October 12, 2006
OLDaily
[link: 2 Hits] I clicked on the large PDF diagram on Will Richardson's site expecting to say something good - it looked like the diagram showed education taking place throughout the community, linked by a learning substructure. Once I saw the diagram up close, though, it's all just pictures of schools, with classes and teachers and students sitting in rows, even a principal all alone in his big office on the top floor. And I found myself more in agreement with
Tom Hoffman - though I can't quote him and link to this post with a language warning. Ah, well, such are the times we live in. I wanted to draw a large alternative picture but I had a meeting instead. Maybe tomorrow. [Tags:
Schools] [
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[link: 1 Hits] The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) in their draft policy on open access "requires grant and award holders to make every effort to ensure that their peer-reviewed journal publications are freely available" and (even better) "will consider a researcher's track record of providing access to research outputs when considering applications for funding." Outstanding work, and my hat's off to CIHR. [Tags:
Open Access,
Canada,
Research] [
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[link: Hits] According to the site: "Women of Web 2.0 is for all who are using the tools of the internet whether it be in a classroom setting, leading seminars, authoring books, maintaining blogs or wikis, or just enjoying the tools of the internet in an educational and exciting way." They don't need it, but they have my support in any case. And to that end, a suggestion: a list
like this. Why?
Because. Via
Emma Duke-Williams. [Tags:
Web Logs,
Web 2.0] [
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[link: Hits] I completely endorse this statement from EDUCAUSE: ""Brian L. Hawkins, president of Educause, said the organization's Board of Directors had voted unanimously on Sunday to encourage Blackboard 'to drop the patent, drop the lawsuit,' and put the technology 'in the public domain.' [He said] 'We think that it is in their best interest and the best interest of the broader higher-education community.'"
More coverage is povided in the
Chronicle (this is a temporary link, I think, so view it quickly - my thanks to the Chronicle for making this available). Also provided to me was a first-person account of the EDUCAUSE session;
MS Word format. Thanks to Brad Wheeler for your assistance. [Tags:
Blackboard,
Copyright and Patent Issues,
EDUCAUSE] [
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[link: Hits] This article highlights, if only obliquely, my concerns about Sakai. And that is that, as a consortium of a bunch of universities, it isn't really 'open' and when its interests lie in another direction, that's where it will go. So would Sakai abandon the rest of the open source and LMS community in the Blackboard case? That appears to be a legitimate concern. "Some of us are concerned that Sakai will cut a separate deal with Blackboard to protect its own narrow interests while leaving Desire2Learn and other commercial entities twisting in the wind." [Tags:
Blackboard,
Open Source,
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[link: 1 Hits]
Richard Stallman is well known as the founder of the GNU project and of the Free Software Foundation. This podcast looks at his thoughts on free software in learning. "In the interview, Richard defines the use of the word "free" in the context of software. He also defines the four essential freedoms that are behind the Free Software Movement, and the four reasons that he believes that schools should use exclusively Free Software (see also his
essay on this topic)." Also worth noting is Hargadon's interview with an "extremely well prepared"
Ragavan Srinivasan from HP on open source licenses. Related:
10 Common Misconceptions About the GPL, via Stuart Yeates. [Tags:
Richard Stallman,
Project Based Learning,
Schools,
Open Source,
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[link: Hits] Two new educational technology blogs from South Africa. Driekie Hay leads the Unit for Academic Development at the Central University of Technology, Free State, and offers the blog
Academic Development. Nico Baird, meanwhile, who invited me to Bloemfontein this year, weighs in with
Innovation in Learning. [Tags:
Web Logs,
Academics and Academia] [
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[link: Hits] Wiki describing Marie Jasinski's latest research project (though you'll have to write her if you want to edit it). "The focus is on embedding innovative practices in elearning." Of interest is the RIPPLES model employed throughout. "Think of it as a framework to capture the collective intelligence. It's a starting point to test the goodness of fit between what it takes to embed innovative practice in elearning in VTE with what has already been researched about factors that influence the take up of innovative practice." [Tags:
Online Learning,
Project Based Learning,
Research] [
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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