S e b l o g g i n g

Odo Marquard über die Geisteswissenschaften

„Je moderner die moderne Welt wird, desto unvermeidlicher werden die Geisteswissenschaften.“

Odo Marquard

Open course on Personal Learning Environments, Networks and Knowledge kicks off

Yesterday George Siemens, Stephen Downes, Rita Kop and Dave Cormier kicked off their open course on Personal Learning Environments, Networks and Knowledge – PLENK2010. The current list of registered (potential) participants is a bit over 1100 (and probably rising) which certainly justifies the application of the label of MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). George Siemens recently published his reflections on open courses of this kind.

PLENK2010 seems to be a timely extension of our recent collaboration on the upcoming e-book – G. Siemens, S. Downes & F. Kop (Eds.), Personal learning environments and personal learning networks (working title): Athabasca University Press – and a follow up of some of the issues raised around the PLE conference 2010 in Barcelona a couple of weeks ago.

Though I have never tried to run courses on the scale of a MOOC there are some striking parallels between what George & Co. are promoting in respect to free-choice of loosely-coupled tools as an important part of (re-)mediation of (learning) activity, and my own educational intervention work of recent years. Since I am slowly working my way back into facilitating “courses” (if that is the right term…) in higher education, I am curious to see what works (and what doesn’t) in the context of #PLENK2010.

If nothing else… it is going to be interesting if my (more theoretical) reflections on the concept of personal learning environments will resonate at all with course participants. It looks like we will find out sometimes in late November when I am (tentatively) scheduled for a live session in the week focusing on “Critical perspectives on PLE/PLN” (so far only a place holder).

[Sebastian Fiedler]

Tags: course, PLE, PLE2010, PLENK2010

The CAL Conference 2011 – Learning Futures: Education, Technology & Sustainability – April 13-15 2011, Manchester, UK

CAL (Computer Assisted Learning) is one of the leading international conferences in the field of education and technology. It brings together researchers across all education sectors, from primary years, to informal learning, to higher education, and across a range of disciplines from psychology to computer science, media and cultural studies.

In 2011, the conference will lead a challenging international debate about the future of research and practice in educational technology. CAL 11 aims to:

• Explore the role of educational technology research in addressing questions of global and social justice, widening participation and digital democracy

• Assess what role educational technology might play in the context of low carbon, energy constrained futures
• Explore how emerging technologies from diverse fields (e.g. gaming, AI, biotech, ubiquitous computing) might offer new environments for learning
• Examine the informal learning practices emerging in children, youth and adults’ digital cultures and their implications for education
• Reflect on what lessons have been learned over the last thirty years of education technology research, and what these might mean for the future of research in the field.
  
  [The CAL Conference 2011 Website]

Abstracts can be submitted until September 24, 2010. Details on submission formats can be found here.

[Sebastian Fiedler]

Tags: conference