Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
December 22, 2008

Open Content, Enclosure and Conversion
In this post I reply to a post from David Wiley asking, point blank, for a clarification and expansion of my thoughts on the Creative Commons Non-Commercial license and open educational resources. I hope that this will be found to be a positive contribution to the discussion, where I've attempted to work through I mean, and what I am working toward, with my own concerns about commercial educational content. Stephen Downes, Half an Hour, December 22, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Open Content] [Comment]

Tony Bates
I didn't realize Tony Bates was blogging, until reading an item from George Siemens. Bates is well known worldwide as one of the most prominent authors and thinkers in online learning, and it is a delight to be able to get his thoughts in a regular online format. Tony Bates, Weblog, December 22, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Connectivism, Online Learning, Web Logs] [Comment]

Edublog Awards: The Best 16 Eddies
What do the winners of the edublog awards have in common? They are almost all 'teacher' blogs - based in the U.S. K12 system. Almost all of them campaigned for votes, linking early to the edublogs site (the real reason for nomination lists of 20 sites or more) and collecting support by the classroom full. Many of them - and especially the top awards - contained little content about education (not surprising, because education isn't very popular). And most of them follow the Boing Boing style of blogging - light fluffy content supplemented with cutesy images and video. The awards have been fully co-opted, which was inevitable given the selection process. This is a very common phenomenon, and is why awards selections are typically restricted to academies (or Nobel committees) instead of the population at large. Milton Ramierez, education and tech, December 22, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Video, Online Learning, Linking and Deep Linking, Web Logs] [Comment]

And Calculus For All: Update
Overall, I like this project. Having students create videos on calculus gives them practical skills, and might even improve their knowledge of calculus. I'm not sure I would support having them make commercials, however - there is no need for the commercial colonialism (and copyrights) to extend into calculus education. Darren Kuropatwa, A Difference, December 22, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Schools, Video, Marketing, Project Based Learning, Copyrights, Patents] [Comment]

There's Something Going Down On Facebook. Pay Attention.
This has become a huge story over the weekend. In a nutshell, some company has been setting up fake Facebook 'Class of 2013' groups in an effort to gain admin rights - and direct marketing access - to every student. According to Brad J. Ward, who discovered the scam, College Prowler, a Pittsburgh based company that sells 'college insider guides' has been using unpaid student interns to create the accounts. An Inside Higher Ed article quotes officials from College Prowler coming clean. Brad J. Ward, SquaredPeg, December 22, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Books, Marketing] [Comment]

Downes Future of Learning - A Summary
If you found my essay The Future of Online Learning: Ten Years On (scribd) a bit long, you'll appreciate this much shorter summary highlighting the major points. Silent Blog, thieme, December 22, 2008 [Link] [Tags: Online Learning] [Comment]

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