Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
May 27, 2008

Facebook To Open Source Facebook Platform
According to this report, "Sometime soon, perhaps this week, Facebook will turn the year-old Facebook Platform into an open source project, multiple sources have told us." Waiting. Seeing. Michael Arrington, TechCrunch, May 27, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Books, Open Source, Project Based Learning] [Comment]

Education 2.0 Business Models
Good overview of web 2.0 business models as applied to e-learning. I guess my overall reaction is disappointment at the thought that people still do not see the social value in providing learning for free, and must seek still to 'monetize' e-learning initiatives. I've been reading Al Gore's The Assault on Reason to day and am compelled to think that the disaster that happens when democracy is for sale is nothing compared to what will happen when learning is for sale. Tony Hirst, OUseful Info, May 27, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Online Learning] [Comment]

An Interview with Tom Kuhlmann
This is a pretty good case study in how blogging can support a corporate e-learning product. The interview also helps learn a bit about Tom Kuhlmann, who is the VP of Community for Articulate and who authors the Rapid E-Learning blog. The blog is very popular because it contains good solid tips - such as this one on how to bring the web into the corporate intranet. "You waren't going to come to the blog and read about web 2.0 and Second Life..." says Kuhlmann. Fair enough. Shepherd's interview page is an example of just that sort of practicality, an elegant embedding of a YouTube playlist in a single interface (also plays fins in your RSS reader). Clive Shepherd, Clive on Learning, May 27, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Online Learning, Second Life, Video, RSS, YouTube, Web Logs] [Comment]

Wake Forest to Drop ACT, SAT
"Wake Forest University will no longer require applicants to submit SAT or ACT test scores for admission... they changed their policy after reviewing extensive research that shows the tests favor wealthy students and aren't the best predictors of college success." Via University Business. More coverage from the New York Times. Jane Stancill, Charlotte Observer, May 27, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Assessment, Research] [Comment]

Quick Quiz: What New Web Tool Can You Use and Get an ASUS?
How about a little disclosure here? Are Steve Dembo and Sue Waters getting paid to promote a commercial product (I assume Alan Levine's rah rah post is unpaid, though you'd never know from the tenor)? Was Dembo being paid when he started plugging it on his site back in early April? I don't care if people want to make a little money, but let's keep the advertising content in the edublogosphere clearly labeled as such, OK? Because, as it stands now, I can't trust anything Sue Waters and Steve Dembo write - and that's an unhappy state to be in. Alan Levine, CogDogBlog, May 27, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Marketing] [Comment]

Edupunk
Well - I was into cyberpunk in the 1980s, eagerly devouring Gibson, Sterling, and the rest, so I guess I can get behind edupunk in the 2000s. The term was coined by Jim Groom in a recent post and captures the imagination. "'Edupunk' gets us there - with its implication of technical accessibility, a DIY ethic, quick and dirty over grand design, and a suspicion of corporate appropriation it hits a lot of the right notes."

So what, exactly, is edupunk? It's hard to explain exactly, but (Groom notes) Keira McPhee's front lawn (a melange of garden and jungle) is edupunk. "She has converted her front lawn from a useless showpiece that consumes unknown quantities of wasted energy and resources, into a lush, fecund organic garden that burgeons with the fruits of her labor. She is an activist, teacher and mentor all at once." Well, the organic front garden is a bit hackneyed (every neighbourhood has one; there's one next door to us here in Moncton) but the idea is worth exploring. Mike Caulfield, Weblog, May 27, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Accessibility, Mentors and Mentoring] [Comment]

Bah...Leadership Gurus
Scott McLeod writes, "Name a long term, substantive, sustainable change that occurred in your organization without the active support of your leadership. I'll wait..." Miguel Guhlin replies, "I'm tired of reading about how leaders need to be mollycoddled, babied, nursed, trained, led by the nose, inspired, etc. Come on! If they are really leaders why aren't they the heck out here in the edublogosphere?" I'm with Guhlin on this one. Dough Johnson, meanwhile, writes, "Scott seems to be equating leadership with administration." Miguel Guhlin, Around the Corner, May 27, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Leadership] [Comment]

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