starbucks paper cup with metadata

The Elephant in Education: Open Source Pillaging

Lisa Petrides
As a self-professed metadata geek, I’ve recently been participating in an online discussion about metadata and the Learning Registry. I have to say, it feels as if I’m on a merry-go-round that won’t stop, because for the past ten years I’ve engaged in dozens if not hundreds of conversations about the use of OER (open education resources) metadata concerning these same issues: Do we need it?… Read the rest
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Education Diplomacy: Hillary Clinton’s Global Learning Legacy

Lisa Petrides
Last Monday, during her final week as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton commanded the attention of a global education force field from the State Department, the Arab League, the Department of Education, and a group of representatives from other national and international education organizations and institutions with a simple, but radical idea–education diplomacy–and a road map of how to achieve it.… Read the rest
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Beyond the Textbook

Lisa Petrides
This article initially appeared in the Huffington Post, June 12, 2012 Probably none of us have gone through high school or college without some relationship to that 20th century artifact of learning called the textbook. While I remember in high school not being allowed to write in my textbook, I also remember being delighted in college when I realized that because I bought my own textbooks I could scribble notes in them and highlight with abandon.… Read the rest
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Measuring the Value of a College Degree

Lisa Petrides
This article originally appeared in Huffington Post, College, May 17, 2012 Not long ago, a degree was all it took to open doors. While a diploma from an Ivy League school still gets attention, the reality is that the value of a college diploma is being questioned from all sides. Parents and students want to be reassured that they are not being shortchanged when they sign a student loan.… Read the rest