|
|
Ed Media 2009, Open Education, and Inside Higher Education |
| Monday, June 29, 2009 |
I am just back from Ed Media in Hawaii. It was great to see people like Dr. Grace Lin at the University of Hawaii who helped me with my World is Open book. Also good to see George Siemens from the University of Manitoba, Stephen Downes from the Canadian Research Council, Tom Reeves from the Univ of Georgia, Tom Reynolds from National University, Emily Hixon (my former student) from Purdue University at Calumet, Xiaojing Liu (another former student), Gary Marks (director of AACE which runs the conference), Alan Levine who is Vice President Community and CTO at New Media Consortium, Griff Richards from Athabasca University, Yayoi Anzai from International Christian University in Japan Katsuaki Suzuki also from Japan, Theo Bastiaens from the Open University of Germany, Curtis Ho and Betsy Fulford from the University of Hawaii, and many other people. I had a blast.
Great views from the conference hotel--the Sheraton Waikiki--and my room. This is one conference I would not want to do virtually. Excellent speakers and venue, many social events, and plenty of opportunities to get away to relax and think. It was a wonderful conference for rest and relaxation.
On Tuesday June 23rd, Grace Lin and I presented our paper on Wikibookians which got an outstanding paper award. One hour later, I also presented on wiki use in early elementary classrooms. You can find these papers and PowerPoint slides at our Wiki-RIKI Website. A third talk I did that day was on my World is Open book. The room held 100 people but I think 120-130 people showed up and many had to be turned away. That was a great sign.
Finally, there is news today in Inside Higher Ed about open courses for high schools and community colleges based on a draft of a report that came out from the Obama admin. I was interviewed for it though I was lucky! The author wrote me an email Saturday as I was about to go to beaches of Oahu after Ed Media ended. Good thing I checked my email. You can read more here:
“U.S. Push for Free Online Courses,” by Scott Jaschik, June 29, 2009, Inside Higher Ed.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/29/ccplan
Open education is opening up! So can you! Perhaps the Obama administration will buy my World is Open book. I can keep hoping. It hits the warehouse in 2 weeks and bookstores 1-3 weeks after that. |
|
|
|
|
|
Ed Tech Leadership Interview in EdNews and World is Open Webinar Tuesday from Ed Media in Hawaii |
| Monday, June 22, 2009 |
I will present on my "The World is Open" book from in Honolulu at Ed Media Conference tomorow/Tuesday (both live in a special session and broadcast online free to the world). Here is the URL for my talk Tueday from 10-11 am Hawaii time or 4-5 EST or 3-4 Central time. This is an experimental presenation from AACE using Adobe Connect Pro
http://www.aace.org/connect/aace (AACE will save the talk for later viewing). Remember this is free to watch from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. The World is Open!
I have Interesting news this morning! Was interviewed for EdNews the other day and article just came out. See "An Interview by Michael Shaughnessy in EdNews.org with Curtis Bonk: Leadership in Educational Technology." I discuss my World is Open book, ed tech leaders and conferences, and the future of the field of educational technology.
http://ednews.org/articles/an-interview-with-curtis-bonk-leadership-in-educational-technology.html
Also is listed in Commentaries and Reports section in Ed News: http://ednews.org/ (scroll down and look in the middle). EdNews gets 2 million its per day. It is perhaps the top education news site in the world.
Cool days. Nice views of the ocean from my hotel room here in Honolulu at the Sheraton Waikiki. Great run with my former student, Dr. Emily Hixon and her husband this morning up Diamond Head Road. Many great pics! |
|
|
|
|
|
The New Global Student by Maya Frost |
| Tuesday, June 09, 2009 |
Blog post #2 tonight an hour after the other one...I read an interesting book review today in the USA Today this morning. It is doubly interesting since I knew this book was coming out soon (I have known about it since the early stages). The article is titled: “She raised 'global students,' and you can, too,” by Greg Toppo.
The book Greg Toppo reviews is, “The New Global Student: Skip the SAT, Save Thousands on Tuition, and Get a Truly International Education,” is written by my friend, Maya Frost, and published by Random House. It is priced at around only $10 in paperback on Amazon. Cool! Now who is headed overseas to study who can't afford that?
In the book, Maya Frost details interviews she had with many high school kids and others who have had an international experience. In addition, she reflects on her 4 daughters who have done that as well and quite uniquely I might add. At least one of her daughters has climbed Machu Picchu, snowboarded in the Andes, danced in Brazil's Carnival, kayaked among whales in the South Atlantic, hiked the glaciers of Patagonia, and participated in festive events the day Italy won the World Cup. And they are all graduating from college early it seems and with many more interesting and engaging experiences than traditional students here in North America might encounter. See the article or the book for more details. It will amaze you!
