Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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IDEL Assignment: The value of open badges in education
Open badges are already in use by many educational institutes, not-for-profits and companies as a way of visually communicating skills and achievements (Mozilla, 2017). These are a branch of digital badges, differing because they are built from a shared technical framework that allows any organisation, commercial/education or otherwise to issue open badges with consistent attributes.…
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Reflections on IDEL
Has it only been twelve weeks since the start of IDEL? It feels like a lifetime ago, yet just a fleeting moment at the very same time. Having come through the other side I feel a heady mix of inspiration, an excitement for the future, a sense that my understanding in key areas has really…
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“LARCing” about
Catching up on Week 11 after a bout of sickness, I’ve been playing with the LARC tool provided by the University to explore the topic of learning analytics. It provides different styles of reports (lenient, moderate, or strict) based on metrics typically used within learning analytics (attendance; engagement; social; performance; persona). I dived straight in…
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Reflections on Learning Analytics
Week 11 builds on the previous week’s theme of big data, providing a spotlight on the use of data specifically for learning. Unsurprisingly, there are many links and reference points from topics throughout the rest of IDEL. The core readings seem to indicate that the field of learning analytics is still very immature, and when…
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Data Visualisation
This week in IDEL we communication on the course ventured out of the forums and onto Twitter. As we were investigating the concepts of big data, and its role within education, we were challenged to answer some questions around this on the social media platform using the hashtag #mscidel as the identifier. We then used…
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Big Data
As IDEL progressed we seem to have moved away from perhaps some of the more theoretical and human topics, towards a more technical focus. Week 9 was focused on digital badges and blockchaining, and week 10 looks at the concept of ‘big data’ and its implications for education. Like blockchaining, I’m aware of the concept…
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Blockchain and Digital Badges
Building on the paper by Halavais (2012), I’ve been reading around the subjects of blockchain and badges, as prompted by this week’s activities. It’s taken some wrestling to get my head around the concept of blockchain. Although I’m well aware of Bitcoin, the underpinning technology has been explained to me in the past and it’s…
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Reflections on badges
I think we’ve all got our own personal history with badges. Somewhere tucked up in the loft is a scouts sweater stitched with a heap of merit badges, and probably in the same box is a Blue Peter badge for a competition entry. Online, it’s difficult not to notice the Brexit situation creating a plethora…
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MOOC Reflections
As prompted by the IDEL course, I decided to tackle the MOOC titled ‘Religion and Conflict’ on the FutureLearn platform. MOOCs aren’t a particularly new experience for me, like most participants, I’ve started (and not completed) several. I initially contemplated starting a MOOC related to the current IDEL studies (e.g. there’s a course currently on…
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Minds on Fire!
The IDEL course so far has been excellent at instigating a critical view on things. Given this is the first module of a potential Masters, I think the team has crafted an experience that’s insightful and thought-provoking, whilst also creating a firm foundation for the rest of the course. Understandably then, several of the recommended readings…
Got any book recommendations?