I normally don't do short student stories or anecdotes in my blog.  My blogging practice, if you haven't noticed yet, tends to irregular, overly-long theory and big concept stuff.  But today three threads twisted today in a serendipitous manner. I thought I'd share and it's too long for Twitter, so it's to the blog Batman … Continue reading Where’s the Student in Our Assessment Obsession

It's been awhile. I last posted March 14 just as the pandemic shut down and the "pivot" to emergency remote learning was starting.  I usually use this blog space for long, tedious arguments or expansive explanations on theoretical and empirical phenomenon, both pedagogical and economic.  For some reason I've never found the ability to: a. … Continue reading LiveTogether – LearnTogether

This probably isn't the best use of my time right now,  but maybe there's a teaching moment here. In the face of the COVID19 pandemic, folks in the US (and apparently most developed nations) have gone on a toilet paper buying spree.  One result besides the appearance of empty shelves, has been a lot nasty … Continue reading Toilet Paper in a Pandemic

OPEN LETTER: Planning to Make "the Switch" This is part two of my posts about teaching in the COVID19 pandemic amidst the possibility that we (faculty)  may have to switch on short notice to teaching at a distance what were originally face-to-face classes.  If you haven't already, please start by reading my first post about … Continue reading Learning in a Pandemic – 2

Now, new and improved with proofreading! OPEN LETTER to MY FACULTY COLLEAGUES There's a pandemic happening and it's called COVID19 just in case you've been under a rock and haven't heard. It's going to have starting to have a big impact on higher education, not to mention a lot of ordinary lives. We are starting … Continue reading Learning in a Pandemic – 1

Herein, against my better judgement, I wade into the Great Instructure social media wars of 2023.  ... The announcement triggered a great deal of, let's call it discussion, on social media, particularly Twitter. A lot of has gotten nasty and heated.  On the surface, the discussion seems to be about questions regarding what Instructure (or Canvas, or the data Instructure has collected) is "worth".  Specifically, is it worth the $2billion Thoma Bravo has valued it at and why would TB pay that?  Underlying the valuation question though, is the real concern.  Can we discern the plans and future for Canvas (and thereby schools, instructors, students, the higher ed system, pedagogy, etc) from this transaction?  There's roughly two camps. ...

Folks have asked  for copies of my presentation at OpenEd19, so here goes. Viewable online from my Dropbox: Does Open Drain the Pool? Download the Powerpoint file: OpenEd19 oct 2023 Will Open Drain the Pool  

I just got back from the Domains19 conference and some thanks and perhaps observations are in order. It was a very interesting, stimulating, and useful conference. Frankly, I've come to expect nothing less from the ReclaimHosting crew: Jim, Tim, Lauren, Meredith, Judith, and Justin(?, we didn't meet yet, I think).  It's a human level conference … Continue reading Domains19 Reflection, Well Really More of A Thanks.

Note: A couple of friends have asked why I say "A commons doesn't scale, it scopes". This is a relatively quick note to explain some thinking on why. It's a topic I'm deep into researching now and developing my thinking as it applies to higher education as a commons, so with the caveat that I … Continue reading Scale and Scope

It's been a couple days after the fact, but I wanted to make a post to go with my presentation at OER19. Fortunately, thanks to the nice folks at ALT and the magic of Martin Hawksey, I don't have to try to write a long post explaining what I said and you don't have to … Continue reading Can We See the Real U? (OER19)