Much sound advice provided in this book for those thinking about traveling abroad for part of their education. I wish my son would have had a chance to read this before going to Seville, Spain last fall (he was a college junior). Perhaps he would not have gotten mugged in Paris the first night and lost all his credit cards. Perhaps he would not have run out of money his last day in Barcelona, Spain and not had to borrow money from people on the street in order to get home...but that is another story. Oh, all those problems thanks to Ryan Air and their extra baggage charges!
From the perspective of an educational psychologist (my former occupation), Maya's book focuses on learning in a meaningful and personal way. I know from experience that years in high school can be a highly wasted experience. Now Maya points to the need to be bolder! When asked about the "bold school" approach in the USA Today interview, she stated that, "The bold-school approach is an advantageous and affordable alternative to the old four-by-four model (four years of high school, four years of college). Bold-schoolers are gliding into the global economy at 20 with a red-hot U.S. or Canadian college diploma, a blazing sense of direction and no debt. These students graduate early because they have tremendous enthusiasm for learning — and they don't wait for someone to tell them what to do next."
This enthusiasm for learning helps the kids graduate early while also enjoying life. According to Maya, by finding their own way in the world and their own competencies and gifts, kids can "leapfrog over their test-dazed classmates." So true!
As background, in 2005, Maya and her family moved from the USA to Mexico and then to Buenos Aires. Maya and I have been corresponding about our respective book projects for nearly 2 years now (in Facebook, email, MSN, and regular mail). Initially, she was going to interview me but instead we have exchanged ideas and drafts of our unfolding book projects with each other's book and generally supported each other in the long and arduous book writing process; not a lot of support, but when needed. She finished her project first and her book just came out. Mine is next! Smile. Good luck to Maya Frost and her great book, "The New Global Student." |
|
|
|
|
|
The Training World is Wide Open...with Wonderful Wiley in Fast Company! |
|
Some news for the day. I continue to make progress on the free e-book extension of my "The World is Open" book. In the meantime, I have published a prequel called "Sharing..the Journey" which I presented in Korea last month.
In addition, Training Magazine published a short piece yesterday (June 8th) that I wrote last week, "The Training World is Wide Open." The article is based on a story of a visit to Saudi Aramco in Saudi Arabia for an e-learning forum two years ago that is detailed in my upcoming book, "The World is Open: How Web Technology is Revolutionizing Education." The article focuses on self-directed learning in the business world, among other things. About half of what I originally wrote was cut, but the bulk of my points remain in the Training Magazine article. For a few fleeting moments, it was a top story at the site. Thanks to you, the entire OpenCourseWare and Open Educational Resources world is in Fast Company!
But word is getting out. In fact, I had three people contact me for interviews about my The World is Open book, including two different organizations with magazines titles "Educational Technology Magazine." I also finished an article for eLearn Magazine on why people share educational contents (as well as use them) which I hope will be published soon.
The first time I gave a keynote talk about all this sharing of online content and the more open learning world was in October 2005 at the E-Learn Conference in Vancouver. While I had been researching e-learning and developing new sharing technologies for many years before that keynote, my friend, Dr. David Wiley, and his colleagues Utah State University (USU) helped me to better understand the ramifications of the open education movement. Now in the summer of 2009, and he has helped me out by endorsing my book (if interested in what he and 24 others have said, see the endorsements). Wiley's life has definitely changed over the past 4 years. He is now Chief Openness Officer (COO) at Flat World Knowledge (perhaps the first COO in the world), the founder of the Utah Virtual School, and has moved his academic housing from USU to Brigham Young University. So innovative is Wiley that, a week or two ago, Fast Company announced that David is #78 is in their list of the Top 100 Most Creative People in Business alongside the likes of Melinda Gates, Lost writer J.J. Abrams, former fashion model Tyra Banks, and Stella McCartney. Way to go David!
Here is a quote from the write-up on David: "Soon after graduating from college, David Wiley had an epiphany that has moved him into the front ranks of education revolutionaries: 'Unlike a real calculator, a calculator embedded in a Web page can be used by 100,000 people at the same time.'" Just think...one quick insight such as this can lead to open education opportunities for millions of people around the planet. What might you think of?
Seems open education is making a huge impression on people around the world a mere decade after it first began to surface, first in Wiley’s mind and then in educational organizations and institutions around the world. With creative talent like Wiley in this space, the next decade or two should prove even more transformative for education. Let's hope! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
