Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
November 13, 2007

Free Learning and Control Learning
So I delivered my opening keynote address at SURF Education Days today. It was not the usual Web 2.0 rant people were expecting - instead, I focused on the Kirschner Sweller Clark paper I mentioned yesterday (thank you for the posts and emails - they were extremely helpful) and delivered what amounted to a thorough criticism. This paper, though it has been around for about a year, was relatively new to me. I was rather surprised when I read some summaries a couple of weeks ago, and quite concerned when I read the paper itself, just recently, especially given that it was published in a first-rate journal. The responses, in my mind, missed the heart of the critique, and allowed the authors to walk away relatively unscathed. Not after today. There ought to be a certain standard in our field, especially in that part of it that represents itself as the academic and professional part. Slides are also here. There's audio and video, which will be posted later. Stephen Downes, Slideshare November 13, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Audio, Books, Web 2.0, Video, Academia] [Comment]

Open Ed - Week 11: OERs Vs Learning Objects
I meant to use this chart, comparing old-style learning objects with new-style open learning resources, in my talk today. But I forgot (not that there would have been time for it). But it is instructive, and a useful addendum. Related: Andrew Keen and the demise of authority. Jennifer Maddrell, Designed to Inspire November 13, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Online Learning, Open Educational Resources, Learning Objects] [Comment]

10 Years of Open Content
David Wiley notes, "The 10th anniversary of open content is quickly approaching! The phrase 'open content' was born in the late spring of 1998, and the first open content license was unleashed on the world in July of 1998 (yes, I know this first license was pretty awful - but hey, it was my first attempt!)." He is declaring 2008 to be 'the year of open content'. To me, that translates as, 'the year of free learning'. Sounds good. David Wiley, iterating toward openness November 13, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Online Learning, Open Content] [Comment]

Adobe Joins the eLearning Industry
Jay Cross reports, "Adobe's Ellen Wagner, who coordinated the event, made it clear that Adobe intended to be a major player in eLearning." Adobe people have told me that they don't want to own the field, that what they want to do is to enable people to create. Products like Premiere (now reinstalled on the Windows part of my machine) speak in favour of that vision. Related: Jane Hart introduces us to Adobe's Buzzword, their online word processor. More from the Adobe Summit. Jay Cross, Informal Learning Blog November 13, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Microsoft] [Comment]

Categorizing ePortfolio Systems
This looks like a useful taxonomy. I'm not big on taxonomies, but they help identify what you're talking about. Helen Barrett, E-Portfolios for Learning November 13, 2007 [Link] [Tags: E-Portfolios] [Comment]

What Is the Role of the Leader in Educational Technology?
I responded to that question in my talk today, stating that a teacher should openly participate in a practice, modeling his or her discipline, and discussing it reflectively with learners. Anyhow, this is the first post from someone joining the edublogging community, and Alec Couros, who appears to have motivate this student, writes, "Could we give this new blogger a warm welcome by responding to her first question?" (Note to Laurie: the comments will drop off a lot after the first post. Don't worry about it. People are still reading, even if they're not commenting.) Laurie, Educational Technology Leadership November 13, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Web Logs] [Comment]

Conversation with Pre-Service Teachers - The Set Curriculum
It bears repeating... again: "That's when I realized that, to Julia - one of the best students in my class, one of the best writers - writing was really only about getting a grade. It had no other meaning or purpose. All of her learning was reduced to one thing - the need to achieve a certain average... I realized that my classroom was a place where there was a lot of teaching going on, but not a lot of learning. When talking to me about her work, Julia had used an adopted voice. She spoke about the thesis statement, the hook, about effective support. She used the terminology that I had been using since the beginning of the school year. She realized that school is about "playing school," that as long as she could jump through all of my hoops, she would do well and get into the university of her choice." Konrad Glogowski, blog of proximal development November 13, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Schools, Online Learning] [Comment]

Sharing E-Learning Content - a Synthesis and Commentary
"In this study of over 30 projects, their reports, background papers and other relevant documents, a picture emerges showing relatively little formal, large-scale sharing via repositories with appropriate licensing and a lot of informal, small-scale sharing with colleagues and collaborators." Andrew Charlesworth, JISC November 13, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Learning Object Repositories, Project Based Learning] [Comment]

 

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