By Stephen Downes
August 26, 2004
Another New Journal... Same Technical
Inadequacies
James Farmer introduces us to yet
another academic journal, the Journal of
University Teaching & Learning Practice (JULP) with the
observation that yet another such journal just doesn't get
the medium. "A couple of really interesting articles from a
very promising looking publication (there's also stuff
there for foreign language classes and nominal group
technique (?)) but NO search, NO email / NO webfeed
subscription / NO html and more pdfs!" I agree, James. By
James Farmer, Incorporated Subversion, August 26, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Doubts about OKI and Sakai
Michael
Feldstein shares my concerns. "In our quest for technical
standards of inter-operability, are we losing sight of
loose coupling? Are we trying to over-engineer something
that perhaps would work best through organic growth?" How
many more stories like this are there out there? Send me a
note. By Michael Feldstein, E-Literate, August 25, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
A Little Knowledge is A Dangerous
Thing
Carol Twigg tears into Bill Massy's and
Bob Zemsky's recent Thwarted Innovation: What Happened to
e-learning and Why, which concluded that e-learning
was, overall, a failure. She doesn't like the methodology,
she doesn't like the sample, she doesn't like the
definitions. These criticisms are valid, but what Twigg
doesn't do, unfortunately, is address the authors'
conclusion. The one study she cites to support her
position, from the Campus
Computing project, actually supports Massy's and
Zemsky's position, citing as it does widespread cuts in
academic computing budgets. Twigg should also look at the
failure of several high profile initiatives, she should
look at the declining market (cited here this week) for
e-learning content, and the general malaise of the LMS
market and custom content industry. None of this means that
e-learning is dead, of course, but it should be enough to
convince that e-learning is in transformation. By attacking
the source instead of the issue, Twigg misses the real
story. Via Seb Schmoller. By Carol A. Twigg, The
Learning MarketSpace, July, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Poorer Students Sought
According
to this article, colleges and universities are courting
poorer students in order to be more accessible. But with
statistics like these - "More than 80 percent of students
from families earning more than $88,675 annually go to
college, compared with less than 60 percent of those whose
families earn less than $35,066, according to the College
Board" - it's hard to believe. And frankly, I don't believe
it. As Anthony Carnevale says, "The dumbest rich kids go to
college more than the smartest poor kids do." Via University Business. By Patrick McGee,
SunHerald.com, August 24, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Change Your Mind?
Dave Pollard
looks at the implications of a site called Change This. The idea of Change This is
to produce glossy PDF 'manifestos' which are supposed to be
passed, meme-link, but without comment (how can you comment
on a PDF?), through the web. The manifesto, argues Pollard,
is exactly the wrong way to go about changing minds. "On
any important issue it will not change anyone's mind.
People make up their own minds by reading sources they
trust. They don't want to change their minds." Some good
discussion follows the article, including a longish post by
me. By Dave Pollard, How To Save The World, July 9, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Advertisers Reward Bloggers For Doing What
They Do Best
Following on the heels of the
Google announcement covered here this week is this item in
Roben Good describing a program by a company called Blogversations whereby a company
contracts some bloggers in their field to review and
discuss their products. Presumably, the sponsorship is for
the bloggers' attention, not their endorsement - if the
bloggers can write negative reviews, what's the point? I
think it will be important for bloggers to be upfront about
the fact that they are being paid to discuss such and such
a product. Even so, I think there might be some bias in the
selection of bloggers. By Luigi Canali De Rossi, Robin
Good, August 20, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Digital Technologies Can Be The Key Building
Blocks To A New Economic Future
Robin Good's
take on an interview with Howard Rheingold on MSNBC. I have
always enjoyed Rheingold - he's one of those with a good
finger on the pulse of the internet. "What Howard Rheingold
sees, is the fact that the very governments/corporations
limiting our forms of expressions and self-sustainable
growth by strong regulatory action protecting vested
interests, may actually significantly weaken those systems
and societies where these are strongest, while allowing
other nations/groups to leapfrog them in a very short
time." Count on it. By Luigi Canali De Rossi, Robin Good,
August 19, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) Competencies for Teachers
Very nice list
of links to ICT competencies for teachers, including
material from various Australian education councils,
National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers
(U.S.), Education Network Ontario, SOEID
Scotland, and more. The same site has a matching set of competencies for students. By Steve
Kessell and Sue Trinidad, Trinity College Western
Australia, Undated
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Copyright Crusaders Hit
Schools
This email to WWWEDU by Claude Almansi
on the RIAA's school campaign is worth quoting at length.
"I checked the BSA material, for kids part, that is linked
to in the
article, and which ALA is reacting to. Couldn't play
the games because I was invited to download a plug-in and
my mom told me beware of unknown plug-ins.
so I tried the tools, gave up on the Anti-Piracy
Public Service Announcements
(with boy band and [young girl] because they took ages to
download, even on DSL. But I did see their Cyberethics champion code and their
Cyberethics Champion Certificate and wow,
thanks indeed to ALA. Not only for preventing kids from
being exposed to only one side on the the copyright issue,
but also from being exposed exclusively to such rampant
stupidity. Their ferret mascot has grabbing hands, and in
most archetypes, the ferret doesn't have an outstanding
record for ethics and social-mindedness - I mean if the EFF
had used it to caricature BSA, BSA could have sued their
*rse off for libel. 4th grade kids might be easier to
convince than teen-agers. But they already hate being taken
for nitwits by condescending grown-ups. I can
surmise where they will suggest the Cyberethics Champion
Certificate should be shoved." Way to tell them, Claude.
By Claude Almansi, WWWEDU, August 25, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
RSS Attracts Really Serious
Money
With Technorati gaining venture capital and Feedster
chomping at the bit, it has become clear that the
investment community has taken notice of RSS and is
starting to pump in the cash. Still waiting for the
millions of dollars to pour into Edu_RSS. ;) By Daniel
Terdiman, Wired News, August 26, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
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