By Stephen Downes
August 28, 2003
Sipping Merlot's RSS Feeds
The
story of the day is MERLOT's launch of its RSS feeds -
20 in all, featuring new and reviewed resources in nine
different subject areas. But the highlight of the day is
Alan Levine's scathing criticism of the feeds. He writes,
"I've been told numerous times that MERLOT is protective of
its meta-data, the crown jewels, the coin of the realm.
However, I still have not seen how providing a feed of item
titles, content, and a link to a MERLOT item entry URL
gives anything away. In fact, it should draw more people
into MERLOT. Isn't the content itself much more important
than the meta-data? What is this abundant obsession with
data about data?
I must be thick headed or just a moonshine lovin' country
fool, but I do not get why MERLOT treats their content like
Dom Perignon but provides a Boones Farm flavor of RSS. It
is offered from a wine steward in a new tuxedo allowing you
the honor of sniffing a cork, but the product is more akin
to cracking the bottle open on the tailgate of your chevy
pickup." I wanted to say the same thing, but I'm far too
diplomatic. ;) By Alan Levine, CogDogBlog, August 27, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Video Games in the Classroom?
A
good, intelligent discussion of the (potential) use of
games in education. The participants avoid stepping on
cliches and approach the topic with sound fundamentals.
Many useful nuggets. Like this: "Games can teach facts well
and certainly could be used for this without much change in
schools. But the real potential of games is to get people
to think, value, and act in new ways. A game like
Civilization can get the player to see that history could
have happened in different ways..." Some of the questions
show that people still don't get it, though. For example,
one person comments, "The question about their possible
place in the classroom -- in a university classroom, I
presume -- is another matter." James Gee is a lot more
diplomatic than I would have been: "I do believe that
education at all levels needs to get out of the four walls
of a classroom and a rigid schedule of the same hours for
each class not matter what it is." By contrast, this is a
great question: "Can video games be an interface for
distance learning? Is anyone considering or doing this?"
Now you're thinking! And "I guess that my interest in
computer games is embedded in a larger interest in the
emergence of new texts and new literacies." Whee-hoo! Do
read this transcript. By James Gee, Chronicle of Higher
Education, August 27, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
High-Speed Hotel
"A room with a
view and high-speed may become a standard request among
travelers," according to this article. "May become?" I
already ask for high speed internet wherever I stay, and if
they don't have it, I book elsewhere, making clear my
reason. Interesting - and I would say conservative -
estimates of high speed internet availability for the next
few years. By Robyn Greenspan, CyberAtlas, August 28, 2003
4:55 p.m.
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Principles and Strategies for the Reform of
Scholarly Communication
This document outlines a
publication system "in crisis" due to rising prices and
narrowing profit margins for publishers, then outlines a
set of "principles supported" by the Association of College
and Research Libraries, including "the broadest possible
access to published research and other scholarly writings,"
"fair and reasonable prices for scholarly information," and
several more. As a result, the Association supports a
series of strategies, including "the development of
competitive journals, including the creation of low cost
and open access journals that provide direct alternatives
to high priced commercial titles" to uphold these
principles. I don't think the publishers are really going
to like this one. Tough. You reap what you sow. By Various
Authors, Association of College and Research Libraries,
August 28, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
With E-mail Dying, RSS Offers
Alternative
Written mostly from the point of
view of the content provider, this column argues that as
email dies (and it is, without a doubt, very ill indeed),
providers should look at RSS as an alternative distribution
channel. The problem, for distributors, is not merely spam,
"but also in what opt-in e-mail publishers are having to do
to circumvent the problems. A good example is the practice
by an increasing number of e-mail publishers of disguising
some words that spam filters might catch and block." Quite
right. I can tell I used a 'bad' word when the number of
returns in my inbox jumps (I average about 50 a day), and
this doesn't include the more annoying intercepts without
notice. This will have an impact on online learning as
well: instructors that last year used email without a
problem to communicate with their students will find they
have much less confidence in the technology this year. By
Steve Outing, Editor & Publisher, August 27, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
City Hall Rally Protests Policy of Firing
Uncertified Teachers
There is really a lot going
here that doesn't add up. According to this article, New
York has fired about 10,000 teachers over the last five
years (though the a Department of Education spokesperson
says the number was only 3,000). The teachers, previously
uncertified, had failed teacher certification exams.
Protesters say the test was culturally biased. Argued Jose
Aguasvivas, "I even have a master's degree in bilingual
elementary education. But the test is very confusing. If
the test is in Spanish, then I pass it no problem." Now if
people have obtained the credentials but failed the test,
then there's a problem with either the credentials or the
test - a big problem, since these are big numbers. By
Katherine Zoepf, New York Times, August 28, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Voucher Worries Lead to
Inquiry
Another problem for the voucher system
(as if it needed more problems): money that disappears into
the void. "Unable to account for $400,000 in tax credits,
the state will take a new look at how it approves the
groups that distribute those funds." By Stephen Hegarty,
St. Petersburg Times, August 28, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Webcasters Slap RIAA With Antitrust
Suit
The antitrust laws may be a joke, but the
Webcaster Alliance is at least making a point with its
lawsuit against the RIAA. Writes the Alliance, "We have
watched the RIAA's actions...(which) have the effect of
wiping out an entire industry of independent Webcasters who
represent freedom of choice and diversity for Internet
radio listeners. It is time for the RIAA to be held
accountable for years of manipulating an entire industry in
order to stifle the growth of independent music and control
Internet content and distribution channels." I wish the
Alliance the best of luck, and hope that this action will
give publishers pause for second thoughts when they think
about how to approach the learning content market. By
Andrew Orlowski, The Register, August 28, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
e-Learning Forum Wiki
The
e-learning Forum has a wiki. A wiki is a site like any
other website, but is unique in that anyone may edit and
add to the contents. This wiki appears to have been around
for a few months but most activity has been in the last few
weeks. There isn't a lot of content yet - or if there is, I
can't find it. I have yet to fully engage with wikis... but
we should have an e-Learning Group wiki soon (right Seb?)
and perhaps I'll gain some insight. By RichardClark,
e-Learning Forum, April, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
The Crisis in Canada’s School Libraries: The
Case for Reform and Re-Investment
This report,
released last June, has been making the rounds. The central
premise is that there is a positive correlation between
well-funded school libraries and greater student
achievement. The implication, of course, is that libraries
should receive more funding to buy more books and other
resources. Now I am the first to admit the importance of
libraries in my own development; I still remember pulling
Arthur C. Clark's A Fall of Moondust off the shelf
for the first time at the Township library, and John
Christopher's The White Mountains in the school
library. But that was in the 1970s. And that's how this
report feels. It is not surprising that a report sponsored
by publishers (as this one is) would advocate the buying of
books, but someone has to explain to my why this is better
than providing access online to all the books in the world.
The report's short discussion of this - based on students'
inability to find resources on the web in 1997 and 1999 -
is not convincing. Its discussion of their use of databases
- based on a 1990 study - is even less so. Considering the
amount of money we, collectively, send to publishers, I
would expect a stronger justification. By Ken Haycock,
Association of Canadian Publishers, June, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
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