solutions with specific examples from schools that have addressed the challenges and made it work well.

Presenting: Greg Boitano, Marketing Manager, Intel Business Client Platform Division and Anil Rao, VP of Sales Enterprise, Stoneware

REGISTER FOR THIS FREE EVENT

The Library of Congress is now accepting applications for its 2012 Library of Congress Summer Teacher Institutes in Washington, D.C.

The free, five-day institute will provide educators with the tools and resources to effectively integrate primary sources into classroom teaching.

Institutes will take place on the following dates:

• May 21-25, 2012
• June 11-15, 2012
• July 9-13, 2012 (World Cultures Focus)
• July 16-20, 2012 (Civil War Focus)
• August 6-10, 2012

There is no charge for the program or materials but participants must cover costs for travel to Washington, DC and lodging and meals while in Washington.

Participants may earn three graduate credits from George Mason University for completing all Summer Teacher Institute requirements (fee).

Application Deadline: February 17, 2011 - http://www.loc.gov/teachers/professionaldevelopment/teacherinstitute/