Will 2012 be the year of sharing in education?

Dogs in Strollers by Joel Abroad

Let's hope so.   Paul Stacey looks at some of the changes that have been brewing, I'm particularly intrigued by the end of commercial textbooks, as a textbook writer myself I don't see this as such a bad thing (sorry Peter Singer, you'll have to go back to end of the queue...).    Good links in this article, particularly to some of the open source image initiatives, like the photo on this page.

http://edtechfrontier.com/2011/12/21/2011-the-year-of-open/ 

The Udacity of it all...

http://theconversation.edu.au/open-sesame-taking-university-education-to-the-world-via-the-web-5053

More information on the open education movement, looking at Udacity and MITx.  Will it be a revolution?  Only time will tell, but I think there is a lot of potential for transitioning students who just want to pick up one unit to see if they are going to succeed in further education.

Mark it Zero Dude, my presentation on assessment

Or jump to it at http://prezi.com/u3uqbl6grbz1/mark-it-zero-dude-assessment-game-changers/

Students as learning designers

Logo: Trivium Design

http://apo.org.au/research/students-learning-designers-using-social-media-scaffold-experience
This research looks at the role of social media in allowing students to participate in learning design, an activity which helps them own their learning and engage with it.   One study looked at elementary school students and another at masters students, so it covers a broad range of learners.

Crucially, design and time management skills are important and most students need scaffolding to help them acquire these skills.  Twitter emerges as the platform of choice, one which I do not really use myself, so it might be time to try it out. The 140 character limit is useful in this context, to keep things concise.

This sort of delivery asks us to reconsider the role of the teacher and the researchers have found that students as well as teachers are resistant to change, so set the stage appropriately and stick to your guns.