Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
October 8, 2008

Edupunk - More Ponytails Than Punk
A bit of pushback against the concept of edupunk. "If they want to peddle punk then do what punks did - free themselves from the cosiness of the establishment. Why don't they do this? Because they ARE the establishment." I think that it's pretty funny to be thought of as the establishment. "To drag learning back into the classroom with anti-technology rhetoric is simply a backward step. School ain't punk. Staffrooms ain't punk. Teaching ain't punk. Teachers ain't punk." Fair enough. But most of the 'edupunk' people aren't teachers at all (you'll find the teachers in the 'School 2.0' aisle). Donald Clark, Plan B, October 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Schools, Edupunk] [Comment]

The Economic Crunch Will Speed Networked Learning
"When network laws are followed, learning and teaching are far less costly than in cash-devouring 20th century schools." Which is good for us, because it will be good to be employed in the weeks and months ahead. Judy Breck, Golden Swamp, October 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Schools, Networks] [Comment]

Opening Up Education
Another open event - it's getting very hard to keep track of them, much less know what's happening in them - this one on open education and offered by the Carnegie Commons. "Join the editors of Opening Up Education, Toru Iiyoshi and Vijay Kumar, and John Seely Brown, who wrote the book's foreword, to talk about future possibilities for the open education movement and how it can improve the quality of education." Via shirley:journal. various Authors, Carnegie Foundation, October 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Quality] [Comment]

Conservatives Pledge to Reintroduce Copyright Reform
If elected, the Conservatives pledge to reintroduce bill C-61, the 'Canadian DMCA' that attracted protests before Parliament was dissolved. This is in contrast to the Liberals and NDP, many of whom have signed a copyright 'pledge' to support user rights. Peter Nowak, CBC News, October 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Patents, Canada, Copyrights, Patents] [Comment]

SWORD Plugin for Word 2007
This is a sign of where things are headed - an open source plug-in for microsoft Word that helps people deposit their work into a SWORD repository. SWORD is an open source repository framework based on the Atom syndication protocols. Savas, savas:web, October 8, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Content Syndication, Open Source, Learning Object Repositories] [Comment]

This newsletter is sent only at the request of subscribers. If you would like to unsubscribe, Click here.

Know a friend who might enjoy this newsletter? Feel free to forward OLDaily to your colleagues. If you received this issue from a friend and would like a free subscription of your own, you can join our mailing list. Click here to subscribe.