Curious about life in Silicon Valley? Check out episode 1 of Silicon Valley on YouTube (embedding not allowed :( ) The show is not without controversy. As an aside, Sharath reports the show is completely accurate.* *I am kidding. I just want to see if Sharath is keeping his promise to keep up on the EdLab blog.

Participants: - Inferential Foundations for Learning Analytics in the Digital Ocean. John T. Behrens, Pearson - Toward Demonstrating the Value of Learning Analytics for Education. Ryan Baker, Teachers College, Columbia University - Putting the Learner at the Center: Exposing Analytics to Learning Participants. Marie Bienkowski, SRI International - Policies and Capacity Enablers and Barriers for Learning Analytics. Bob Wise, Alliance for Excellent Education Chair: Taylor Martin, Utah State University (spotty wifi so not really live)

ABSTRACT: Sylvia Scribner Award Address: Michelene Chi. Division C - Learning and Instruction; Invited Session Chairs: Patricia A. Alexander, University of Maryland - College Park; Richard E. Mayer, University of California - Santa Barbara PRESENTER: Michelene T.H. Chi, Arizona State University WHERE: Convention Center, 100 Level, 113A; 2:15-3:45pm

My live blog of the session is below.

According to McKinsey and Company, "when you measure news consumption in the U.S. by time spent, rather than raw audience numbers, digital platforms are getting only 8 percent of the action." For the full story click here (thanks Manav for sharing this). Can someone provide a review and/or critique of the McKinsey report? Here are some questions I have: 1) What counts as news? 2) How does time spent on news consumption ...

Check out this story from Venture Beat about the USC Game Pipe Laboratory. I think it provides a nice model for how a unit within higher ed might build on its strengths to achieve a goal. I was only surprised that Professor Jenkins (who was featured in NLT) was not mentioned.

Looking for an alternative to your current email service? Check out Dark Mail. Check out the video on the bottom of this TechCrunch article to learn more. And if you are interested in a smartphone designed for secure encrypted communication (e.g., Blackphone), check out this story.

I just noticed that National Geographic is now requiring log in to access some of their content. For example, you can see what the login/signup experience is like by trying to read the top article on the homepage, Surprising Hybrid Dolphins Revealed. Pay close attention to the "Why am I joining?" page. It includes a video for why you should sign up (along with a reminder that it is FREE). For other stories like

Over the past year, we've developed a bunch of APIs to support EdLab applications and systems (e.g., EdLab Account, Data Dashboard, E-Commerce, mSchool, NLT, Vialogues). During this time, Pranav has also talked about exposing and/or developing APIs for researchers, users, partners, customers, etc. Well, I just read this story from Wired titled, "Leveraging APIs as Part of Digital Strategy" and I think it nicely summaries Pranav's perspectives on EdLab APIs. The story also gives a nice overview of the