Educators are frequently criticized for being disconnected from reality, with insults along the lines of “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.” I’m very cognizant of these criticisms and agree that there’s terrific danger in faculty remaining disconnected from the “real world” while trying to prepare student to thrive out in it. One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about EdStartup 101 is the opportunity to really dig in on issues relating to entrepreneurship in education not just academically, but in the “real world” as well. ...

If you’re wondering what the impact of MOOCs will be on formal higher education, one answer came in the form of two interesting stories about the upcoming holiday season: Thousands of shoppers headed to Target to shop last holiday season. Some made purchases at Target; others pulled out their smartphones, scanned product barcodes and made purchases online instead. To prevent that practice, commonly known as “showrooming,” Target has pledged to match prices with select online retailers – including Amazon.com. Mashable ...

The topic of OER quality standards came up at #OpenEd12 today. It makes me a little crazy. Why, why why, do we continue to focus on indirect proxies for quality when we’re capable of measuring quality directly? Direct Measure of OER Quality Indirect Proxies for Quality - Degree to which the OER facilitates student learning - Academic credentials of the author / creator - Degree of interactivity - Amount of multimedia - Amount of editorial effort put into materials - Length / number of words / rigor - DPI of embedded artwork - &c. At the end of the day, would you rather have (1) an OER that successfully facilitates student learning, or (2) an OER written by a top author that is 700 pages long and chock full or gorgeous artwork, simulations, and video? OER can be everything in the indirect column and fail on the direct column. So why do we continue to care and focus on indirect proxies for quality when we could go straight for the direct measures of quality? And why do we continue to think about quality as “static” when we have the capability to engage in continuous quality improvement? Why are we willing to work with materials that aren’t constantly getting better, as OER can when used in a principled way?

20 Million Minds today released an infographic summarizing costs of textbooks and cost savings associated with open textbooks. Click the thumbnail for the full-size version.

Found this great OER metaphor and image today via Dana West. Milk Role **OERs ** Cow Primary producer/Creator Teacher/Author Calf Primary consumer Enrolled student Farmer Secondary producer/repurposer Learning technologist/Course leader Milk bottlers Primary supplier Learning technologist Shop Secondary supplier deposit in institutional repository or open deposit Human family Secondary consumer Teacher within or outside institution Human family and pets Sharers and re-users Enroled students of that teacher Person with milk, Person with cocoa powder, Person with sugar - can make chocolate Exchange and repurposers other teachers within or outside institution Chocolate in shop fridge repository deposit in different open repositories Chocolate eaten re-users/maybe sharing; ) potentially global learners Chocolate added to cake mixture further re-purposing potentially global teachers ...

Kira writes passionately (here; reposted here) about why Creative Commons should abandon the NC and ND clauses. S/he is wrong. The argument comes down to this: “The crux of the concern raised by Students for Free Culture comes down to weather Creative Commons will be locked in by pressures to serve the interests of rightsholders or be committed to a strategic standard promoting free licensing towards the creation of an indivisible and shared commons.” ...

For several months now I’ve been working with a great group of people on Degreed. Today we launched the public beta at the HASTAC/MacArthur grantees meeting (the Mozilla open badges functionality in Degreed is supported by a DML grant). So what does it do? Degreed eliminates the distinction between formal and informal learning by jailbreaking your college transcript and interweaving Mozilla open badges and other informal credentials together with your college courses. We help you categorize these formal and informal credentials in order to create a credential remix that allows you to showcase everything you know - not just what you learned in school. Unlike your college transcript, your Degreed profile continues to grow as you continue to learn throughout life. ...

Looking through Stephen Downes’ list of MOOCs today, I saw that there’s a MOOC using almost exactly the same name as the open online course I began teaching this past winter. Compare my Introduction to Openness in Education from Winter 2012, which will be offered again in Winter 2013 and every winter term for the foreseeable future, and Rory McGreal and George Siemens’s Openness in Education being offered as I type (Fall 2012). ...

There are only five (5) days left for the Open Education Conference early bird registration rate. Register by September 15 and save! http://openedconference.org/2012/register/

I really, really want to encourage you to take this suggestion. Reading what you have written all over the internet, and listening to you at public hearings, it appears that you have a crystal clear idea of what should happen in schools to make them places that best support student learning and growth. In all seriousness and sincerity, I want to invite you to start a charter school that fully implements your instructional approaches and other philosophies. I encourage you to do this because you can only gain so much credibility from the sidelines. If you really want to drive ed reform in this state, start your own school and demonstrate how much more effective your way of doing things is. People are much more likely to listen to results than rhetoric. It’s easy for policy makers to ignore an armchair quarterback / critic with no academic credentials in education, but when your school’s CRT results top every other public school in the state, no one can ignore you any longer. And if charter schools aren’t your cup of tea, then start a private school. That process is even simpler. ...