Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
January 31, 2007

Building a Library Web Site On the Pillars of Web 2.0
The pillars are pretty much gospel these days, though I have to admit that I'm a little iffy on number 3. Perpetual beta. Me, I want software that works, not explanations for why it doesn't (and I get enough email about my site to know other people feel that way too, even about noncommercial web sites). The question not is whether these are all the pillars, or whether there are more. And do we need them all? Who added "rich user experience" to Web 2.0? It wasn't there before. Via Judy O'Connell. Karen A. Coombs, Information Today January 31, 2007 [Link] [Comment]

The Future Begins Now: School 2.0 Manifesto
Christopher D. Sessums begins the process of creating a School 2.0 manifesto, and while I applaud the initiative I caution that such a manifesto would need to be more than just a rehash of Cluetrain. And also, it needs to make sense. "Schools are people," he writes. Well, no, schools are not people. And it's going to have to take into account the balance between the inner world and the outer world. When you say "Learning is a social activity... It is built upon conversations" you are discounting the learning that happens in one's own mind - indeed, are misunderstanding the nature of learning itself, which is the development of new neural structures. Maybe he means to say, "The best learning is social..." but now we are in rather tenuous territory. So why does all this stuff work for Cluetrain and not for learning? Well there's the thing - learning is not about commerce and it's not about markets. Christopher D. Sessums, Christopher D. Sessums : Weblog January 31, 2007 [Link] [Comment]

Journal of Information Literacy
Another open access journal in our field launches, the Journal of Information Literacy. "Papers on any topic related to the practical, technological or philosophical issues raised by the attempt to increase information literacy throughout society are encouraged." Volume 1 Number 1 is now available - no RSS though, I wonder what it is that makes journals so reluctant to use RSS. Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe, ACRLog January 31, 2007 [Link] [Comment]

2007 PreK-12 Educational Publishing Outlook
Summary of a webinar held yesterday surveying outlooks for educational publishing. Interesting to note Leslie Wilson's observation that "There is a three year learning curve in instituting one to one computing into schools" and "Students feel more effective, they enjoy schoolwork more... [they] are doing more collaborative activities, more problem solving, they debate and question more, they integrate subjects areas better, and they discuss schoolwork with other students more. Test scores are significantly higher." So? As Gail Pierson says, "The Riverdeep/Houghton-Mifflin vision is that adoptions and larger contracts are requiring the winner to provide a solution that integrates both core curriculum and supplemental content, while also providing pacing calendars, curriculum and lesson planners (with content accessible from the planner), differentiated instruction, single sign-on, flexible print/online content with capabilities to change the lesson sequence and to fragment content, and content accessible from the district portal. One could say that they are betting the company on that vision." Mitchell Weisburgh, PILOTed January 31, 2007 [Link] [Comment]

Tips for Gaining Adoption of Enterprise 2.0 Technologies
Short post but contains sensible advice. In a nutshell: if you are advocating the use of new technologies, use the tools. Demonstrating and working with the tools provides the best evidence that the tools are worth while. Jim McGee, McGee's Musings January 31, 2007 [Link] [Comment]

Privacy and Scaffolding
Today's students, writes Glowgowski, perhaps spurred my fears expressed by their parents and the media, are more concerned about privacy than ever. A good thing, right? Well perhaps - but you can't keep children sheltered forever. "Currently, privacy is a support mechanism that, for whatever reason, the students find comforting and reassuring. Gradually, the need for it will be replaced by the need to have the freedom to create their own networks." Konrad Glogowski, blog of proximal development January 31, 2007 [Link] [Comment]

 

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