I’m trying that thing again where I post a few Downes-style1 takes on random education articles I come across to Tumblr. This will likely be followed by that thing where I stop posting Downes-style takes on random articles. But the sad twitter-centric state of the artist formerly know as the edublogosphere has compelled me to Continue reading

I’m re-reading my Course Signals post, and realizing how difficult it is to follow the numbers. So here’s an example that might make it clearer. From this desk here, without a stitch of research, I can show that people who have had more car accidents live, on average, longer then people that have had very Continue reading

I see that there’s a new Course Signals press release out that claims Course Signals boosts graduation rate 21%. Or, more exactly, it claims taking *two* classes using Course Signals boosts graduation rates by 21%. Why does it claim that? Well, I haven’t looked at the new data, but I did look at it last Continue reading

Bryan Alexander has a good post up on the idea of peak higher ed, a trend/theory that encompasses peak demographics, declining public support, ballooning debt, and the increasingly conventional public opinion that college is no longer as sure a route to a good job. I’d point out that a lot of what Bryan looks at Continue reading

Tanya Joosten was asking today about password managers, and it being 4:30 p.m. it seemed as good a time as ever to talk about password mental algorithms, and how they can make your life easier. Here’s how they work (keep in mind this is not *my* algorithm, just an example). First pick a good root Continue reading

Via Audrey Watters, there’s a great article out today about how startup culture, with its preference for “failing fast” instead of doing research, is killing innovation. It’s worse than that, though, in MOOC world, where startup culture is wasting the time and good intentions of millions. Here’s an example of an actual question that my Continue reading