June 14, 2006
OLDaily
[link: Hits]
On Sunday I had a day off and took the short train ride to Bratislava, Slovakia. Despite a difference of opinion with the Slovakian police (who felt I should present a passport to enter the country, but who kindly let me both in and out without one) my visit was charming and intriguing. I hope you enjoy my photos of one of the more interesting and less documented cities I have visited. [Tags: Flickr] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]
On Sunday I had a day off and took the short train ride to Bratislava, Slovakia. Despite a difference of opinion with the Slovakian police (who felt I should present a passport to enter the country, but who kindly let me both in and out without one) my visit was charming and intriguing. I hope you enjoy my photos of one of the more interesting and less documented cities I have visited. [Tags: Flickr] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]
Stephen Downes[Edit][Delete]:
Learning Networks and the Personal Learning Environment,
June 14, 2006
[link: Hits] On Monday I went to the Centre for Social Innovation in Vienna for some informal chats and this 2.5 hours presentation (Slides, Audio) in the afternoon (what a patient audience!) covering the concept of learning networks and how they tie into the recent discussions on the personal learning environment (PLE). [Tags: Personal Learning Environment, Chat and Chat Rooms, Networks, Podcasting] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]
[link: Hits] My presentation to Microlearning 2006 (Slides, Audio) in Innsbruck, Austria. In this talk my intent was to build on the presentations that had already taken place at the conference outlining Web 2.0 tools and methodologies, and to in anticipation of George Siemens show the connection between them and network learning or connectivism. [Tags: Connectivism, Networks, Web 2.0, Podcasting] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]
Laura Ascione[Edit][Delete]:
Safe Social Networking Sites Emerge,
ESchool News [Edit][Delete]
June 14, 2006
[link: 8 Hits] I'm not sure what to think of these new 'safe' social networking services. Like Whyville, "an online virtual world that immerses children in a video game-like experience where they must manage money, make sure they eat properly." OK, nice. But if they're so good, do they need legislation pushing people their way? And how comfortable should we be about an environment that pushes online interactions in a certain (political?) direction. [Tags: Experience, Networks, Children and Child Learning, Interaction, Games and Gaming] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]
Unattributed[Edit][Delete]:
Learner Identity Management Framework,
AICTEC [Edit][Delete]
June 14, 2006
[link: 10 Hits] The topic of personal identity - and therefore, learner identity (though not everyone considers the latter to be a subset of the former, which is a problem) continues to increase in importance in educational technology circles. This is, to my mind, a symptom of the reality that learners are affiliated less and less with a particular institution, which is a good thing. But what will a Learner Identity Management Framework (LIMF) look like? I have some concerns with this report tabled in Australia. For example, it calls for "A Trust Scheme" that "involves establishing ground-rules such that the owners of information can be confident that any data they transfer will be handled appropriately by the recipient." Come on. Who believes that the recipients, especially if they are commercial entities, will be trustworthy, no matter what technology is in place? Or will providers allow their clients and customers to enforce the regvulations with some sort of inverse 'trusted computing' scheme. Yeah, thought not. [Tags: ] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]
[link: Hits] The group Public Agenda has launched a blog titled Reality CheckED. The group is new to me, but I get the sense that they're popular, if the reference from the NSBA blog can be taken as a guide. For myself, I like the approach, and in particular the blog's use of strong, sharp and cutting logic. Like this: "If you were in the workplace and there was bad behavior all around you making it difficult to do your work, would it not be the responsibility of the company to ensure that basic workplace rules are enforced?" Rather than, say, simply blaming the employees' parents? [Tags: Web Logs] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]
Joseph Ugoretz[Edit][Delete]:
Three Stars and a Chili Pepper: Social Software, Folksonomy, and User Reviews in the College Context,
Academic Commons [Edit][Delete]
June 14, 2006
[link: 7 Hits] This is a good article. Although it begins as a review of tools that are familiar to most OLDaily readers, it moves effectively into the use of reader ratings and reviews, arguing (correctly) that these should not be viewed and understood in the same way as more 'objective' assessments. "If we try to use them without reflection, as being the same as other (objective, authoritative, traditional, edited, hierarchical, obsolete media, pick your own adjective) resources, we will be abusing them..." Quite right. [Tags: Assessment] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]
Unattributed[Edit][Delete]:
Wikipedia Founder Discourages Academic Use of His Creation,
Chronicle of Higher Education [Edit][Delete]
June 14, 2006
[link: 9 Hits] While technically true, this Chronicle headline is very misleading. Wales actually says, "For God sake, you're in college; don't cite the encyclopedia." Which of course could apply equally well to Britannica. And it calls to mind my own academic background, where (somewhere in grade 8, I think) I was told not to quote the encyclopedia, but to use it to find primary sources. Of course, my teachers were referring to World Book, one of my favorite reads at the time. So, yeah, don't cite the encyclopedia. But by all means, use it, use it academically, use it in the way an encyclopedia should be used. [Tags: Wikipedia, Academics and Academia] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]
[link: 7 Hits] Yet another academic writer wrestles ith the by now age-old question: whether to berate Wikipedia or to dive in and fix the thing. The presumption, of course, is that it's broken - a presumption not bolstered by the very interested commentary provided from Robert McHenry, the former editor-in-chief of Encyclopedia Britannica. As usual, the (unpaid) comments responding to the article are more reasonable and better argued than the article itself, especially Ira Socol's. [Tags: Wikipedia, Academics and Academia] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]
Unattributed[Edit][Delete]:
E-learning trends according to Google,
Kineo [Edit][Delete]
June 14, 2006
[link: 1 Hits] A fun breezy read as the authors look at various trends in e-learning according to Google Trends, a search tracking service launched in May. Trends of note: the term 'e-learning' itself is on a steady design, 'Moodle' has overtaken 'Saba', and 'mobile learning' spiked and then flattened out. Via E-Learning Guru. [Tags: Online Learning, Google] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]
