The ‘college’ of the future

by Dimitry B
Toward a culture of academic sharing:
[Via Open Access News]
Larry Johnson, NMC and UOC Release Call to Action for Open Education, New Media Consortium, November 1, 2009.

Forty internationally known leaders in open education and technology met in Barcelona on October 19-20, 2009, at the NMC’s first official European event, the Open EdTech Summit, cosponsored by the Open University of Catalunya and the New Media Consortium. …

Summit attendees generated fifty action items necessary to realize the goal of creating an institution that can meet the needs of students today and into the foreseeable future, and then ranked them. Those which ranked highest are captured here, and framed as a Call to Action – five major tasks that are perceived as critical to achieving the promise of open education: …

4. We must enable a culture of sharing. Recognizing that the sharing and reuse of scholarly work is a key component of the university of the future, we advocate building a culture of sharing in which concerns about intellectual property, copyright, and student-to-student collaboration are alleviated and the model of proprietary work dissolves in favor of a more open one. To this end, we must establish reward structures that support the sharing of work in progress, ongoing research, highly collaborative projects, and scholarly publications of all kinds, including reputation systems, peer review processes, and new models for citation of such content. …

[More]
The top 5 are:

1. We must encourage the reuse and remixing of rich media.
2. We must embrace the full promise of mobile devices as learning platforms.
3. We must award credentials based on learning outcomes.
4. We must enable a culture of sharing.
5. We must take care that open resources include the context that will enable their use and understanding.

If these were all accomplished, higher learning would be forever changed. Particularly number 3.

This is the step that colleges control now – the granting of credentials demonstrating proficiency. It is something I think they will be very loath to change but I expect that external pressures will provide the force.

After all, there will be innovative college that will be happy to create a valid program, provide credentials and such, using the new technologies to lower their costs while increasing their admissions.

So keep you eyes out as colleges and universities make this transition. Because these 5 points above deal mainly with education of undergraduates, while many universities are really views as research institutions. I expect this to be more decoupled in the future.

The ability of colleges to provide the needed undergraduate education will become more separated from the graduate work of research. So much so that they really do not take place in the same institutions as they often do today.

Technorati Tags: Education, Open Access, Web 2.0

Views: A 100-mile dieter dishes

by kevindooley

Views: A 100-mile dieter dishes

[Via ]

Asked to accept a two-week challenge to eat only foods grown within 100 miles of my house, I thought “How hard could that be?” Never have I eaten more healthfully. Never have I craved white flour and sugar more. Never have I spent so much on groceries. Never will I do it again.

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A very nice article illustrating the hardships of being too much a hardliner for certain practices. Eating locally can be pretty hard during the winter months. Being able to access a wide variety of foods is one of the bountiful things we have today but at what price?

How to effectively take into account ALL the costs will be an important aspect of any large scale social change in this area. Because eating locally is not always cheaper in today’s market.

[Listening to: You Can't Always Get What You Want from the album "Forty Licks (Disc 1)" by Rolling Stones]

The eBook revolution

by goXunuReviews
Kindle readers beware – big Amazon is watching you read 1984:
[Via LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News]

John Naughton says The ebook reader may have advantages over unwieldy printed tomes, but it has unexpected drawbacks. “You don’t have to be a lawyer to know that this would not be tolerated in the real world of physical objects.Yet it’s commonplace – indeed universal – in the world of information goods. And what makes it possible is the “End User Licence Agreement” (EULA) that most of us click to accept when we first use hardware, software or online services.”

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eBook readers are changing the market. Imagine being able to carry all your college textbooks, with color pictures and movies, on a very small tablet-like device.

Although we are not there quite yet, we are not too many years from that being reality at any American college. Add the interactive aspects of a computer, WiFi and the web and the very nature of seminars will be forever changed.

But there is a possible dark side. Because the companies that offer these eBook readers are in it for the money not for the education. Everyone agrees to a license agreement (EULA) in order to download and read the book.

