Que Universidade? (2) / Which University?

Good advice

mjmatos — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 10:35:32 +0000

Por qué algunos alumnos abandonan la formación eLearning y cómo evitarlo (Why do some students drop out from e-Learning and how to avoid it – spanish only)

(via @mgutierrezo)

LA DEMOCRACIA DEL CONOCIMIENTO – DANIEL INNERARITY

mjmatos — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 10:25:52 +0000

Via Scoop.it – More … or less!

“¿Hasta qué punto las sociedades innovan, más allá de sus sistemas de inovación tecnológica, científica, productiva y económica? Vivimos, efetivamente, en una sociedad descompensada: entre la euforia tecnocientífica y el analfabetismo de los valores cívicos, entre la innovación tecnológica y la redundancia social, entre una cultura crítica en el espacio de la ciencia o en el mundo económico y un espacio político y social donde se innova poco, donde hay una escasa capacidad para articular el equilibrio entre el consenso y el disenso, para canalizar los conflictos y diseñar modelos de convivencia.” (p. 214)
Via www.casadellibro.com

We’re ripe for a great disruption in higher education

mjmatos — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:05:56 +0000

Via Scoop.it – More … or less!

“But the real disruption comes when you stop measuring academic accomplishment in terms of seat time and hours logged, and start measuring it by competency. As all employers know, the average BA doesn’t certify that the degree-holder actually knows anything. It merely certifies that she had the perseverance to pass the required number of courses. The most subversive element of Western Governors University is that it certifies students by competency, not seat time. In fact, students don’t sit in a “class” at all.

There’s no prescribed curriculum. Students are assessed before each course to see which concepts they already grasp and which ones they need to master. Then they’re offered a variety of “learning resources” – textbooks, videos, online simulations, conversations with a tutor – to close the gap. They can complete a course in eight weeks or 80. Routine assessments along the way – and a tough exam at the end – ensure they’ve mastered the material. As one graduate told Washington Monthly, which recently profiled WGU, “If you can prove your competence, why pay all of that money to sit through something you already know?””

(via @AnaCristinaPrts)
Via www.theglobeandmail.com

Umberto Eco: ‘It’s culture, not war, that cements European identity’

mjmatos — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:08:19 +0000

Via Scoop.it – More … or less!

“When it comes to the debt crisis,” says Eco, “and I’m speaking as someone who doesn’t understand anything about the economy, we must remember that it is culture, not war, that cements our [European] identity. The French, the Italians, the Germans, the Spanish and the English have spent centuries killing each other. Today, we’ve been at peace for 70 years and no one realises how amazing that is any more. Indeed, the very idea of a war between Spain and France, or Italy and Germany, provokes hilarity. The United States needed a civil war to unite properly. I hope that culture and the [European] market will do the same for us.” (via @danicar)
Via www.guardian.co.uk

Psychology Professor sent this email to all of his students after a class spent discussing religion. – Imgur

mjmatos — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 10:29:29 +0000

Via Scoop.it – More … or less!
[...]

“The purpose of a university, and my course in particular, is to struggle intellectually with some of life’s most difficult topics that may not have one right answer, and try to come to some conclusion about what may be ”the better answer” (It typically is not the case that all views are equally valid; some views are more defensible than others). Another purpose of a university, and my course in particular, is to engage in open discussion in order to critically examine beliefs, behaviors, and customs. Finally, another purpose of a university education is to help students who typically are not accustomed to thinking independently or applying a critical analysis to views or beliefs, to start learning how to do so. We are not in class to learn ”facts” and simply regurgitate the facts in a mindless way to items on a test. Critical thinking is a skill that develops over time. Independent thinking does not occur overnight. Critical thinkers are open to having their cherished beliefs challenged, and must learn how to “defend” their views based on evidence or logic, rather than simply “pounding their chest” and merely proclaiming that their views are ”valid.” One characteristic of the critical, independent thinker is being able to recognize fantasy versus reality; to recognize the difference between personal beliefs which are nothing more than personal beliefs, versus views that are grounded in evidence, or which have no evidence.”

[...]

(via @courosa)
Via imgur.com

Making Minds Less Well Educated Than Our Own, Roger C Schank

mjmatos — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:10:15 +0000

Via Scoop.it – More … or less!
“When we focus on intellectual and scholarly issues in high school as opposed to more human issues like communications, or basic psychology, or child raising, we are continuing to rely upon out dated notions of the educated mind that come from elitist notions of who is to be educated. In that ubiquitous view, education for the masses is the same as education for the intellectual elite and education for the intellectual elite is anything but practical. So while the goal seems to be to educate everyone equally, the reality is that those who survive the current system are educated in a particular way that is less and less relevant to operating in today’s world.”

[p. viii]
Via www.bookdepository.co.uk

Learning with ‘e’s: 10Q: Cathy N. Davidson

mjmatos — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:46:28 +0000

Via Scoop.it – More … or less!
“SW: What does brain science contribute to our understanding of how we learn? CND: [...] On the positive side, we know is that the brain learns by unlearning: when we are disrupted, when we make a mistake, we build on that. Habits are efficient, but they also get us into a lot of trouble since we can no longer see what is habitual. I believe in calculated, creative disruption as the single most important ingredient in learning. That’s how you write code, of course. You don’t memorize. You work on it until it works and, when it doesn’t, you figure out what does work.”

(via @timbuckteeth)
Via steve-wheeler.blogspot.com

Learning with ‘e’s: 10Q: Shelly Sanchez Terrell

mjmatos — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:34:42 +0000

Via Scoop.it – More … or less!
“SW: What are the barriers to good learning?
ST: I see many people who have gone through the rigors of the education system and lose their love for learning. They begin to equate learning to what is forced upon them in schools and forget the excitement of always being curious and searching for answers, finding different solutions, and having many more questions. I think the greatest barrier to good learning is that society tries too hard to control and standardized a process that is very individualized.” (via @timbuckteeth)
Via steve-wheeler.blogspot.com

El futuro y sus enemigos: una defensa de la esperanza política: Daniel Innerarity

mjmatos — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:43:10 +0000

Via Scoop.it – More … or less!
“Si no hay anticipación, la acción política se reduce a gestionar las urgencias, cuando ya no hay márgenes de maniobra. Como decía Talleyrand, «cuando es urgente, ya es demasiado tarde». La política se abandona al muddling through, en el que mandan los plazos cortos y las soluciones provisionales sustituyen a los grandes proyectos de configuración, de manera que los mismos problemas reaparecen una y otra vez en la agenda política. La política pierde así su función de actor configurador y adopta el estatuto de jugador reactivo o reparador de daños.
No es extraño entonces el fenómeno de la desafección, que refleja, no tanto una decadencia de las obligaciones cívicas, cuanto una cierta racionalidad de los electores, que expresan así con su desinterés la pérdida de significación real de la política en relación con el curso de la historia. La actual crisis de la política no es una crisis asociada a momentos de ruptura y decisión, sino al hecho de que no hay nada que decidir, que las dinámicas sociales se hayan emancipado frente a las posibilidades de configuración intencional haciendo de la política algo irrelevante.” (p. 84)
Via www.bookdepository.co.uk

George Steiner, a certain idea of knowledge

mjmatos — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 09:55:09 +0000

Via Scoop.it – More … or less!

“In a sense, I am happy that I don’t understand. Imagine a world where neuro-chemistry could explain Mozart… It is conceivable, and I find it frightening. Machines are already interacting with our brains: computers and humankind are already working together. There may come a day when historians realise that the most important event in the 20th century was not the war or the financial crash, but the evening when Kasparov lost a game against a little metal box.”
Via www.presseurop.eu