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OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
February 25, 2008

Learning 2050
Fifteen minute talk followed by fifteen minutes of questions on the long-term trends in learning. I talk first about how learning will talk place in the long term, then I talk about the types of learning (the 'Three Ls') people will need. Then I talk about the underlying tchnology trends. All new slides! Presentation by Stephen Downes, Learning Resources Network (LERN) Faculty Development Institute, Online - ZoomCall, [Link]

We Need a Degree in Instructional Design
This is follow-up to the recent discussion around the role of research in instructional design. I guess my main problem with this proposal would be keeping the degree from being obsolete on the day it is launched. Karl Kapp, Kapp Notes February 25, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Research] [Comment]

Chickensaurus Skeleton
This is something that would probably have changed my whole outlook on anatomy and biology. What a project! This would have been so cool... (now I'm resisting the urge to go out and buy a whole chicken, because, you know, I'm still the kid that caught frogs and built rafts and tree forts and made my own world almanacs and drew maps and flags and whatever...). Kevin Kelly, Wired February 25, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Project Based Learning, Cool] [Comment]

Aiming for Obscurity
I've tried to be politie about this in the past, but it really seems to me - as it does this author - that people writing in closed academic journals are deliberately trying to keep their work obscure. Why? Well, that is to speculate... Peter Suber, Open Access News February 25, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Academic Publications, Academic Journals, Academia] [Comment]

I'M Telling You for the Last Time
Some common sense is finally beginning to surface on the 'dangers' of online networking. "Posting personal information online does not, by itself, appear to be a particularly risky behavior. Social networking sites such as MySpace do not appear to have increased the risk of victimization by online molesters. Patterns of risky online behavior make youths vulnerable." I agree with this. Here's the research. Dean Shareski, Ideas and thoughts from an EdTech February 25, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Privacy Issues, Networks, Research] [Comment]

Personal Learning Networks (Personal and Community-Focused)
Something has prompted Jim Lerman to pick up blogging more regularly this new yearm, aand I hope he continues. Not just because of this link - found through a Google Alert - which examines my own work on personal learning communities in some depth - but also because of his other work, such as his look at tap-dance learning, a link to the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future's new book titled Building a 21st Century U.S. Education System, and a look at what we are aiming for. Jim Lerman, Escape Velocity February 25, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Online Learning, Books, Google, Learning Communities, Online Learning Communities, Research, Web Logs] [Comment]

Learnitlists
Interesting. It's designed as a widget, to be used in social network applications. "The learnit widget will make the same words appear in a different order each time. You can flip them between the language you speak and the language you're learning. You can see them side by side, or hide them. Every time you do a search on the Internet, you can glance at them." Jane Hart, Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day February 25, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Online Learning, Networks] [Comment]

Movie Theater of the Future (1930)
It is well worth taking a second or two to reflect on what we can learn from this item. In 1930, as television was emerging, people saw it as a type of cinema technology - they thought we would go to movie theaters and watch films broadcast from central locations. Well, today we do have live WWE wrestling extravaganza at the local cinema, but television reception is so cheap most people enjoy it in their own homes. Fast-forward to 2008, and learning. Why do we persist in believing that people will go to educational movie theatres to view online learning? Why do we persist in thinking of this as an in-school activity? This, more than anything else about our field, puzzles me. Matt, Paleo-Future February 25, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Schools, Online Learning, Video] [Comment]

Jury Sides With Blackboard in Patent Case
Continuing coverage of reactions to the Blackboard patent verdict. The Chronicle quotes a combative John Baker: "They won this round, but the battle is not over by any stretch of the imagination," John Baker, president and chief executive of Desire2Learn, said in an interview Friday. "We'll continue to fight and hopefully remove from the educational community this very dark cloud." The Sakai Foundation also responds in measured tones, "This is certainly not either the end or, frankly, the most important part of the ongoing patent dispute." And Graham Attwell writes, "The Blackboard affair is just another round in this fight. It ultimately represents an attempt to privatise our rights to education and our rights to learning, to turn the means an tools for developing knowledge into a private commodity." Exactly. Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed February 25, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Patents, Copyrights, Blackboard Inc., Patents] [Comment]

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