Learning Technology eBrochure The European Committee for Standards (CEN) Information Society Standardization System releases its first news bulletin. Mostly a collection of vocabulary initiatives, the bulletin illustrates how difficult the problem of learning objects and metadata can become in a multilingual environment. By , CEN/ISSS, November 1, 2001.[Refer]

Critical Thinking on the Web A collection of critical thinking resources supplemented by regular additions and examples of critical thinking in web based media. The focus of this site is to promote critical thinking generally, though critical thinking in learning is also emphasized. Links to a number of critical thinking tests to allow educators to evaluate the improvement in critical thinking as the result of an online (or traditional) course. By Tim van Gelder, , .[Refer]

Online Communities: Networks That Nurture Long-Distance Relationships and Local Ties Pew releases a major new study of online communities. The study shows that the Internet "expands users' social worlds and connects them more deeply to the place where they live". It reveals that 84% of Internet users, or about 90 million Americans, say they have used the Internet to contact or get information from a group. It calls them call them "Cyber Groupies." (ugh) By John B. Horrigan, Pew Internet Project, November 1, 2001.[Refer]

The Napster Network Community The theme of the 'fall of the public man' (sorry, it's not my phrasing) has emerged a fair bit recently: the suggestion is that people are withdrawing from traditional community bt are replacing their involvement with online community. This essay studies the Napster online community from that perspective. It concludes that it was indeed a real community from several theoretical perspectives, but argues that the transient nature of communities like the Napster show that the virtual community cannot replace the traditional community. By Kacper Poblocki, First Monday, November 1, 2001.[Refer]

Unexploited Resources of Online Education for Democracy - Why the Future Should Belong to OpenCourseWare Oh, I like this summation: "MIT's logic simply can be described in this way: More open access to source code or course material will generally lead to an increase of knowledge, which in turn will lead to increased innovation in all fields, and stimulate the economy, which ultimately will benefit MIT." A good analysis of the MIT initiative and why it may succeed despite the arguments of those who feel that knowledge should be privatized. By Kei Ishii and Bernd Lutterbeck, First Monday, November 1, 2001.[Refer]

Act Now for Web Content Management Bargains This is interesting (and keep in mind that learning management systems (LMS) are simply specialized content management systems): "As Web content management (WCM) core functions move toward commodity status, market forces push product prices lower. However, Gartner expects that by 2002, half of today's WCM vendors will fail, merge or be in niche markets." By Mark Gilbert, Gartner Group, October 30, 2001.[Refer]

KNOW A FRIEND WHO MIGHT ENJOY THIS NEWSLETTER?

Feel free to forward OLDaily to your colleagues. If you received this issue from a friend and would like a free subscription of your own, you can join our mailing list at http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/website/subscribe.cgi

[ About This NewsLetter] [ OLDaily Archives] [ Send me your comments]