What blogs do you read and rely on to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in – or speculations about – next generation learning? My NGLC colleague Stefanie Blouin surveyed the K-12 community earlier this summer and came up with an interesting list of ten top blogs in that important sector. Following suit, we asked the same question of NGLC’s postsecondary grantees. Here are the top vote-getters, along with some other noteworthy ones respondents mentioned:
1. Wired Campus, a blog of the Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/
If you work in higher education and need to know what is happening broadly in technology, especially as it pertains to instruction, you undoubtedly already turn to this critical resource at least weekly. It consists of short pieces by four of the Chronicle of Higher Education’s reporters whose beats touch technology—and sometimes an intern as well—and manages to highlight most of the key developments at the intersection of digital technology and learning.
2. e-Literate
Author and entrepreneur Michael Feldstein, with consultant Phil Hill and others he invites occasionally, are the primary authors of this “hobby weblog,” which focuses on online learning specifically and which offers insights into both research developments and into the business models of education technology companies (Blackboard, Pearson, 2U, et al.)
3. ProfHacker, a blog of the Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/
The Chronicle divides its blogs (and most of the rest of its content) into “News” and “Views.” “Wired Campus (above) is news; ProfHacker is views. As its moniker hints, the views expressed are those of faculty members. They often offer tips and tricks for the use of technology tailored to other academics: “Why I Record My Conference Presentations,” by Natalie Houston of the University of Houston, is a typical recent example.
4. WCET Frontiers
The WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) is a national, membership-driven, non-profit organization which brings higher education together to improve the quality and reach of e-learning programs. WCET staff write on the latest online learning developments. For instance, this summer’s announcement of the Starbucks-Arizona State tuition reimbursement partnership got good coverage here from WCET policy analyst Patrick Lane.
5. Education Dive
http://www.educationdive.com/news/
Five broad topics are the focus at Education Dive, more a website than a blog per se: higher education, K-12 education, technology, policy, and online learning. Both institutional news and reports on the latest developments in the vendor community fall within the areas covered, as does the intersection with workforce policy and issues. The approach combines news and analysis: short summaries of news items are followed by insights from Education Dive blog authors.
6. Bror’s Blog
Bror Saxberg, chief learning officer of Kaplan, Inc., takes up matters ranging from recent sessions at the AERA Annual Conference to the pages of the New York Times. His perspectives on education research findings, policy matters, and innovation are squarely grounded in the latest learning sciences and are guaranteed to provide readers with ideas to ponder.
7. Elearnspace
http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/
George Siemens, executive director of the Learning Innovation and Networked Knowledge Research Lab at the University of Texas at Arlington, is a strategist and thinker in a number of fields: the development of MOOCs (some would say he taught the first one) and learning analytics among them. His blog includes thoughtful reflections on the latest developments in these two evolving areas and others.
8. Confessions of a Community College Dean
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean
Matt Reed, political scientist-turned-administrator and currently vice president of academic affairs at Holyoke Community College, provides highly readable and timely perspectives on many matters, a good percentage of which relate to the technology-enhanced future. For instance, a recent post examines the potential of mentoring in online courses.
9. The Bottom Line, a blog of the Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/blogs/bottomline/
“Follow the money” may be something of a cliché, but those passionate about affordable higher education can’t afford to ignore the advice. This multi-author Chronicle blog includes analysis of the major issues of higher education finance. A recent post here concerned Moody’s Investors Service issuance of a negative outlook for the US higher-education sector.
10. Next Generation Learning Blog
http://nextgenlearning.org/blog
In the spirit of shameless self-and-colleagues promotion, I’ll close as Stefanie did, with a reference to this blog you’re reading on the NGLC website. We aim to cull the most relevant, recent information in K-12 and postsecondary education for busy readers. Bloggers include staff members, grant recipients, and guest bloggers from a variety of backgrounds, including educators, national funders, industry leaders, researchers, and analysts. In addition, we provide summaries of the latest NGLC events and publications, along with helpful links to free materials.