Open Course in Education Futures

Earlier in the course, we announced a face-to-face meeting on edfutures in PEI. This past week, Stephen Downes, Alec Couros, Dave Cormier, and I met with a small group at UPEI to discuss futures in education (we've posted a few notes from the discussion). We spent time discussing open courses, some short comings of the model, frustrations with EdFutures, and so on.

This week, we're looking at how data can be used to support or debunk assertions or statements of future implications.

Let's do a practice run together.

Over the last few years, I've lamented that open source is being overtaken by proprietary software that is free-of-cost, but not free in terms of ownership by end users. As a result, Google, Ning, and Facebook have taken the buzz out of Wordpress, Drupal, and other open source software. I've stated as well (somewhat for the sake of antagonism, but partly to give voice to a personal fear) that "open source is dying".

In our discussion of trends to date, we haven't paid much attention to particular methodologies and data sources. A quick skim through the discussion thread on trends reveals numerous interesting opinions on where education (and related fields) are heading. However, opinions alone aren't sufficient in considering the future of education.

Welcome to Week 4 of Future(s) of Education. This week, we'll start weaving together various elements that have been addressed in the first three weeks.

Week 3 is our final detour week before we resume the discussion of futures thinking.

In week 2, critical and creative thinking generated great discussion! The forum will remain open, so please share your thoughts and reactions to topics already presented (or add your own).

The online environment is great for interaction and idea exchange. Sometimes, a face-to-face meeting is still required!

We are pleased to announce a Future(s) of Education conference in Charlottetown, PEI on May 21, 2010.

The full day conference will include presentations, panels, and social networking (of the in-person kind) opportunities.

Fees: $45 per person (basically just to cover meals/snacks/beverages).

We expect a fairly small event with a fairly high level of discourse, debate, and idea sharing.

In our live session this week (recording here), we discussed, briefly, the futures methodology that underlies the work we'll do in this course. The OECD document (pg 3-12) on futures thinking provides a good introduction to trends, scenarios, and methodologies.

Many of the assumptions that existed during the creation of the educational system are being challenge by the internet and emerging technologies.

For example:

- Do we need textbooks?
- Do we need courses?
- What can learners now do for themselves that educators had to do in the past?
- Can transparent classrooms/courses increase learning opportunities by bringing in peripheral participants?