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OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
September 8, 2008

Appeal Brief Filed
Blackboard has filed the papers appealing the verdict in the Blackboard patent case. Unattributed, Desire2Learn, September 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Patents, Copyrights, Blackboard Inc., Patents] [Comment]

24 Killer Portable Apps For Your USB Flash Drive
This is a great list of applications you can load on your USB drive and carry around with you. They will work on any Windows computer and will provide functionality you simply won't find ordinarily. If you don't hop from computer to computer a lot, these won't be so useful, but if you find yourself staring at a strange keyboard on a regular basis, then they're indispensable. This is a trend worth noting because we're getting closer and closer to simply carrying around our computer, operating system and all, on our keychains. Lee Mathews, DownloadSquad, September 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Operating Systems, Microsoft] [Comment]

Bloomsbury Launches a New Imprint for OA Books
So I think the floodgates are opening now for books, with open access books about to become the norm. "...All books will be made available free of charge online, with free downloads, for non-commercial purposes immediately upon publication, using Creative Commons licences. The works will also be sold as books, using the latest short-run technologies or Print on Demand (POD)." This is something we could have started doing ten years ago, should have started doing ten years ago. Peter Suber, Open Access News, September 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Open Access] [Comment]

[CCK08] First Impressions


Even if you're not registered in our giant Connectivism course (and most OLDaily readers are not registered!) you will want to see this diagram of the course - this is a classic depiction of a connectivist course model. Matthias Melcher, x28's new Blog, September 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Traditional and Online Courses, Connectivism] [Comment]

Blogger Followers, a New Social Application
This is Google basically trying to turn Blogger into a social network. I hope it doesn't work, because what we want is a web-wide social network, not a Google-wide social network. Also, Google still seems to have real problems accepting my identity (ranther than it's own gmail branded identity). Ionut Alex Chitu, Google Operating System, September 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Blogger, Networks, Google] [Comment]

Outstanding Use of Online Tools and Digital Storytelling
Worth a look. "The teachers involved set up a ning group and then the students got to work. Their research was used to create a multimedia presentation, with the promise of the top presentations going to their local MP." Kerry Johnson, KerryJ's blog, September 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Research] [Comment]

Share This
Here we have a pretty good illustration of why 'pinging' is such a non-starter. When you start sending notifications - and start 'sharing' intpo proprietary services (even popular ones like del.icio.us) you are simply contributing to vendor lock-in. This post is a graphic illustration of what that looks like today (and why I have always preferred the personal blog and RSS over any proprietary scheme). And the people who put those 'share' buttons on their posts? Let me remind them again, that blogging is broadcasting, and that you don't need to join the 'network' (no, not even Technorati) to be successful. Darren Draper, Drape's Takes, September 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Networks, RSS, del.icio.us, Web Logs] [Comment]

Training Method Trends : eLearning Technology
Some very interesting trends picked up from an e-Learning Guild survey. In general, what the data says is that the use of podcasts, blogs and communities of practice is way up over the last year, while the most significant decline was in mobile learning (bad news for the mobilists). Classroom use is up, especially in government - and I can relate, I have to travel to Fredericton next week for some mandatory in-class 'teamwork' training. Yeah, that's what I said. Tony Karrer, eLearning Technology, September 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Online Learning, Podcasting, Web Logs] [Comment]

Does Learning Grow or Is It Built?
Interesting post from the Connectivism course looking at whether we 'grow' or 'build' new learning. I have added a comment defending the idea that we 'grow' learning. (Flash on Firefox 3 on Ubuntu is so bad that a page with a widget on it is a real problem to read - just so you all know). Christy Tucker, Experiencing E-Learning, September 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Connectivism] [Comment]

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