The Kindle EULA is a good example. Section 3, which deals with “Digital Content” (such as downloaded books), says that “Unless specifically indicated otherwise, you may not sell, rent, lease, distribute, broadcast, sublicense or otherwise assign any rights to the Digital Content or any portion of it to any third party, and you may not remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Digital Content.” In other words, you are forbidden to lend or sell the book you’ve just “bought”. In real-world terms, you can’t lend your copy of 1984 to a friend or donate it to the school jumble sale.

Under the subsection on “Use of Digital Content’, the Kindle EULA says: “Amazon grants you the non-exclusive right to keep a permanent copy of the applicable Digital Content and to view, use, and display such Digital Content an unlimited number of times, solely on the Device or as authorized by Amazon as part of the Service and solely for your personal, non-commercial use.”

Agreeing to a license in order to just read a book! In this case, you do not really own the book and can not loan it to anyone for any purpose. Any markups you make on the text may not be permanent. You may not be allowed to print out any pages. If you want to sell a textbook you no longer need, tough luck.

You ability to do any of these things depends on the kindness of the corporation making the eBook reader.

If you want to do something novel with the text, too bad. You are only allowed to do what the manufacturer allows you to do.

If they decide to wipe your eBook, removing books and notes, they have that ability and you agreed to it. So, they could provide you with a textbook that can only be used for 1 year. You never get access to it again if you need it. And there would really be little incentive for them to reduce prices much.

I could imagine a Fahrenheit 451 future where paper-based books are destroyed, not for censorship reasons, but because corporations do not like the freedom they provide for the user (i.e. freedom to resell, to loan. to read without a license). eBooks give them much more control over the market.

eBooks can change things. That is for sure. But they also put much greater control in the hands of the corporations than any form of publication has before.

I expect some really important battles here as we work through the technology. Particularly the three way tug between publishers, universities and students.

Of course, in this future world, competition comes from totally novel areas – free textbooks. They were never feasible before but because of the Web, they are now a viable alternative. I expect these new market forces will put pressure on the eBook reader manufacturers and keep them from being too abusive with their licenses.

That is, as long a free is available on the Web, which assumes that net neutrality continues to be the norm. Otherwise, large corporations could restrict access to sites offering low cost alternatives to their products.

Truly a Brave New World that have such marvels in’t. And we have front row sets to not only watch this as it progresses but to take part and help determine its course.

Technorati Tags: Education, Open Access, Web 2.0

Back to the butcher

Sustainable meat hits its hot spot:
[Via All Today's News - Sightline Daily]

Portlander Berlin Reed used to be a militant vegan, until a series of off-restaurant jobs left him working behind a sustainably run butchery counter. “There was pretty much no argument against it. I knew exactly where the animals came from and how they lived. So I took a nice bite of rib eye at work and was like, ‘I’m sold.’”

[More]

One way to deal with meat is to recognize that livestock may still exist and to change people’s attitudes towards procuring the meat. Supporting butchers who work directly with the farmers to guarantee the state of the animals is one strong way to influence the market.

I kind of like the idea from Oregon of a meat collective to bring consumers in to learn about their meat from farmers in a way that is both sustainable and educational. And I can certainly agree with this point:

Even if we’re not eating meat every day, we should still learn some more knife skills, says Reed. “People would do well to learn what Grandma knew. Grandma knew how to cut a chicken up.”

Technorati Tags: Environment, Health, Sustainability

Metric is better

<i>by batega

In a Classroom, a Teacher’s Plea for the Metric System

[Via HarvardBusiness.org]

In one of the math classes I teach, there are adults from China, Haiti, Ethiopia, Brazil, Colombia, and an array of other countries. The group is about as diverse as you can imagine, but the one thing everyone has in common is familiarity with the metric system. That should make my job easier, right? Problem is, I teach in the U.S., where the old imperial English system of measurement still reigns supreme.

So, in our little classroom in Massachusetts, immigrant students have to learn clunky units like ounces, gallons, inches, and feet so they can navigate daily life in America. I try to make the class fun by including bits of history and other anecdotes: speculation that the foot was derived from the length of a man’s actual foot or the allure of ordering a pint of beer at an American watering hole. Still, learning imperial units takes time away from lessons on higher-order skills and on the English vocabulary for universal math concepts such as exponents and square roots.

