If you have a few spare minutes in your hectic schedules you should check out http://wikieducator.org Just be warned it might take up more of your time than you might expect…
What is Wikieducator? It is a collaborative space for the planning of education projects linked with the development of free content. A space to develop free content on Wikieducator for e-learning and to work on building open education resources (OERs) and a space to network funding proposals developed as free content.
It was voted by Stephen Downes as the best educational wiki last year and if the developments that have happened are anything to go by, watch this space.
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Another great online resource that is both practical and free is CasePlace. It has useful resources like up to date case studies, syllabi and innovative teaching materials on business and sustainability.
One of the major benefits of CasePlace is that almost all of the content on the site is free. Some of the content providers charge for their information but the rest of it is for free and available to the public.
The site is designed specifically for business schools and their faculties, “To facilitate new curriculum development and new connections among faculty with aligned interests.” But it is really open to anyone interested in social and environmental concerns in business.
The website has loads of tools and resources from Audio and Video files, books, background reports, links and more all available after you complete your free registration. There is also a really great section on Teaching Modules which are all structures around specific themes.
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While doing my usual browse through my favorite websites I came across Piers Fawkes‘ Article on A Deeper Look At Co-Working on PSFK.
These days it is becoming more common for companies to open up their work-places to other businesses. There are various reasons to do this (aside from the obvious shared-cost benefit)
With the move towards collaboration many companies prefer to have fellow creative close to hand in case there is an opportunity to develop or to share a project. There is also the added bonus of another set of skills in the same office that can be tapped into.
The general trend seems to be the feeling of community that people get from working together. There is a more social aspect to how people interact and this makes for a better working environment. While many companies are hesitant to join forces with others, for some the benefits are too real to pass up.
So if you have spare space in your office it might just benefit you to rent it out to a firm that you work with. Not only will you save on the rent, but you will also have them close at hand when you need to deliver on a project. You get the benefits of hiring a freelancer while having them around all the time, paying you to be there…
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For many students the big downside to leaving university is the debt left over from your years of study. There are a few options open to the student looking to pay off their loans in innovative ways and Dissertation.com is one of the more innovative ways I have encountered.
At Dissertation.com they allow you to publish your dissertation, either in hard cover, soft cover or an E-book. They also give you royalties on any sales you might receive… you get between 20 and 40 percent of the sales and the agreements are not exclusive so you aren’t locked in.
“The primary function of Dissertation.com is to provide students, researchers, and the general public with low cost access to your academic dissertation.” By providing a data-base of dissertations on a variety of topics by students all over the world, Dissertation.com gives one access to an amazing array of theses.
From “Good Military Wives Stay In The Closet” to “The Information Age and Diplomacy” you can find it at Dissertation.com
The topics are wide-ranging as you can imagine and there is an amazing amount of information available to the public so go and check it out, there is a submission form you can complete to see if you are eligible to submit your dissertation and you never know you might just get published and make some money out of your years of labour.
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The book The Age of Conversation is finally available.
For those of you who haven’t heard, The Age of Conversation was authored by 100 people and the topic is” The Conversation Age” and basically each person gets one page (around 400 words). It is based on the concept of We is Smarter than Me.
Subscribing to the concept of a group conversation around a topic the book gives thoughts on the conversation age.
You can buy it here with the proceeds from book sales going to charity… They had a Social Media Bum Rush to promote the book to get everybody to buy it at the same time to get it to the top of amazon… Sneaky.
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While checking out Lancaster University’s CSALT page, (Center for Studies in Advanced Learning Technology) I came across the Sixth International Conference on Networked Learning. It is a research-based conference on networked learning in higher education and lifelong learning.
This year the conference is being hosted by the Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki and the University of Piraeus in Halkidiki, Greece.
The three keynote speakers are Diana Laurillard, Charalambos Vrasidas and Yannis Dimitriadis and there seem to be some very interesting topics being covered.
Here is a short list of some of the Symposia…
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Executive education is making a shift from the traditional teaching techniques and subjects to a more holistic approach. Business Schools are changing their curriculum to better suit today’s business demands. Today’s MBA is still based around the core principals it has always been based but subject matter is changing to meet the needs of today’s businesses.
Leadership skills and broader general-management skills are more sought after than ever before and business schools are looking to supply a more all-round qualification for today’s MBA students. Harvard has added to it’s curriculum bringing in subjects such as Leadership and Corporate Responsibility and Stanford has changed it’s MBA moving towards getting students to learn by doing.
Harvard is now teaching students how to bond and how to build a sense of community. The courses are incorporating more social awareness and how to develop people skills thereby giving a more holistic sense of businesses place in society.
Many MBA’s now offer more flexibility and customisation than ever before and with the demands of society having altered it seems these changes have been received well. The modular format used by some business schools has an added benefit that you can apply what you are learning directly to your work outside the classroom.
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The founder of the Gurteen Knowledge Community, David Gurteen is heading to SA in November to be hosted by Symphonia.
The Gurteen Knowledge Community is a network of over 14000 people who are committed to making a difference. He also started the Gurteen Knowledge Website which is a resource for the Knowledge Community.
He is well known for his Knowledge Cafes which are the regular meetings of the Gurteen Knowledge Community as well as a free monthly newsletter, the Gurteen Knowledge Letter. You can check out his series of short stories on knowledge management here.
We will keep you posted as to details and dates of his visit.
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