OLDaily

Will Richardson[Edit][Delete]: Digg for EdBloggers / Do We Need to Get Our Act Together?, Weblogg-Ed [Edit][Delete]Weblogg-ed [Edit][Delete] June 16, 2006

[link: 2 Hits] Maybe it will work, though I have my doubts. Full marks, though, for the initiative. The idea being promoted is to create a Digg for edubloggers - the idea is that the edubloggers would recommend education stories from each other and the popular press. Why do I have doubts? Well, I have my doubts about these 'collective' sites in general. If edu-Digg makes sense, then why not UK-edu-Digg, to get away from the American dominance? But then, when Digging, where does one's loyalties lie? Better that each of us do our own thing, and that different aggregations allow different 'views' of what's happening - a global view, a UK view, an edu-view. See also commentary from Dave Warlick and Bud the Teacher. [Tags: United States] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]

Alan Jones[Edit][Delete]: Connecting the Dots, Inside Higher Ed [Edit][Delete] June 16, 2006

[link: 1 Hits] Honestly, I have been wondering - given the tenor of some of their recent articles - whether Inside Higher Ed was funded from the same sources as, say, David Horowitz. Because the network of 'think tanks' and funders described in this article is certainly not news to me, nor should it be news to those who look at events beyond their immediate horizon, and the diatribes being published certainly resembled others from these common origins. Maybe I can rest easier about Inside Higher Ed (though certainly not some of its authors). But not about the state of education and research generally. We have similar 'think tanks' in Canada, and I would observe that there is a larger danger to society posed when political agencies pose as academic agencies and when scientific 'data' is fabricated to further specific agendas rather than in a disinterested pursuit of the truth. [Tags: Canada, Research, Networks, Academics and Academia] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]

Karen Myers and Patrice de Broucker[Edit][Delete]: Too Many Left Behind: Canada s Adult Education and Training System, Canadian Policy Research Networks Inc. [Edit][Delete] June 16, 2006

[link: 1 Hits] "There is a lot of talk in policy circles about the importance of life-long learning," note the authors of this report. "But how well do we walk the talk in Canada? It seems not very well at all. Too many less-educated / less-skilled adults in Canada are being left behind, with little chance to improve their skills, their knowledge, and their earnings." We could have done without the cutesy (and derivative) 'left behind' language, but the point remains, that we need to do more to promote access to learning. PDF. [Tags: Canada, Adults and Adult Learning] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]

Helen Barrett[Edit][Delete]: Required High School Portfolios, Electronic Portfolios [Edit][Delete] June 16, 2006

[link: 4 Hits] Helen Barrett and I are of one mind on this, and I really like the story she tells to illustrate the point: "The students there were required to set up a 3-ring notebook, put in specific sections and assignments. When a group of the students graduated from high school, they built a bonfire and burned their portfolios." The issue is ownership. When students are required to create portfolios, and worse, told how they should be structured and filled, they lose any ownership over the process, and the portfolios become, as Barrett reports, "another example of what Lee Shulman calls 'perversion' of the original concept of the portfolio." [Tags: E-Portfolios, Schools] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]

Darren Kuropatwa[Edit][Delete]: Podcapsules for June 2006, A Difference [Edit][Delete] June 16, 2006

[link: 14 Hits] Podcapsules: like time capsules, only podcast. So how long before somebody calls them 'podcaps' and the practice 'podcapping'? [Tags: Podcasting] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]

Unattributed[Edit][Delete]: EdNA Online Strategic Directions, EdNA [Edit][Delete] June 16, 2006

[link: Hits] Where is Australia's EdNA going? Released in April, "A draft EdNA strategic directions paper (PDF) is available for comment," according to today's EdNA newsletter. Take the short online survey or send them email. According to the report, "In 2005-2006, the full suite of EdNA infrastructure and services received $1.92 million of funding." Australia gets very good value for this money, in my view. EdNA builds and maintains resource collections, supports online communities of practice, brokers information services, and works internationally on open standards, interoperability, information management, research and resource discovery. [Tags: Online Learning Communities, Newsletters, Research, Interoperability, Open Standards, EdNA] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]

Various authors[Edit][Delete]: Rever, June 16, 2006

[link: 8 Hits] Interesting video upload service that attaches an advertisement to your video and pays you when people click on it. "Since the Revverized ad is embedded in your video, and can be changed anytime, you get paid no matter where your video may go." The site, in other words, is making syndication work for it, creating revenue while distributing bandwidth requirements across the network. Rever is hosting the infamous Coke and Mentos video, well worth a watch for the giggle. Or the pointless and deservedly obscure Hungry Tree. You can also find the Dixie Chicks video on the site. Legit? Who knows. Still, it's a good idea and might even work. My big challenge? To stop watching the videos and get back to work... [Tags: Bandwidth, Marketing, Content Syndication, Networks] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]

John Gruber[Edit][Delete]: And Oranges, Daring Fireball [Edit][Delete] June 16, 2006

[link: 5 Hits] Why would a longtime Apple user switch to Linux? When the person in question is Mark Pilgrim, people want to know, since Pilgrim is well known for his work on web syndication and web standards. This article takes an almost detached look at his reasoning. In the end, for Pilgrim, it comes down to this: "I'm creating things now that I want to be able to read, hear, watch, search, and filter 50 years from now. Despite all their emphasis on content creators, Apple has made it clear that they do not share this goal. Openness is not a cargo cult. Some get it, some don't. Apple doesn't." [Tags: Apple, Content Syndication] [Comment] [Edit] [Delete] [Spam]