Inevitably, students ask me why Americans continue to use the old system. Most are surprised to learn that even the English have largely given up on it. That’s when I walk us over to the classroom map and ask the group how many nations other than the U.S. still officially use ounces and inches. Guesses are usually in the neighborhood of 10 or 15. When I reveal that the answer is two, they immediately assume that Canada and Australia are the holdouts. The correct answers, though, are Liberia and Myanmar, which we then proceed to find on the map. Perplexed, students cock their heads and ask again, this time with concern, why in the world Americans continue to use the old system.

of the problem. Perhaps my student from Bangladesh (a neighbor of Myanmar) puts it best: “It is the 21st century, yes?”

[More]

The metric system makes dealing with weights and measures so much easier. I would expect that this is one area where math could be a much more fun and easier to learn. I wonder just how much it costs our economy to have to deal with a metric world.

For example, could we export more if we did not have to maintain two separate measures, say nut size, one for us and one for the rest of the world? I know I have to have two sets of wrenches, one english and one metric, in order to be sure I can take off a nut from a bolt.

In a world of metric, and one where our economy becomes a smaller and smaller fraction, this dependency on an outdated system could not only hurt our economy further but hamper the ability of our students to compete.

Report Examines Hidden Costs of Energy

by AGeekMom

Report Examines Hidden Costs of Energy

[Via News from the National Academies]

A new report from the National Research Council examines “hidden” costs of energy production and use — such as the the health impacts of air pollution — that are not reflected in market prices of coal or oil. The quantifiable damages alone were an estimated $120 billion in the U.S. in 2005, a number that reflects primarily health damages caused by air pollution from electricity generation and motor vehicle transportation.

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This is a useful report to keep track of some of the things that need to be understood when discussing energy and its costs. It demonstrates how systems-thinking can help us gain a better idea of what is really going on. You can read the report online, although it is somewhat cumbersome.

The press release details how the market fails to take these things into account, creating some severe dislocations that do not permit people to easily make an informed choice. Coal-fired power plants produce a huge amount of these damages. And just 10 percent of the plants are responsible for 43 percent of the damage. Coal use causes the most damage.

Cars get a little more complicated. For example, plug-in hybrids may reduce the direct production of greenhouse gases substantially, but, currently the electricity needed to power them also comes from greenhouse gas-generating sources. So, the damages done by any car type are about the same, at the moment. As we move to more non-greenhouse gas generating power on the grid, the better electric cars will become.

Fully implementing federal rules on diesel fuel emissions, which require vehicles beginning in the model year 2007 to use low-sulfur diesel, is expected to substantially decrease nonclimate damages from diesel by 2030 — an indication of how regulatory actions can significantly affect energy-related damages, the committee said. Major initiatives to further lower other emissions, improve energy efficiency, or shift to a cleaner mix of energy sources could reduce other damages as well, such as substantially lowering the damages attributable to electric vehicles.

The nonclimate-related damages from cars is expected to come down because of government regulation, particularly with respect to diesel fuels. As the report states, this is an example of the place for regulation in the economy.

New Gore book

by simone.brunozzi
The must-read solutions book — “Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis” by Al Gore.:
[Via Climate Progress]

The long-awaited sequel to An Inconvenient Truth comes out Tuesday. If you want a preview, Gore and the book are featured in an excellent Newsweek cover story, The Thinking Man’s Thinking Man.

In September, Nature Reports Climate Change asked me (and several others) to suggest three books to read ahead of the Copenhagen conference. Of those, they then asked me to review Gore’s new book, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis:

When your last work led to an Oscar and Nobel Prize, anticipation is high on the sequel. And former US Vice President Al Gore’s new book delivers. Our Choice, due out in November, is a wonderfully readable treatise on climate solutions.Whereas An Inconvenient Truth framed the crisis that climate negotiations are tackling, this followup spells out what needs to be done.

