Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
October 25, 2007

Anaheim 2007

There was no newsletter yesterday, so you didn't miss it. Today's comes to you from the AECT conference here in Anaheim, where the winds have abated but the smoke still lingers. The photo above was the scene from my hotel room window at 7:30 a.m. as the Sun rose behind the still burning Santiago fire near Santa Ana - you can see the smoke plumes from it. Stephen Downes, Flickr October 25, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Newsletters, Flickr] [Comment]

What Evidence?
This is a nice post and gets at some of the themes I tried to bring out yesterday. "Multi-ontology sense-making... argues that different ontologies (defined as the nature of systems based on the relationship between cause and effect) require different approaches to evidence, analysis and action... evidence, as data, in the sense that Tom uses it is a feature and a requirement of ordered systems, but it is inappropriate in any complex system; not only inappropriate but down right dangerous." Quite so. Dave Snowden, Cognitive Edge October 25, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Ontologies, Semantic Web] [Comment]

E-Portfolios – the DNA of the Personal Learning Environment?
A core value of the Personal Learning Environment (PLE) is in facilitating reflection. "Facilitating reflection is not simple within a largely 'input based' curriculum where the main goal is to pass a series of prescribed examinations. The danger is that reflection is simply seen as irrelevant to the qualification driven motivation of many students within their school based learning (as opposed to outside school)." I've tried to describe 'curriculum' (if you will) as a process of engagement. There remain people who think this can be planned, as though it were a play. I don't consider that to be engagement. Anyhow, with those thoughts, enjoy Graham Attwell's longish paper on PLEs. Graham Attwell, Wales Wide Web October 25, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Schools, Online Learning, Personal Learning Environment, E-Portfolios] [Comment]

Celebrating Failure
I always want things to go perfectly. They don't, always. Trying new things creates the possibility of failure. "These same students, who are hiding and embarrassed by their "failure" with certain concepts (again, I see this mostly in Math), have no problem when they come in and fail at some computer game in the lab, or when they play XBox, Nintendo, Playstation at home." I need to embrace the idea that life is like a video game. less serious, and certainly less permanent, than I tend to think it is. Bob Sprankle, Bit By Bit October 25, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Video, Gaming] [Comment]

Microsoft Takes Slice of Facebook
Microsoft got only 1.6 percent of the company for $240 million, but presumably their voice will be larger than their share. Matt Hartley, Globe and Mail October 25, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Microsoft] [Comment]

Well, If They'Re Already Using It ...
This article begins by posing the question fo whether universities should attempt to block students' use of Web 2.0 services or whether it should embrace them. It them answers its own question by looking in more detail at the way Northwestern University outsources its student email account handling to Google Mail. It's an interesting arrangement, and the marketing (with a captive audience) is obviously very effective. We are given assurances about privacy and security and informed that students just forward their email anyways. Still... Andy Guess, Inside Higher Ed October 25, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Privacy Issues, Web 2.0, Security Issues, Google, Marketing] [Comment]

Old News Item On This New Thing Called Internet
George Siemens sent me this link to an old CBC video about this brand new thing called 'the Internet', now being used by 15 million people. (As an aside, I'm finding that I've come to really dislike the comments that get posted on YouTube. Maybe I'm becoming old and intolerant. But the nastiness and rudeness just seem to come from another world. artrenderman, CBC / YouTube October 25, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Branding, Video, YouTube] [Comment]

 

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