Stephen's Web ~ OLDaily

By Stephen Downes
October 21, 2002

NAWeb 2002 Blog The NAWeb 2002 conference continues today with ongoing blogging, including summaries of IBM's Chuck Hamilton, Carl Berger from Michigan, an eBook panel, and more. By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, Octiber 21, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

Is the End in Sight for 'Free' News on the Web? Article based on developments in Europe suggesting that the end of free online news is nigh. But if we employed such methodology, we would also conclude that metered local telephone calling is nigh. Obviously not. It is worth noting that a panel of industry experts concluded this weekend that people will not pay for online news. I am inclined to think this latter assessment is correct. By Bernhard Warner, Reuters, October 17, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

Wearing Four Pairs of Shoes: The Roles of E-Learning Facilitators Nice article identifying four roles of the e-learning facilitator: Instructor: consultant, guide, and resource provider; Social director: creator of collaborative environments; Program manager: director of the agenda; Technical assistant: model of proficiency. In our elearning course discussion we identified some additional roles, including that of referee, arbitrator or enforcer of discipline (we also had a fascinating discussion about "frogging" in multi-user environments). By Ed Hootstein, Learning Circuits, October, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

Teacher Training in Technology Summary of the need for teacher training, their readiness for ICT integration, tools for self-assessment, training models, and more, full of links in their usual style. By Graeme Daniel and Kevin Cox, Web Tools Newsletter, October 20, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

2nd-graders Uncover the News I think this article - about 7 year-olds creating a news show and (intelligently) interviewing such personalities as Colin Powell - should tell us something about the capacity of even very young children to learn advanced skills, especially information skills. By Janet Sugameli, Detroit News, October 21, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

Software Idea May be Just Crazy Enough to Work From the article: "software is being designed to securely handle personal e-mail, calendars, contacts and other such data in new ways, and to make it simple to collaborate and share information with others without having to run powerful, expensive server computers. As with other open-source software, the source code (programming instructions) will be freely available along with the working program. An early version of the calendar part of the software should be posted on the Web by the end of this year, and version 1.0 of the whole thing is slated for the end of 2003 or early 2004." By Dan Gillmor, San Jose Mercury News, October 20, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

Online Facilitation More from the e-learning course. This week: online facilitation. Describes the nature of facilitation, purposes of facilitation, and different facilitation techniques. Interesting discussion of facilitation as conversation. Links to a number of facilitation tools, roles and functions of facilitators and facilitation techniques. Great summary. By George Siemens, elearnspace, October 21, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

The Duality of Knowledge Good overview of Polanyi's and Nonaka's theories of tacit knowledge with the intent of proving (contra Nonaka) that there is some tacit knowledge that cannot be formalized. I like his employment of von Krogh's autopoiesis theory, the idea that knowledge is creational and based on distinction making in observation, that knowledge is history dependent and thus is context sensitive, and therefore that knowledge is directly transferable. This is true to Polanyi: knowledge is a process, not a thing. By Paul M. Hildreth and Chris Kimble, October, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

Your Website Needs a Subscription Strategy Gerry McGovern discovers mailing lists. "Subscription allows you to regularly communicate with your target readers. It allows you to establish an ongoing relationship. It is a highly efficient and cost-effective way of making sure that your message is reaching its target." By Gerry McGovern, New Thinking, October 21, 2002 [Refer][Research][Reflect]

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