March 2019

This is one of the only photos I have of my great-grandfather, William Livingston (1864-1934), with his grandchildren. Left to right, my aunt Jean Jones Swanson (3), my mom Norma Jones Maddrell (baby), and their cousin Grace Audrey (Watson) Biddick (4). I estimate this was taken in the spring of 1927, and probably in Livingston, […]

Yesterday, after I highlighted Martin Weller’s excellent post on supporting distance/online students, Martin sent me a link to his recent paper titled, “Mapping the Open Education Landscape: Citation Network Analysis of Historical Open and Distance Education Research”. Thanks! On that disconnect between online learning & distance Ed research have you read our paper that explores

One of my great frustrations is the lack of connection between online learning and the gigantic body of research and experience we have with distance education. Distance education is characterized by the learner’s separation from the institution. While online learning technologies can help us overcome some of these separation issues, the learner is often isolated.

Yay! I’m happy to announce our AECT workshop on Accessibility was accepted! If you’re interested in crafting a paper, research proposal, or other project to explore an accessibility-related topic, consider joining our AECT workshop. More to follow …

Creative Commons offered an overview of European Parliament vote to approve the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. I somehow missed what they described as “a massive outpouring of protest against the dangers of Article 13 to competition, creativity, and freedom of expression. This included 5+ million petition signatures, a gigantic action of emails

I have a hunch this will be the first of many “I knew him when …” stories! Check out the recent profile of an NSF-funded Esports project with Dr. Jason Engerman, Assistant Professor at East Stroudsburg University (ESU). As presented in the profile: Esports is competitive gaming, meaning students will play video games they already

EdSurge summarizes Three Higher Education Proposals to Watch from the White House based on the proposals released by the White House to reform the federal Higher Education Act. Admittedly, I have a lot to learn about the details, but these are the three highlighted by Edsurge: Redraw the map for accreditors Reform the Federal Work Study

I’ve designed and facilitated massive open online courses (MOOCs), so I shouldn’t flinch when I see an article about Teaching at Scale. However, I’ve also taught small classes and appreciate the difference in the experience for me, as well as students. This is why I struggle with takes like this, as I know how hard

Many of us in the instructional design field are freelancers/independent contractors, and some of us with doctoral degrees are college adjuncts. While many of the 3.8 percent of US workers (5.9 million strong) counted as “contingent workers” are voluntarily part of the Gig Economy, others aren’t. Either way, there are significant costs associated with this