By Stephen Downes
October 29, 2003
LOM/CanCore-based Open-Source Software
Components
CanCore has announced the release of
several software components as its contribution to Canada's
eduSource project. From the website: "Released under the
Free Software Foundation's LGPL License, these three
components have the potential to greatly simplify the
challenging task of developing learning object
repositories... These components take the form of
interfaces, APIs (Application Program Interfaces), or
schemas for working with LOM (Learning Object Metadata) or
LOR (Learning Object Repository) data and functions." By
Various Authors, CanCore, October 24, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
The Future of Learning: From eLearning to
mLearning
This book-length report explores the
idea that e-learning technologies will go mobile. Readers
will find chapter 4 interesting, containing as it does an
extensive survey of existing m-learning initiatives. But
overall, I do not think that the telephone, wireless or not
(and most of the report looks at such technology) is an
appropriate locus of learning, except in limited
circumstances. Unless we can get a larger display and more
flexible interface, online learning will be dominated by
the desktop. It should not, because wireless access is one
of the great new technologies to emerge in recent years. I
still think something like the Tablet computer will be the
dominant e-learning tool. By Desmond Keegan,
FernUniversität – Hagen, November, 2002
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Learning Objects and Language
Games
I have observed in the past that our
approach to learning objects should draw from
Wittgenstein's theory of 'meaning as use'. I am not the
only one thinking along these lines; this paper invites us
to approach learning objectives from the perspective of
another of Wittgenstein's theories, the idea of the
'language game'. This is a good introduction to the idea,
drawing useful (and clear) parallels between the theory of
langauge and the theory of learning objects. The little
charts are most useful. By Pithamber R. Polsani,
Educational Technology in Cultural Context, February, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Annotea
This project is worth
noting, if you haven't seen it already. From the website:
"Annotea is a LEAD (Live Early Adoption and Demonstration)
project enhancing the W3C collaboration environment with
shared annotations. By annotations we mean comments, notes,
explanations, or other types of external remarks that can
be attached to any Web document or a selected part of the
document without actually needing to touch the document.
When the user gets the document he or she can also load the
annotations attached to it from a selected annotation
server or several servers and see what his peer group
thinks." By Various Authors, W3C, October, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Longhorn
Microsoft unveiled its
proposed Longhorn operating system last weekend, and after
a couple of days, the reviews are out. Numerous
commentators have noted that it draws a lot from Apple. Others concentrated on
whether Longhorn would offer more security. Also interesting is the
discussion about how the operating system handles information. Overall, the reviews
appear mixed, with many wtill adopting a 'wait and see'
attitude. It is, after all, at least two years before the
system will apear in stores. By Various Authors, October
27, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
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