January 10, 2006
OLDaily
[link: 0 Hits] So today was proposal day at the office - a ten minute slot to argue for learning networks, web 2.0, open access, and the rest. And to explain why there is no "exploitation" or licenses or shrink-wrap 'products', why networks have value and why they should be distributed, why people need to be able to create their own content, why there needs to be openness, and to handle questions about the value of networks and why the (completely unrelated and unlamented) eduSource project was not a success. So now I reflect Miguel Guhlin's thoughts: "I read once that to pick up new things, you have to let go of the old. So, friends, help me let go of Educational Technology and grab onto the new...whatever that may be. It means banishing disillusionment, false visions, and reaching out to each other for the only true thing we have in education--the power to communicate, collaborate, and construct a new reality." And
Dave Pollard brings me some relief as well. "The political elite wants you to feel helpless - dependence keeps you in your place. The corporatist elite wants you to feel helpless..." Last week, I let go. I am now away from the office for two weeks or so. Tonight I'll get some sleep. Tomorrow I'll pick myself up. To begin again banishing disillusionment and false visions. To begin again reaching out and constructing a new reality. Let us go forward together. No surrender. No retreat. [Tags:
Project Based Learning,
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[link: 0 Hits] As usual accompanied by a podcast, this article considers that online and distance learning programs are now well established in reputation, and looks at some of the factors - history and tradition, extended curriculum, and multimedia instructional materials - that enhance a program's prestige. [Tags:
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[link: 8 Hits] "Somehow," writes the author, "I missed the meeting where the nation decided to exit public higher education. I was, after all, chief financial officer of a public university. This is no fantasy. This drama is under way across the nation." Funny how being an advocate for public education now classifies one as a "provocateur" - we drift, and drift insensibly. [Tags: ] [
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[link: 1 Hits] Interesting paper that should give us pause for thought. The author writes, "As I saw things, hyperlink technology would finally allow learning truly to mesh with the free association characteristics of the human mind. Once the technology had matured, it would be a teaching resource that would transform passive learners into active thinkers. Thirteen years on, I take a critical look at those optimistic conclusions. Are students better equipped to learn than previously? Are they able to think reflectively to a greater degree than their counterparts of a decade or two ago? This present paper addresses such questions, the result being that the guarded optimism of 1992 has turned to a deep pessimism." Has the technology matured? Has the pedagogy? No, I wouldn't say so. [Tags: ] [
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[link: 0 Hits] The author considers how to get students interested in blogging again after a two week break (turns out they're not doing it for fun after all). Something like
MyGlu would address the need for a central browsing location, as outlined in this article. As for the rest, as the author says, "As our blogs evolve, we need to ensure they remain a real space with authentic writing. Setting too many guidelines simply turns blogging into an electronic assignment." [Tags:
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[link: 1 Hits] Albert Ip comments on David Wiley's post from yesterday, saying that while the creation of reusable objects in Flash and Java is too much to ask of teachers, "creating a webpage with all these wonderful resources embedded within [is] much closer to the expected skill set of educators." He points (correctly) to Blogger as a good example of the direction this could take. I agree. I think we are close to a mechanism that allows teachers to discover useful resources, such as the graphing tool Ip describes, and easily embed them into today's web page or blog post. More on this soon. [Tags:
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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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not hoarded or withheld in order to extract wealth or influence.
This is what I aspire toward, this is what I work toward. - Stephen Downes
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