Worth Reading

Open education resources (OER) – free to use learning resources, which any faculty member or instructor can use in their teaching whether in class, blended or online – is a fast growing resource. There are over one billion OER resources available for use ranging from full courses (see iTunes University for a catalogue) to individual simulations, statistics labs, science experiments or short videos. This book looks at examples of practice and at some of the challenges faculty members and instructors have found when using OER. It’s a valuable introduction for those just starting to explore what OER can do for them.
 
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Aboriginal students represent a significant challenge for universities and colleges in Canada. Significant efforts are being made to recruit and retain more Aboriginal learners and to improve completion rates. But it is a challenge for all sorts of reasons, ranging from financial through cultural to the appropriateness of approaches to learning. This paper from Universities Canada (just as relevant for college administrators) lays out the challenge and suggests thirteen principles which can shape the response to this challenge of low completion rates. While it would be good to have seen some examples of each of these thirteen principles in action through best practice cases and a broader strategic commitment, it is a helpful contribution to the debate.

This is a serious book about game theory and its use in the design of games in a variety of settings. It is not focused solely on online learning. However, an instructional designer seeking to fully leverage gamification in the design of authentic learning needs to understand just what is possible and, by looking at both the theory and practice across a number of fields, new approaches to the integration of games in online learning may become more readily available. There are two focused chapters on learning, but all of them are relevant to the work of instructional design. This is an expensive book, but Springer provides a buy-by-chapter option

Online learning is a fast moving field. Just as we master one technology another comes along to make us feel old fashioned and our students keep pushing us to make use of the “latest” and “greatest”! This book is a down to earth look at what works and how and can be of great value to those of us just trying to keep up.

These two authors, who together have spent more than 70 years in higher education, are optimistic about the future of the university with one caveat. The university must come to grips with the way the digital revolution has changed the acquisition, storage and transmission of information. Can the university adapt to these changes and still remain true to its essential mission?  This book seeks to provide a blueprint of how to do both. Thoughtful, imaginative and sensible.

This is one of those hands on, practical “can do” books which all instructional designers need on the corner of their desk when they are faced with another challenge from the way in which a subject matter expert has presented some learning resources intended for students which have low level of engagement and activity. Very practical and very sensible tried and tested ideas from two well-known authors whose work is widely admired.

Kevin Ashton is the man who coined the term “the Internet of Things”. The book explores how innovation actually occurs and what it takes to go from a big idea to fully realizing that idea. The title comes from the big idea the Wright brothers had following a visit to a bicycle store in Ohio. There are some surprises in this book, but it is important for those of us engaged with technology in learning since the book describes how our big ideas about technology-enabled learning need to be more grounded before they will become a reality for our students.

This tongue in cheek, but nonetheless insightful book, asks to explore what we really know about adult learning. The authors debunk myths about neuropsychology and learning, about learning management systems and about adult learning in general. Well worth a read if you are wanting not to simply repeat the mistakes of the last decade of learning design.

Not a new book, but a good book. Design is a discipline and Julie Dirksen (an instructional designer) has captured both the nature of design and its applications to learning, based on contemporary knowledge and understanding. A refreshing change from the mechanical approaches to instructional design we often see.

Zakaria argues that technology is transforming education, opening access to the best courses and classes in a vast variety of subjects for millions around the world. A liberal education -- studying a broad range of subjects, including the humanities such as history, literature, and the arts – is the best way to train one's mind and even character. Instead of using school to get facts or pre-professional training, this kind of education teaches you to read, to write, and to learn, all of which allow you not only to retool yourself over time, but to live a conscious, self-aware life.

It is a well-argued counter to the policy driven focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics we seem to hear a lot about.