OEB 2012 (Online Educa Berlin)

OEB 2012 - quite some input and inspiration

Intro

The most retweeted tweet, I think, is (still being retweeted 7 days later):

@OEBconference: We need to stop talking about social networks and start talking about learning networks @markmilliron #OEB12

Another beloved tweet:

#oeb12 People who use PowerPoint have 1) no power, nor 2) a point! 

I have learned many things at this conference, one of which is the CASE method: Copy and Steal Everything! Because I am a life-long learner, I will apply it here as much as I can.

The site of Online EDUCA Berlin

Let's begin!
Dr Mark Milliron made a great opening of the conference, cf. the tweet that has been retweeted and retweeted. His presentation is fun. If you have time, watch it! (The videos of the opening plenary are here.) But please, watch Sir Michael Barber for a few minutes, approximately from the middle of his speech onwards, to be exact, starting with the slide that reads "Content is ubiquitous" at 12:57. There you'll learn about somebody, who, in one year, read everything that had been published about physics! And the following few minutes of his talk led me to tweet:

@sarahfrederickx: "Campuses are not needed; students can be anywhere." What about conference venues? ;-) There is the avalanche!  @MichaelBarber9 #OEB12

I was overwhelmed by the Twitter feed. It was the first time that I tried to multitask at a conference (taking notes, following the feed, and if possible not forgetting to think about what I was listening to). It was hard work. Funnily, on the first day, I was mentioned under 'Community Influencers' by http://crowd-learning.org/oeb12/ where you could see my web-life avatar (blond girl in red with the big glasses). That must have been a mistake. ;-)
In contrast, Iain MacLaren, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland, @iainmacl was hugely productive.

The OEB 2012 was well organized. The venue (InterContinental) is well adapted for the amount of people. The smokers' lounge was cold but under a roof and the Marlene bar a safe haven with expensive (€ 4.50) but delicious cappuccino.
My highlights were:

@sarahfrederickx: MyOEB (agenda builder) helped a lot, THE Debate and 'Open Education Examined' where @FredTruyen said "Mobility in the mind!" #OEB12

It was a good because...

The best about most of the sessions was the impeccable choice of speakers –even though some were not the best presenters and made rookie mistakes: No, no, do NOT look at the giant screen behind you! Not again, no.– because it offered a well-rounded view of the topic. The 'MOOCs Examined' session is the exemplary example here.

So I'll begin with the MOOCs before I tell you about VUCA, the OpenCourseware Consortium, the thumb thing, cMinds and Minecraft, one speaker's fail, and my favourite speaker. He was my favourite because of what he said and, that being said, something changed in my mind. (On a different note: Belgian beer rocks!)

MOOCs Examined

@OEBconference: We're at the beginning of a new phase in distribution of knowledge - let's get it right! #OEB12

Hannes Klöpper, the corporate guy

In a nutshell MOOCs offer a win-win situation for corporations and universities.
"Imagine a stadium filled with 100'000 young chemists, engineers, ..."

He pinned it down to four success factors: video, community, instant feedback, and the event character (simultaneity). iVersity, where Hannes Klöpper works, proposes to use MOOCs in corporations for marketing and recruitment purposes.

@digisim: My interpretation of Corporate Open Content from Hannes Klöpper: #oeb12 http://t.co/IWtoHlfW

Gary Matkin, the one that is part of it all

(Slideshow)
The Dean of Distance Learning at the University of California began by saying: "If you've heard of 'death by powerpoint' prepare to meet your maker." So, here are just two slides:

And I have heard the following before:

@wfvanvalkenburg: #oeb12 A university should never sign the default contract of coursera according to Gary

@iainmacl: Argues that coursera contract not compatible with high ranked university quality #OEB12

Giving a more positive perspective, Matkin argued that MOOCs would boost OCW and OER in higher education.

An amazingly intelligent question/remark from the audience surfaced: "The learning is for free but the assessments will not be for free!?" and this topic was to come up again in the debate that very evening.

To round it off,

@digisim: An observation - MOOC's make "rock star" teachers! #oeb12 http://t.co/yvwUOtNk

Robert Cummings, the guy with the questions

I didn't take notes at all at that time. I think I was mesmerized, but mostly tired. Robert Cummings asked a lot of questions. Here is his abstract.

One thing he questioned very well was the massiveness, openness, online-ness and course-ness of MOOCs.

@wfvanvalkenburg: #oeb12 moocs are not massive, only 160k students. World of Warcraft, that's massive!

Iain was always funny, and he interpreted Robert Cummings speech in his own way:

@iainmacl: #OEB12 like I said, the definition is Massively Over-hyped Online Content-dump

One bad point about this session: no talk about pedagogy, and nowhere was it to be found throughout the conference.

