By Stephen Downes
April 11, 2003
Teaching in the Wireless
Cloud
This article discusses the impact of
wireless connectivity on teaching and learning in the
classroom. I think the key point is this: "The notion of
college as a separate space removed from the world, already
weakened by the internet, is further sapped by mobile
access to the world beyond the ivory tower. The campus
becomes a different place when a student can connect with a
content expert anywhere in the world from the steps of a
gym, or compare notes with a student on another continent
from a classroom doorway." By Bryan Alexander, The Feature,
April 7, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Federal Judge Throws Out Harvard Law
Student's Challenge to Digital-Copyright
Law
*sigh* I'll just note this judge's decision
to prohibit some types of research under the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and move on to happier (and
more sensible) things. By Andrea L. Foster, Chronicle of
Higher Education, April 10, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
D'Arcy Norman's Learning Commons
Weblog
It's interesting to watch David Wiley
reach out - as he has been the last few weeks - to the
learning object community. This article is a summary of
points covered in a conference call he had with a number of
learning object developers today. Even more interesting is
the fact that he seems to be saying the right things,
mostly, from my perspective. D'Arcy Norma writes, "Online
learning is different than traditional, conventional
classroom-based learning. Not necessarily better or worse,
but different, and we need to recognize that in order to do
it properly. 'You can't just put a course online.' -
Exactly. You can move teaching or instruction online, but
it's a different thing than just save-as-online-course."
Oh, and more. "Caller: BUT standardized testing goes
completely against this strategy - students are trained to
be rote memorization learners, and rebel against anything
else. DW: They DO know how to do this - they just refuse to
do that in the context - they freely go online to research
tips for Grand Theft Auto or other games, but that doesn't
carry over into the classroom." Yes, exactly. Now of course
I argued about this with David Merrill last year. This - the point Wiley makes -
is the hardest one for people to get. But now, watch for a
lot of interesting stuff to be coming from Utah... and
Calgary. By D'Arcy Norman, D'Arcy Norman's Learning Commons
Weblog, April 11, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Students Put Their Own Spin on Downloading
Music
The record industry hoped to capture
students' attention with a recent series of huge lawsuits
against file sheres. It did. The students are now up in
arms and openly defiant. "I'm not scared," says UCLA
history major Ean Plotkin, 21, who says he still downloads
regularly. "The record labels will never be able to stop
downloading. It's too widespread." In fact, he says, he
doesn't see it as theft. "This is exactly like going to the
library. Do I have to pay to check out a book? I'm just
listening to the song, not selling it."
By Jefferson Graham, USA Today, April 10, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Hot, Sweaty and Scandalous
There
were several stupid patent claims this week - including one
on storing and downloading video - but the kicker is this
one filed by Bikram Choudhury who wants royalties to be
paid by anyone who uses his style of teaching yoga. No word
on whether he is, in turn, contemplating any compensation
to the people and culture of India. This link is to one of
those Salon articles with the silly ad feature, so be
prepared to be satisfied with the first four paragraphs or
to go get a coffee while the ad plays. By Nora Isaacs,
Salon, April 4, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
RELOAD Releases Beta of Open Source Metadata
Editor
OK, we (the learning object community)
really needed this: an open source XML authoring tool that
reads schema (XSD) files to allow the creation of both
simle and complex metadata files. This article from CETIS
is a review of the project, currently released as a beta
version, called Reload. You can read the project
documentation at the RELOAD (Re-usable eLearning Object
Authoring and Delivery) website or hack the code directly
by downloading the source from SourceForge. Written in Java, the product
will run on most computer environments and is distributed
under GPL. By Wilbert Kraan, CETIS, April 7, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Lou Rosenfeld and Steve Krug on the User
Experience Consulting Experience
Is Usability
Experience (UX) nothing more than a marketing campaign?
Well, maybe, but the intent of the concept is to combine
the aspects of usability and information architecture, to
look at a user's total experience with a website. This
article will give you a reasonably good overview of the
field as the author interviews two of the major players,
Lou Rosenfeld and Steve Krug. By Andy King, WebReference,
April 10, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Apple reportedly pursuing purchase of
Universal Music
What would happen were the
company that coined the slogan "Rip, Mix, Burn" to acquire
the largest music distribution in the world? Perhaps,
suggests this article, sanity, as a lone voice of reason
joins the RIAA. It's too early to say yet, but a
blockbuster deal may be in the works as Apple might be
about to pick up Vivendi's music division. How interesting
could this get? Suppose, when you purchased a Mac, you
received free access to music library? By Unknown, San
Jose Mercury News, April 11, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
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