Dear Commons Colleagues,
It was a fine day yesterday at the 10th Annual Sloan-C Conference and Workshop. I attended a workshop on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), presentations by colleagues at CUNY and LIU, and participated in a focus group discussion sponsored by the American Public University System. APUS, a major online learning institution that is considering a move to blended learning.
The keynote address given by Dr. Alec Couros, an Associate Professor of educational technology and media at the University of Regina, was a resounding presentation on the increasingly important role that social media is playing in our lives and in education. Couros began by providing media-filled descriptions of the prevalence of software tools, open sources, gift economies, and the shift towards social and networked learning. He concluded by stressing their importance for faculty and instructional designers involved with blended learning.
In the evening, I had dinner at The Rumpus Room, one of Milwaukee’s especially good restaurants, with a host of colleagues from the University of Wisconsin, the University of Maryland, LIU, SUNY, and the University of Central Florida
In sum, new information, provocative ideas, and great camaraderie!
Tony
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