OER Materials Drive Student Engagement and Savings, Study Finds by Meghan Bogardus Cortez
There is much work to be done in researching both the benefits and the downsides to OER, but I feel like the largest hurdle will continue to be convincing faculty that it does not necessarily need to be more work to utilize OER than traditional textbooks.
However, that requires work from the community to collect and review materials already available.
While I might have completed my MA degree in May, I have now moved onto the next stage of whatever journey God has me on. It is a good thing God knows more than I do because I would be messing things up if I were in charge.
Starting next week I will be teaching CIS 1001 Computing Science Principles online for The College of St. Scholastica as an adjunct faculty member in the Computer Information Sciences department. I was able to teach a 1 credit continuing education course this summer for Martin Luther College, but this will be an entirely new experience as I work with a group of undergrad students for 16 weeks. This is an interesting transition from student to instructor but I am excited for the challenge and opportunity.
The next days will be filled with a lot of preparation as I get ready, and I pray that I can be a valuable instructor for the students I am able to work with this semester!
Integrating Data and Systems to Support Next-Generation Enterprise IT from EDUCAUSE
A colleague of mine stated these things tend to swing back-and-forth when it comes to enterprise systems being either consolidated into monoliths and distributed into “best of breed” solutions being integrated with some sort of middleware systems.
Right now, with the proliferation of software services across a variety of architectures, it looks to be swinging away from monolithic ERP systems to a suite of applications serving the needs of individual departments.
How To Become A Learning Machine: My Tips For Reading More by David Cancel
The one big takeaway for me is that I should probably look at being more purposeful both with my reading and with my note-taking. I have left a lot in those books, and forgotten a lot in my head, which could be useful going forward.
It looks like the open web is having a sort of renaissance in certain segments of the web. You can read some articles from John Gruber, Dave Winer, and Joe Cieplinski.
The term open web is amorphous and means many things to many different people, so trying to nail down a single definition and meaning is akin to nailing Jello to a wall so I’m not going to try to do it.
However, I will throw my hate in the ring and state that I have similar questions about where the web is headed and the continued increase in influence the largest of companies. Google, Facebook, Amazon, and others do not seem willing to concede control to users and this worries me.