ADEDGE

What's this..

Got to do with this...?

answer here - did you get it?

 "Architects have always nursed visions of what can be achieved in the right building. But it is unlikely that fancy accommodation will transform learning as dramatically as they (and the government) imagine."

http://www.economist.com/world/britain/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=8001103

The  Economist taking 'the dismal science' to the extreme in this unimaginative and 'I grew up in a shoebox' style piece!

For those of us in adult and community learning, looking on at squillions spent on decent learning spaces in the schools sector, a bit of fancy accommodation seems quite acceptable..

What do you think about IT = control? 

A vle that logs canteen purchases - I could be persuaded!

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When you have read the article - take a look at the photograph. In my day the kids that had the answers sat at the front and those anxious/bored/letmeouttahere expressions towards the back of the room..

Blackboard Awarded Patent on e-Learning Technology

Hardly surpising that this one skipped under our radar given the content of news programmes these last few days.  Anyway, you could be forgiven  for checking the calendar when hearing this - but no - it is not April 1st., the US Patents Office have actually granted a 'Broad Patent'  to Blackboard Inc the supplierof the eponymous learning management sysytem.

Blackboard have applied and been granted a patent for:

"A system and methods for implementing education online by providing institutions with the means for allowing the creation of courses to be taken by students online, the courses including assignments, announcements, course materials, chat and whiteboard facilities, and the like, all of which are available to the students over a network such as the Internet."

As a slow fury erupts amongst educational bloggers - read Stephen Downes  for a comprehensive listing as of 3rd August - my favourite reaction so far is this post from Jay Cross which ends with:

"By the way, I'm filing a patent on learning. It's a process by which the brain of a human being connects neural pathways in response to outside stimuli. The patent includes, ipso facto, hearing, sight, smell, taste, talking and feeling. If you don't cease learning immediately, you will hear from my attorney, ab abusu ad usum non valet consequentia, ab irato, et audentes fortuna iuvat."

Could get interesting...

Last Friday I was fortunate to be able to attend the first EduBlogs conference in London.  It was held in the 'Living Space' an innovative building and community venue in Lambeth virtually opposite the Old Vic.

Two of the most well known 'educational bloggers' (Stephen Downes and Barbara Ganley) gave keynotes and much of what they had to say, together with other conversations throughout the day, are still bouncing around in my head.

The importance of 'modelling' emerged more than once during the day - but that presents us - in adult ed and in schools with a bit of a problem...which George Siemens expresses well in this recent comment:

"Instructors/teachers have long been models that provide learners with the skills to relate to the world - how to think, write, analyze issues, think critically, etc. Today, connection-forming (or network-creation) is critical, yet the absence of role models means learners are forming networks on their own (which isn’t bad at all), but it is done without a particular educational focus (or in many cases, a lack of critical thinking or information literacy). In the end, they form networks…but do the networks they create enable them to effectively contribute to society?"