Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
April 20, 2007

Blogger's Choice Awards
More awards, and yes, I nominated myself here too, and again, you'll have to find it under pages and pages of nominees. A couple of commercial blogs have jumped into an early lead - and they're the ones you see when you go to vote. Talk about a significant first-mover advantage). Anyhow, like the other award shows, they give you a good place to sample a lot of content. Enjoy, and have a great weekend. Various Authors, Website April 19, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Web Logs, Google, Blogger] [Comment]

What I Learned at Dinner
Right. Very important: "it is attractive to imagine that there are 'baby steps' we can take 'inside' the institutional silos to get them used to the ideas... [but] we miss out on the power of the 'network effects' that are in fact integral to the positive feedback loops of succesful social software." More about David Wiley and his talk from Brian Lamb. Scott Leslie, EdTechPost April 19, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Web Logs, Networks, Online Learning] [Comment]

Time for TechCrunch, Academic?
I think this is a good idea. "Maybe there's scope for a TechCrunch Academic, that can cover neat stuff going on in academic research labs and help out with academics' often neglected public engagement and knowledge transfer activities." But who would do it? There's lots of money available for research projects, and nothing for real communication of results (I personally consider this newsletter to be among the best sources out there, but it is basically unfunded - a proper job would take a lot more time and money than anyone is willing to give (without trying to 'own' the content and massage the message). Tony Hirst, OUseful Info April 19, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Academia, Project Based Learning, Research, Newsletters] [Comment]

Opportunities in Our Laps?
Good post documenting the launch of the OLPC and getting to the point of the project - that it is not just about technology and not just about teaching. "There is no current funding or plans for any associated teacher training programs to go with the OLPC project. Is this foolish or brilliant? Should such teacher training and "train the trainer" programs be formally developed or will it be better to leave this to the teachers and adults themselves? Will teachers learn (and teach) best by doing so with their students and adopting a "guide on the side" type approach?" Wayne Hodgins, Off Course-On Target April 19, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Project Based Learning, Adult Learning] [Comment]

Seeing Ed Tech Really Working in Indiana
Steve Hargadon writes, "While this is a fascinating description of what is taking place in Indiana's ACCESS program, led by Mike Huffman and Laura Taylor, it's more than that. (Audio interview with Mike and Laura at EdTechLive.com) It's someone seeing a vision for the use of technology in education that is truly transformative." This is what prompted me to link: "Moodle and Criterion have saved my life," she said. "I used to spend hours grading papers and quizzes. Now, Moodle takes care of the quizzes, and Criterion grades the papers for spelling and grammar so I can focus on the content. This software saves me 10 hours a week -- which I spend building the actual curriculum." That's got to be useful to someone. Steve Hargadon, Weblog April 19, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Audio, Assessment] [Comment]

World Book and Copyright Day
Monday is 'World Book and Copyright Day' and is an example of UNESCO taking exactly the wrong turn. "There can be no book development without copyright," says UNESCO's Director-General Koichiro Matsuura. This, of course, is a crock, as people are proving with projects as varied as Wikipedia and open publishing on Lulu. The of the Open Educational Resources (OER) contemplated by UNESCO at its various forums. He writes, "The dual nature of these products of the publishing industry, which are both goods for sale and works of the mind, has repeatedly been emphasized. Much has also been said about the book as the driving force behind a wide array of income-generating activities..." If this is what he thinks, how seriously can we take UNESCO on OERs? Maybe Monday might be a good day to tell Koichiro Matsuura and the rest of UNESCO that open content is much more important to world development that the paltry incomes authors earn as a result of a system designed to deny knowledge and learning to the poor. Steve McDonald, collectanea April 19, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Patents, Open Access, Copyrights, Project Based Learning, Wikipedia, Open Content, Open Educational Resources, Books, UNESCO] [Comment]

Don't Tell Your Parents: Schools Embrace MySpace
As Graham Attwell notes, the numerous errors in the coverage are unfortunate. Me, I'm surprised Wired has an 'education' section (when did that happen?). But the coverage of ELGG can do only good, even if Dave Tosh is demoted to 'Project Manager'. Robert Andrews, Wired April 19, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Web Logs, Schools] [Comment]

I'M Ready for NECC Are You?
Post with some good links to edublogging-type locations in Second Life (including Will Richardson's office), suggesting that there should be an edublogger meetup in 2L tied to NECC. Why would you need to tie it to NECC? I don't know. Just have the meetup (rolls eyes). Meanwhile, Andrew Pass obsevres: "It's got to be more than just an opportunity to chat about technology. I'm not a technology person and frankly I don't think that technology for its own sake is very important. It's got to help people accomplish an important task or it's worthless." Related: Trek museum in Second Life (and btw, Star Trek First Contact is the best ST movie, bar none). Related: Mark Wagner suggests an education grid in 2L. Jeff Utecht, The Thinking Stick April 19, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Web Logs, Project Based Learning, Chatrooms] [Comment]

 

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