Online Communities Workshop If you followed the link to the online communities conference I mentioned yesterday, you have faced a password request (it disappears when you have cookies). This is the correct link. They have also asked me to say that the workshop is organized together by Timsoft Romania and e-Learning Centre UK. Consider it said. By , , .[Refer]

WebCT And Pearson Education Canada Form Partnership OK, this is just the sort of thing I've been trying to warn people about. Pearson Education Canada, a division of one of the world's leading media companies, Pearson plc, is Canada's largest publisher, and therefore is a major force in educational publishing. WebCT will be the exclusive distributor of Pearson Education Canada's e-Packs. This is not a marketplace. It's a cartel! By Press Release, WebCT, December 4, 2001.[Refer]

Microsoft-Blackboard Partnership Stirs Debate Speaking of cartels, the Blackboard and Microsoft alliance - mentioned several weeks ago here in OLDaily - is beginning to arouse some criticism. According to this article from Princeton, there are fears that the deal will reduce software options for colleges and universities. These exclusive deals, of course, are an inevitable part of the consolidation that is coming to online learning. Vendors who don't sell privileged access to large corporations like Microsoft and Pearson will be frozen out of the marketplace and will pay the price. By Brian Henn, The Daily Princetonian, December 4, 2001.[Refer]

MIT Team Reports Tips for Successful Virtual Collaborations According to this press release, an interdisciplinary MIT team has identified key factors for successful virtual collaborations among members of globally dispersed teams. This news release oddly contrasts with the discussion of online learning communities in the online conference mentioned above. While the conference participants stress human factors, such as honesty, responsiveness, relevance and respect, the MIT study concentrates on technological factors such as its reliability, availability, and support. There is a disconnect here that I can't quite put into words... If you are logged into the conference, see this post which summarizes Palloff and Pratt's 'Building Learning Communities in Cyberspace.' By Press Release, MIT News, December 5, 2001.[Refer]

The Learning Manager 3.2 A new version of TLM (The Learning Manager) was released December 1. TLM 3.2 is claimed to be in compliance with AICC, IMS and SCORM. Thus users of TLM should be able to import courseware from third party vendors such as courseware vendors such as SkillSoft, NETg, Click2Learn, and DiscoverWare. The link takes you to a free preview. By , , .[Refer]

12 Common Mistakes in Email Marketing I often say educators can learn from marketers. Case in point. This article could as easily be applied to professional development campaigns or even online courses. Many of the riules in this article are things I thought specifically about before launching OLDaily (especially the one about delayed gratification). Another thing: note the name of the site (Professors and Professionals). Convergence means more than just the blending of radio, television and internet. It also means the blending of learning and commerce. By Grokdotcom.com , MarketingProfs.com, 2000.[Refer]

Dollars & $ense: The Price of Information Florida Atlantic University has a web page comparing the costs of journals and databases to luxury items like cars and houses. It is based on a display located in the library itself. And I'll say it again: when you don't even pay your authors, there is simply no way you can justify a subscription fee of a thousand dollars or more. No way. By , Florida Atlantic University, .[Refer]

Library Sees Red Over Rising Journal Prices Or here's another way to do it: At Brown they've taken to putting red price tags on their journals in the library so people can see the cost of the subscriptions. Thought $1000 a year was bad? How about $10,000 per year? By Scott J. Turner , George Street Journal, March 10, 2000.[Refer]

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