October 31, 2006
OLDaily
[link: Hits] OK, today's newsletter is a longish one, but it gets us mostly caught up (I still have a bunch of my own stuff to post, but that can wait until tomorrow). Anyhow, Tony Hirst has been attracting some attention with his Stringle applications (String and Glue Learning Environments). You can actually see the concept evolve in his recent posts, such as this one on
OpenLearn Content via RSS. [Tags:
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[link: Hits] Downloadable version of this paper presented at the OECD conference on open educational resources this week in Barcelona (I wish I was still involved - and it would have been handy! - but NRC and OECD could not agree on a contract, so I'm out). Anyhow, "One of the most often cited barriers to the development of Open Content and Open Educational Resources is that of persuading users, in the form of teachers and trainers to share. We are unconvinced that this is a real obstacle if we can develop a community to support such social processes. It is this community which is the real promise of OER and Open Content." See also
Open Content Rules and
OERs and Quality. [Tags:
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[link: 1 Hits] Jotspot, a site I've used in any number of my presentations, has been acquired by Google (and Socialtext, a sit I never used, was acquired by Microsoft - coincidence? I think not). Maybe Google can do something about the hundreds of spam comments it has acquired. What I'm not looking forward to is seeing my login messed up, the way Google did to Blogger and Yahoo did to Flickr. What's interesting with all this buying of sites is that the sites then
switch sides in the the battle over intellectual property rights, as
William Draves points out. It may not be as cheap as suing users, but it's probably more effective. [Tags:
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[link: 1 Hits] OK, this bit is right: "Mobile learners have the opportunity to retain a persistent network of peers, mentors, teachers, and nodes of content and functionality - to add and remove nodes, and interact with them as and when convenient. This is quite similar to the way our internal neural networks operate: we create connections of information..." But with this correction: this applies to all learners, not just mobile learners. Anyhow, note the use of the ecology diagram to represent the learning environment. [Tags:
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[link: 1 Hits] As another one of those diagrams that advance the concept another iteration, this illustration and post "is an attempt to describe the development and potential intersection of these two systems, ie 1. Personal Learning Environment that is "owned", managed and maintained by the individual learner, and 2. Managed Learning Environment that is "owned, managed and maintained by a school or institution." This exploration is worthwhile, especially since it is hard for institutional administrators to see where their technology fits into the personal learning landscape. Read the comments, too. "The significant factor is ownership. In a school based MLE the teacher controls the access and the content. In the PLE this ownership is with the learner. The teacher needs to be invited to participate in this space." Via
McToonish. [Tags:
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[link: 2 Hits] Yes, another list. But it's a good one, and I am in agreement with most of its selections (which is why I pass it along) though I will note that the education section is really weak. Via
Judy O'Connell. See also
100+ Web 2.0 Ideas for Educators from Quentin D'Souza. [Tags:
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[link: 7 Hits] Fun. I saw the 'six word novel' post on
Dave Pollard's site recently and added my own effort. This recasting is of 'six word learning plans', which already incorporates too much pedagogy for my tastes in the title. Still. It was interesting to note the various educators' efforts, which (not surprisingly) devolved into lists of verbs. Which sort of reminds me of my own five word, "Aggregate, remix, repurpose, feed forward." Or I suppose I could contribute "Teach: Model, demonstrate. Learn: practice, reflect." But I'd rather capture the idea. Like this: "Sense the patterns in your environment." Still, that's not quite right. How about: "Become like the teacher, only better." [Tags: ] [
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[link: 1 Hits] I saw some flash card applications (who didn't?) pre-Web 2.0 and while useful (flash cards are useful - if you are motivated to learn and have the patience for the repetition) they weren't, shall we say, networked. I want to use flash cards create by
other people (to continue, for example, to
learn Spanish). There are still some bugs, some pretty nasty, but the concept is sound. [Tags:
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[link: 1 Hits] For me, the big improvements in Firefox 2.0 are the better download manager and the integrated RSS subscription system (I am using the
Google Reader these days. The same author has also posted a review of
Internet Explorer 7.0. Also, via Mark Oehlert,
CNet Reviews of the browsers. [Tags:
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[link: Hits] Just keeping up on the Blackboard patent stuff. In case you missed it, here is the text of the
EDUCAUSE letter urging Blackboard to drop its lawsuit. Michael Feldstein looks at the
economic impact of the lawsuit - in the short run, things are OK, but in the longer run, things get ugly. So far as I can see, there is no future in the LMS market. To wit:
42 percent of institutions have implemented or chosen open source applications software such as Kuali Project, Sakai CMS , uPortal, Moodle CMS, or Open Office.. Also, Alfred Essa has
recorded a podcast about Blackboard at EDUCAUSE. [Tags:
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[link: Hits] In case you hadn't seen this (I hadn't, until the author posted a note on EdResource) this blog covers topics on e-learning as related to international development. Also on the topic of new blogs,
Blogs for Learning has just officially launched. [Tags:
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[link: 7 Hits] More reflection on the topic of groups. When I spoke in Castelldefels on Saturday, I noted that education does not have - but maybe needs - a version of the Hippocratic Oath, or at the very least, the admonition to
do no harm. People talk about the benefits of groups to some people, but they forget the harm, and it seemed to me that the forced placement into groups could only be justified of no harm would be caused. As Glogowski says, "I could reinforce teenage power dynamics, but I won't." Because teenage power dynamics are harmful. Not to everybody. But to some. [Tags: ] [
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