OLDaily By Stephen Downes June 19, 2002 Livia Stoyke Today's OLDaily is dedicated to Livia Stoyke, a bright, engaging young web developer who worked with me on the MuniMall project while I was in Edmonton. Livia died Sunday in a kayaking accident near Banff. By Staff, Edmonton Journal, June 18, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect] Major Contract Launches Enersource Telecom's Fibre Optic Telecommunications Service The Peel school boards are justly regarded as among Canada's most advanced when it comes to adopting new technologies. Today's announcement cements that distinction as their service provider, Enersource, announced the installation of a $27 million fibre-optics network "at the price of traditional telephone service" and providing 10 times the capacity of a standard copper T1. By Press Release, Enersource, June 18, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect] Hard Talk With Thiagi Interview with Sivasailam "Thiagi" Thiagarajan of QBInternational, a California company that provides custom e-learning solutions. Thiagi sounds like a lot of fun and I like the fact that he can prepare a one-day workshop in five minutes. The interview discusses his "alternative" instructional design process, the 4Cs (Continuous, Concurrent, Creative, and Co-design), as opposed to the usual 4Ds (Define, Design, Develop, and Deliver). 4C seems to be much more in like with rapid and iterative development, and therefore, much more in tune with my thinking. Worth mentioning is elearningposts's new look, tested today. A few more changes and they'll have adopted the OLDaily format to a tee. ;) By Maish R Nichani, elearningpost, June 14, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect] Teaching the World a Lesson Interesting article sketching the background and ideas of John Sperling, the architect behind the University of Phoenix. The theme of the story is that Sperling's socialist roots and ideals spawned a capitalist triumph, a theme which to me suggests that the author doesn't really understand socialism. Yes, the University of Phoenix is a private enterprise, but the idea behind it - an affordable education for the masses - has its roots in left wing theory. Sure, Sperling is now rich. But that does not refute socialism, it merely refutes a long held myth about socialism. On an unrelated note, this article is located on the DEOS mailing archive. The Economist requires that readers pay a subscription fee in order to access it, making it unavailable except through this copy. Now before you cry copyright fowl, I should point out that the article was sent to the list by the Economist's own email service. That's why you see the relentless subscription ads at the bottom. Interesting tactic. By Unknown, The Economist, June, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect] The Education Shibboleth This review of Allison Wolf's book, "Does Education Matter?" takes to task the idea that education for all stimulates economic growth. The thesis advanced in the book is that the push for an open and egalitarian educational system drains resources from the elite universities. But it is graduates the elite universities that work on the forefront of new science and technology, producing the innovations required for economic growth. In response, as John Sener comments on DEOS, we could point out that "Simple math tells us that one can provide the same level of education for an elite, add a "lesser" level of education for the masses, and thus provide education for more at a 'reduced average quality' while still maintaining the high level of elite education." By Unknown, The Economist, June 6, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect] The Internet Gets Serious With a dark grin, a commentator on the discussion board (click on the [Discuss] link at the top of the page) took me to task for revealing the contents of the Covey course, referring me to this article in the Washington Post providing an overview of the internet's new security and copyright concerns. A good quote at the end of it: "Everyone believes they are entitled to at least as much money as they made before," said Bill Raduchel, chief technology officer of AOL Time Warner Inc., which is in an especially tricky position as both an Internet company and a movie studio. "Everyone wants someone else to take the haircut." By Jonathan Krim, Washington Post, June 19, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect] 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]