Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
March 12, 2007

Impact of Open Source Software On Education, Series Launch
I think this is a worthwhile endeavour - a series of interviews and posts documenting the impact of open source on education. The first installment in the series, a two-parter, features an interview with Ruth Sabean about UCLA's selection of an open source common collaboration and learning environment - Moodle. Ken Udas, Terra Incognita - A Penn State World Campus March 12, 2007 [Link] [Comment]

YouTube for Contract Negotiations
it's actually kind of an obvious use, once you think of it. "Teachers in the Nashua (NH) school district have made a series of videos that communicate their concerns with the current budget negotiations." Will Richardson, Weblogg-Ed March 12, 2007 [Link] [Comment]

Twitter THIS!
Twitter is a site that encourages you to blog every five minutes. I'm not sure whether I've mentioned it here before - I may have mentioned Kathy Sierra's twitter curve. No matter. Despite the hype it has gotten in the last few days, there's no there there. The best enhancement to Twitter I've seen is the auto-twitter - software that knows what you should be doing every five minutes or so, and blogs it for you. Now if we can just create the auto-Twitter-reader, the set will be complete and all will be as it should. Karoli, odd time signatures March 12, 2007 [Link] [Comment]

Uses and Abuses of Personas
Yes. Yes. "People don't visit a website or fire up a program in order to perform a role; they want to complete a task." Catherine Howell captures my uneasiness with Sakai - and Learning Design - square on the nail. "The use of personas ultimately reflects an approach to systems design that is outdated. Organisations are gradually becoming looser and less structured..." Catherine Howell, EDUCAUSE Connect March 12, 2007 [Link] [Comment]

Read, Think, Remix
The big question: "At the point when these networks become institutionalized, are they then, by extension, part and parcel of this mission critical - are they in the business of producing a consuming subject for the global market? For I think many of us have been interpreting these tools as an alternative to such a pragmatic logic." And an indication of why the pledge on my home page is an integral part of the work I do in online learning. Jim Groom, bavatuesdays March 12, 2007 [Link] [Comment]

The 50 Most Important People On the Web
Somehow I didn't make the list. They must have lost my name in the shuffle. Then again, they ranked Perez Hilton and a blogger named Hindrocket higher than Tim Berners-Lee. Christopher Null, PC World March 12, 2007 [Link] [Comment]

EdPod
New podcast on education launched by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Topics to date: sleepy teens, canteens, and why Finnish schools are better. Various Authors, ABC March 12, 2007 [Link] [Comment]

 

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