OLDaily

George Siemens, Stephen Downes, Jeff Lebow and Dave Cormier[Edit][Delete]: Connectivism and Connected Knowledge, Elearnspace [Edit][Delete]ELearnSpace [Edit][Delete] February 1, 2006

[link: 2 Hits] George Siemens has posted a transcript of our conversation from Sunday. It's quite a good read (in my humble opinion). And it takes a lot less time to get through than listening to the audio. [Tags: ] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]

Various authors[Edit][Delete]: Working Draft for ISO/IEC 19788-2 Metadata for Learning Resources, ISO [Edit][Delete] February 1, 2006

[link: Hits] The International Standards Organization (ISO) is rewriting learning Object Metadata; this link (to a PDF file) is a draft of the new standard. The draft has been circulating for a few days among the standerati and has received, well, a bit of a rough ride. The standard doesn't resemble what I would do, but there are some good bits - for example, the rights section now allows the document to point to a URL of a rights statement. Still, I expect a lot more discussion (though ISO is predisposed toward passing whatever it sees and limits discussion to only authorized country spokespeople, so what we see may be what we get). [Tags: ] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]

Clark Quinn[Edit][Delete]: Learnlets, February 1, 2006

[link: Hits] Clark Quinn has started blogging. Based on what I've seen from him in the past, this should be a good read. [Tags: Web Logs] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]

Terry Anderson[Edit][Delete]: Comparing Formal, Open and Self-directed Learning, Virtual Canuck [Edit][Delete] February 1, 2006

[link: 7 Hits] Terry Anderson bridges the gap between formal learning and informal learning with open learning. He looks at the properties of each, and concludes that open learning offers more advantages than either other alternative. One wonders, though, at the valuations; they seem a little arbitrary, and not entirely accurate. Anderson rates open learning a 3 out of 3, for example, for "Freedom of Pace." Unless things have changed since I was at Athabasca, though, students face time limits (it was six months per course while I was there). Open learning is also offered through paced seminar courses; I know, I've taught them. He also gives open learning a 3 for "Guidance and Support." This seems generous; how many Athabasca students would be able to meet the course professor on a regular basis? I think it is useful to move beyond the formal-informal learning dichotomy, but we need to look at it more closely. [Tags: Traditional and Online Courses] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]

Unattributed[Edit][Delete]: iTunes U, Apple [Edit][Delete]Apple [Edit][Delete] February 1, 2006

[link: 6 Hits] OK, this sounds like a good idea: make university classes, seminars and lectures available as audio feeds. Except that it's iTunes, which means you have to take the Apple iTunes pill (or, as the website says, except variable results on other players). There's obviously also a strong commercial component to this as well, which pretty much cuts out the service for those who need it most. Or as Miguel Guhlin says, "iTunes and Windows Media Player: Two sides of the same coin - Tyranny." Don't be lulled into the same fallacy with audio content as so many were with web-based content. There's no golden rainbow out there (except maybe for a select few big name institutions, and even that's iffy). Put your audio up in MP3, podcast it, and make it available for everyone. You'll get the same revenues in the end (i.e., almost nothing) but you'll be doing something good, not greedy. Via Brian Lynch. [Tags: Microsoft, Apple, Podcasting] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]

Unattributed[Edit][Delete]: Marketing Indian eLearning: Crabs In A Bucket, The Learned Man! [Edit][Delete] February 1, 2006

[link: Hits] A call for a national Indian e-learning body. "We need to learn some lessons and learn them quickly. Lets begin by considering Canada. Canadian eLearning companies band together under the umbrella of the Canadian eLearning Enterprise Alliance (CeLEA). According to the website, 'CeLEA is an industry-based organization, established in 2003, to help Canadian elearning companies increase their share of revenues from the growing global elearning market place.'" [Tags: Online Learning, Canada] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]

David Wiley[Edit][Delete]: On The Inanimate Nature of Learning Objects, Iterating Toward Openness [Edit][Delete]Iterating toward openness [Edit][Delete] February 1, 2006

[link: 2 Hits] You can't blame readers, really, for thinking that a post titled "RIP-ping on Learning Objects" might have had something to do with burying them, but David Wiley advises that people should read the text after the title, which I suppose is only reasonable. "Learning objects are neither alive nor dead," he writes. "I'm as firm a believer in the value of reusable educational resources as I ever have been. Actually, my feelings have not changed significantly from those I expressed in the conclusion to my 2000 paper." [Tags: Online Learning] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]

Dave Cormier[Edit][Delete]: Wikitextbooks - Moving Forward, TMs Educational Blog;format=brief> February 1, 2006

[link: 2 Hits] Update on the Wikibooks project. Dave Cormier writes, "Thus far the project has been an excellent experience in connective learning.... The main commentary that iâx^TMve been hearing since the last episode is 'now it's time for a plan.' So, here is a draft proposal." Take a look, and if you feel inspired, comment. [Tags: Online Learning, Project Based Learning, Experience] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]

Tony Vincent[Edit][Delete]: Chat Transcript: Elementary School Podcasting, Learning in Hand [Edit][Delete] February 1, 2006

[link: Hits] Good stuff, and just the sort of think K-12 teachers need in order to convince their administrators that the world won't end if they do this. I like this a lot: "We immediate got great feedback from listeners world-wide! This was great because students really understand that Radio WillowWeb has a real-life audience. In fact, we keep two very important things in mind through the planning and recording of a podcast: audience and purpose." [Tags: Podcasting] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]

Jan Hylen[Edit][Delete]: Survey on Open Educational Resources--an Invitation, OECD/CERI [Edit][Delete] February 1, 2006

[link: Hits] I am participating in the conference associated with this survey. It would be anormously useful to all of us to have a comprehensive list of the open educational resource (OER) initiatives that are out there. Via Joseph Hart. [Tags: Web Logs] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]

Unattributed[Edit][Delete]: DRM: Media Companies' Next Flop?, CNet News.Com [Edit][Delete]CNET News.com [Edit][Delete]CNet News.com [Edit][Delete]CNet news.Com [Edit][Delete] February 1, 2006

[link: Hits] Just another day in the online battles over digital rights management (DRM) and copyright. This article warns of the danger that customers will be lost because of DRM. "A few more incidents like Sony's 'rootkit' flap and consumers may revolt." Signs of that revolt are already evident. Newspapers have handled it so badly they are being called dead. And they are. But still, they continue to misunderstand the market, accusing Google of exploiting their content, and want to be de-indexed. Fine. Let them go, disappear from sight, and die. Movie studios, meanwhile, are busy ending the longstanding tradition of college screenings. We are reaching an end-point in this battle, and the tactics will intensify from here. While the industry is earning some wins in their attacks on consumers, they are losing more and more ground, which artists themselves beginning to understand what's going on. Commercial content is on the verge of being replaced. Specialized - and proprietary - high-end online content is the industry's last gasp. It won't work. The last gasp will see attempts to destroy the integrity of the net itself, to return to privileged (and monopolistic) channels. This is where we are today - these links are all stories from today. And the battle continues. [Tags: Copyright and Patent Issues, Google, Digital Rights Management (DRM)] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]