@digisim: Are we in danger of encouraging death by MOOC over death by PowerPoint? So far no discussion on MOOC's pedagogy #oeb12 http://t.co/gXpHP5Vh

VUCA

You just need to know about this! Africa brought it to Berlin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatility,_uncertainty,_complexity_and_ambiguity

Open Education Examined

OCW (OpenCoursware Consortium)

Some links to check out:
http://www.ocwconsortium.org
http://www.saylor.org
http://www.ictp.tv

and OER (Open Educational Resources)

Frederik Truyen, KU Leuven CS Digital, Belgium
Students' Agency in Open Courseware: Perspectives of Students in Taking Responsibility over Open Courseware

He blew my mind, and it was not a particularly great presentation but it had meaning, it touched my heart. He sees knowledge as a task, responsibility, ressource, asset,... (not as a requirement, commodity, effect, or measured in output), and mobility is important. Furthermore:

from http://www.slideshare.net/ocweu/oeb12-perspectives-of-students-in-taking-responsibility-over-open-courseware

One of the conclusions that one could draw was: If my content is open, it will be enabling others because it may be reused, revised, redistributed, remixed.

Mobility in the mind!

I was high and I retweeted and commented:

@sarahfrederickx: I need to support this! RT @ocwnews Willem asks why aren't more EU countries participating in #OCW? #OCWEU aims to change this. #OEB12

The OEB Debate

The Debate was fun, and absolutely interesting. The motion was:

The House believes that a ban on diplomas and degrees awarded by schools and universities would have a positive impact on competence development and lifelong learning.

With lots of humour, all the surrounding topics were touched. Thanx! and we banned them.

@sarahfrederickx: ;-) RT @OEBconference And the audience vote is in - the motion carries! #OEB12 votes for a ban on degrees and diplomas.

Learning Futures: Over the horizon

Check out the software Wolfram Alpha, and if you get into it, it will blow your mind. (Seb Schmoller's suggestion.)

Kayvon Beykpour, General Manager of Blackboard Mobile, USA, is thinking about what it needs to live mobile. Watch his speech about disrupting the industries! I may even watch it again.

Enhanced Skill Development with Games and Augmented Reality

Martin Steinicke, University of Applied Sciences HTW-Berlin, Germany, didn't present very well but his leading question 'How to manage innovation?' led to insights, at least for me. Change is difficult. Humans are very complex. And, why does this work? It –Using In-Game Artefact-Creation to Facilitate Learning in Change and Innovation Workshops– just does.

academe

academe (test & learning flashcards for Swiss universities) was present at OEB 2012 in a session on Friday. The presentation was the best of the session! ;-)
Last but not least, a short video of impressions at OEB. At 1:38 you can see @KarinNiffeler1, the 'mother' of academe (@academeSWISS).

Impressions

Link

Extro

Did I forget to tell you about the thumb thing, cMinds and Minecraft, one speaker's fail. Well, you had to be there.

Do you like illuminated cities? Check out Berlin by night after OEB 2012.

Thanx for reading!

----------------------------------------------------
Following you will find a few interesting comments/suggestions, again, if you have time.

@crowd_learning: Never memorize things you can look up - Albert Einstein #oeb12

@iainmacl: #OEB12 by the way, you can't beat the sense of authenticity when a Greek speaker talks about 'Socratic pedagogy'.

@LeadershipBk: #oeb12 ask yourself if EDUCA teaches in the way it is advocating

@edithlemieux: RT @mS_res: Top 5 skills for 21st-century learners: choice, conversation, curation, creation and collaboration #oeb12
(I haven't heard the word 'conversation' so many times in such short time at the OEB in Berlin. Weird!?)

@scienceofyes: To everyone @OEBconference #oeb12 the video animation on persuasion that everyone is talking about can be found here 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFdCzN7RYbw&sns=em

@jorisdesseyn: And now: cinema. Connected: the film. More info and an Educator's Edition via http://connectedthefilm.com/ #oeb12 http://t.co/jpfQHIDy

And if flipping it it is: https://www.fi.ncsu.edu/project/fizz/pd/lecture

http://howtomooc.org/programm/

Quelle expérience!

Nous avons beaucoup et très bien mangé.  :-)
Voici l'album photos.

Platter, Platter, where is the best meal in Italy?

The Route

Organizing every stop has been demanding. Some restaurants just think they can close on Mondays or Tuesdays! It is 17 Sept and we have the route:

 
View Larger Map

 Ufff. Let's see!

Screencasts

Screencasts are bad. This is true. Most of them, whereever they are, are a pain to watch. Either the language isn't clear, the demo is too long, the resolution is too low, the sound isn't clear, ... The list goes on.

Why is it that people like to watch them? Do they really like watching them?

From Dubai to Zighy Bay, holidays to paradise!

We had wonderful, exquisite, delicious holidays. Here you can find an iPhoto slideshow, just some of our pictures and further down a SmileBox Photobook and simple slideshows with comments. Enjoy!

Slideshow

Large slideshow - My favourite slideshow, 145 pictures, really nice, best quality.

Medium slideshow - The same, lesser quality, for slower connections.

Download (Large slideshow, 138 MB)

Pictures

The pictures are in my MobileMe Gallery.

If you like SmileBox, go ahead. (I went a little crazy!)

Holiday Teaser: Photobook 8 pages

Slideshow with comments (145 pictures)

If you are in a hurry, here is a faster slideshow (85 pictures, just about 2 minutes)