Based on 30 of Gore’s ‘Solutions Summits’ as well as one-on-one discussions with leading experts across multiple disciplines, the book aims, in Gore’s words, “to gather in one place all of the most effective solutions that are available now”. Gore naturally focuses on energy, the source of most anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, and discusses many underappreciated strategies such as concentrated solar thermal power and cogeneration. He also devotes a full chapter to soil, a major carbon sink that is gradually degrading. Farming strategies for restoring soil carbon are described, including biochar, a porous charcoal that can potentially enhance the soil sink while providing a source of low-carbon power. And like its PowerPoint-based predecessor, Our Choice is replete with lush photos and simple but powerful charts. This [is] a must-read book for those who want a primer on all the key solutions countries will be considering at Copenhagen.

[More]

This new book is the result of many, many summits Gore has held. It shows some of the changes his thinking has gone through and looks like it will present some things to be done that may actually change things.

Be sure and read it. I’m getting my copy today.

Technorati Tags: Environment, Government, Politics, Science, Sustainability

An old problem with nuclear power

by Topato
Breaking: Toshiba tells San Antonio its new twin $13 billion nukes will cost $4 billion more! The city balks. This looks like a job for clean energy.:
[Via Climate Progress]

One of the very first new nuclear power plants proposed to be built in the U.S. in over 30 years just hit a brick wall. It’s the same brick wall — absurdly high cost — being hit around the world (see “Nuclear Bombshell: $26 Billion cost — $10,800 per kilowatt! — killed Ontario nuclear bid” and “Turkey’s only bidder for first nuclear plant offers a price of 21 cents per kilowatt-hour“).

The San Antonio Express News reports today:

The estimated cost of two new nuclear reactors proposed by CPS Energy has gone up as much as $4 billion, prompting the City Council to postpone Thursday’s vote on the project’s financing until January.

CPS officials and Mayor Julián Castro, flanked by every council member except David Medina, held a hastily arranged news conference Tuesday afternoon announcing the delay.

CPS interim General Manager Steve Bartley said the utility’s main contractor on the project, Toshiba Inc., informed officials that the cost of the reactors would be “substantially greater” than CPS’ estimate of $13 billion, which includes financing.

[More]

There are lots of structural problems with building nuclear power plants but this is often a very important one. The costs often overwhelm any sort of benefits. Seattle almost got caught in this 20 years or so ago. Much of the surrounding areas are still paying higher energy bills for the non-functional plants.

And a problem with increasing rates is that people conserve in response, often preventing the increase in revenues needed to pay for th bonds required by the nuclear power plant construction. Thus rates are increased again. The death spiral that results is often postulated as a reason for the failure of WPPSS.

There is still a lot of excess energy usage that can be dealt with by conservation. Nuclear may need to be a part of future energy needs but there must be careful examination of new plant designs that could ameliorate the costs.

Technorati Tags: Environment

Opening up higher education

Draft report on openness in higher ed.:
[Via Open Access News]

The Committee for Economic Development, a longstanding American business-led think tank, has released a draft of its report, Harnessing Openness to Improve Research, Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. See e.g. the table of contents for chapter 5, “Openness in Higher Education: Changes in Research”:

1. Resistance to Greater Openness
2. Openness and Open-Access Journals
3. Digital Repositories
4. Educating Faculty Members on Their Intellectual Property Rights
5. Openness and Commercial Support of Research
6. Access to Government-Funded Research Results
7. Openness and University Libraries
8. Openness and Academic Presses
9. Openness and Technology Transfer

[More]

One of the many ways higher education will have to change. at least those institutions that want to remain relevant.

Technorati Tags: Education, Open Access

Measuring the starting place

by Jon_Marshall
Recruiting volunteers for the Open University Campaign:
[Via Open Access News]
Kevin Donovan, Call for Participation: Join the Open University Campaign!, Students for Free Culture, October 27, 2009.

As many of you know, following the Free Culture 2008 Conference, Students for Free Culture began the Open University Campaign – an initiative to increase collaboration, sharing, and openness at the level of higher education. …

A primary method through which this will be accomplished is through “report card” style profiles of leading institution of higher learning, similar to College Sustainability Report Cards. Students for Free Culture has already begun this work by defining principles of measurement, researching available resources, and developing surveys to be distributed to universities.

[More]

One of the first things that has to be done to change higher education is to actually measure what is there right now. These sorts of report cards will be instrumental in understanding just what has to change and how.

Technorati Tags: Education, Web 2.0