Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
April 4, 2007

Basic Connectivism - Or Connectivism for Dummies
I'm a bit behind, so I missed George Siemens on Women of Web 2.0 last night. But I couldn't pass over a post entitled 'Connectivism for Dummies'. "Connectivism is the assertion that learning is primarily a network forming process." That's pretty good. Just one thing: connectivism is not owned by George Siemens (as he would be the first to say). You surely don't have to ask him permission to write about it. Goodness, I haven't - and I've written as much about it as anyone. Anyhow, there's a lot more to the post than just that - I would recommend it - and there's a link to the Siemens chat at the end. Sharon Peters, Musings about Teaching High School, Social Computing and Ed. Tech. April 4, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Web 2.0, Networks, Connectivism, Chatrooms] [Comment]

The Hive 7 Chat World
People who remember The Palace will find this AJAX-enabled chat room an exact clone, except for the web browser. It was way too slow for me (and I have a very good broadband connection) and, to judge by the conversation I saw while there, it's not work-safe (much less school-safe). Via Mark Oehlert. Philipp Lenssen, Google Blogscoped April 4, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Schools, Chatrooms] [Comment]

Student Self Directed Learning
Another new (to me) blog, and this looks like a good one. I'd add it to my edublogger list but I'm just in a transition - more on that tomorrow, I hope. Anyhow, I'll flag this here and hope I don't lose the reference. Via Derek Wenmoth. Phil Brows, Student Self Directed Learning April 4, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Schools, Web Logs] [Comment]

Apples and Pears
Interesting - maybe eLearning Guild is changing its orientation a bit. I'm speaking at their conference in Boston next week (and sneaking a side-trip to MIT while I'm there, where I plan to lurk in the hallways like a troll). But even more significantly, I learn that they're now including open source software Moodle in their LMS awards - and the little PHP program that could is sweeping them up. Now author Clive Shepherd says the comparison is not warranted because Moodle is a VLE, not an LMS. I don't agree - nothing would prevent you from using Moodle as an LMS, but most of its operators don't want that level of control. Moodle doesn't just represent a shoftware choice, it also represents an approach to learning. Clive Shepherd, Clive on Learning April 4, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Open Source] [Comment]

Disintegrated Thoughts On Content Integration and Remix
Brian Lamb, who will be keynoting at this year's this year's Open Education Conference in Utah, ponders the back and forth of whether web deveopers will ever agree on standards. There's the depressing news from the commercial side, as we hear that Blackboard will never support anything like a proper export function, and depressing news from the open source side, as developers hesitate to support proprietary sites like Flickr and YouTube. "I'm dismayed by this stance," he writes, wondering what the online learning video awards would have looked like had clips from YouTube been banned. Well maybe - but let's wait a few years and see how it feels when it transpires that nobody will ever be able to access the actual videos except Google. Brian Lamb, Abject Learning April 4, 2007 [Link] [Tags: YouTube, Online Learning, Blackboard Inc., Video, Open Source, Flickr, Google] [Comment]

Flickr Contacts
Hey Flickr, if my account is so disabled you won't even allow me access to it any more (not until I get some gawd-awful username from Yahoo and sign up for their email spam service) why am I still getting email from the account when, say, people create new connections (p.s. hiya Stephen Grobe, nice to meet you, I can't sign on to verify)? P.S. in case you haven't noticed, I am still very upset with Flickr for simply deciding what identity I'm going to have - here's a better idea, Flickr - support OpenID and quit trying to pull me into the Yahoo Walled Garden. Same goes for Google and Blogger, in case you haven't been reading my complaints about that debacle. Come on guys, get with the program. You don't own the web, and you don't own us. Various Authors, Flickr April 4, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Flickr, Push versus Pull, Spam, Yahoo!, Google, Blogger] [Comment]

Creating Second Life Content
The idea is good, and the web page links to tutorials on how to build a chair in Second Life, how to build a create a teleport link in Second Life (so ironic - in the old days of MUDs, teleport links were called 'portals' ("step through he portal to get to fantasy island"), which is where the idea and name of web-based 'portals' came from - now back in the multi-user environment they're called 'teleport links' again - with no sign of a name change in sight. Anyhow, the author should have used Flash video (or YouTube) instead of unreliable .mov videos. finally, note the way this instruction is being delivered - people may talk about 'online classes' (whether on the web or in 2L) but when they actually need to deliver instruction, they're delivering small snippets of content through RSS. Richard Hoeg, eContent April 4, 2007 [Link] [Tags: RSS, YouTube, Portals, Video] [Comment]

DSpace ArchReview
The DSpace review is out and probably most deserves props for process. Not only is the report available online in three formats (.doc, .pdf and .ppt) the entire process was captured in a wiki displaying the process and issues, community review group membership, surveys, pre-readings, brainstorming, and five full days of discussion notes. Though I have been critical of customer-driven design in the past (which results in bloatware), this process makes me think it can work. Maybe. Anyhow, the outcome of the review is to call for basic improvements, such as making the software more modular and enabling it to scale to 100 downloading users at a time (made me think of my own problems, heh). Also, no small task (trust me) "DSpace should adopt a generic workflow system to manage all phases of the information lifecycle." Various Authors, DSpace April 4, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Membership] [Comment]

Pelican Crossing Releases Blink 3D 1.1
I'm not sure what to make of this - maybe that the difference between 1.0 and 1.1 is better publicity. Still, despite the lack of an open source version, the concept is too nice not to pass along: an application that is (according to the press release) "a complete system for creating interactive, animated and chat enabled multi-user 3D Web environments easily and without the need for programming skills." The White Paper, White Paper: The Metaverse 2.0, is certainly worth a read. The video is less impressive (you've seen one 3D scene, you've seen them all). See also the Pelican Crossing website. Press Release, Pelican Crossing April 4, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Chatrooms, Video, Open Source] [Comment]

 

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