Article
November 18, 2005
Opening keynote at the
Saskatchewan Association for Computers in Education conference in Regina. Available online are
PowerPoint slides and the
MP3 audio of the talk. Rob Wall also offers a lengthy
blog summary.
[
Comment]
OLDaily
Google Base
has launched and is sending a ripple of concern throughout the news industry, as in one fell swoop Google could obsolete their classifieds department. This advice, though, is sound and probably reasonable: "An all-powerful Google probably has the capability to wipe out other classifieds -- but I doubt that's the company's intention. Cooperating with it is likely a good thing, but we don't know for sure yet." The same, I would say, goes for online learning providers. [Tags:
Online Learning,
Google] [
Comment]
From the email announcement: "IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc. has released the IMS Tool Interoperability v1 Guidelines... The IMS Tools Interoperability (TI) approach addresses the growing demand for a reusable mechanism for integrating third-party tools with core LMS platforms." OK. But what gets me is this announcement on the IMS page: "HTML documents may be viewed online, but may not be printed without permission." Wha...? Ooops, my finger slipped... it's printing... oh nooooooo.... [Tags:
IMS Project] [
Comment]
As you recall, Sony placed virus-like software on some of its CDs that secretly installs malicious software on users' computers. Now evidence has surfaced that the company raided open source software to code the rootkit. There's a lesson here about piracy and large corporations, I think. Something like, "Do what I say and not what I do." [Tags:
Open Source] [
Comment]
According to the press release summary, "Results from the 2005 survey also show slightly more schools use core faculty to teach their online courses than their face-to-face courses and the number of students studying online continues its consistent growth with 2.3 million enrolled in at least one online course in the fall 2004 semester." The full report is available
as a free download. [Tags:
Online Learning,
Traditional and Online Courses,
United States,
Schools] [
Comment]
For a good chuckle, read this item on students' reactions tgo the 'anti-piracy' message being offered on university campuses (L.A. Times - may require a login, sorry (but it didn't ask me for one)). "'Arrrrrrr!' shouted a group of students in the front row, prompting a chorus of pirate-like catcalls in the vein of Johnny Depp." And more to the point, and getting to the heart of the issue: "Several of the students said the government should be focusing on eliminating poverty and improving education instead of jailing kids who download movies, music and software." Via
University Business. [Tags:
Children and Child Learning] [
Comment]
Interesting comment, just sent to me by email. "Just search for a book you are reading, or a book you have read. You will then be able to ask any question you have, and help answer other readers' questions." It will be interesting to see whether communities develop around books. [Tags:
Books and eBooks] [
Comment]
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I want and visualize and aspire toward a system of society and learning where each person is able to rise to his or her fullest potential without social or financial encumberance, where they may express themselves fully and without reservation through art, writing, athletics, invention, or even through their avocations or lifestyle.
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