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by Stephen Downes
June 18, 2009

Educating the Net Generation - Australian Research Project
Interesting report from Australia. "The project, which is based at the University of Melbourne has investigated how commencing first year students and their teachers use traditional and emerging technology-based tools in their everyday lives and to support student learning and drawn on the expertise of teachers and the results of this investigation to develop and implement pedagogically sound, technology-based tools to enhance student learning in local learning environments." Mark Bullen notes that among the findings is the assertion that "the rhetoric that university students are Digital Natives and university staff are Digital Immigrants is not supported" and "there is great diversity in students' and staff experiences with technology, and their preferences for the use of technology in higher education." Mark Bullen, Net Gen Skeptic, June 18, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Experience, Project Based Learning, Australia] [Comment]

Open University Podcasts on Your TV - Boxee App
I don't think I've written about Boxee here before. "For those of you who haven't com across Boxee, it's an easy to use video on demand aggregator that turns your computer into a video appliance and lets you watch video content from a wide range of providers (including BBC iPlayer) on your TV." Anyhow, Tony Hirst writes about an Open University project to put content on Boxee. Tony Hirst, OUseful Info, June 18, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Video, Project Based Learning, BBC] [Comment]

Wordnik
What I really like about Wordnik is that it's a people's dictionary. You can add definitions, pronunciations, and more. 1.7 million words indexed thus far. Via Jane Hart. Various Authors, Website, June 18, 2009 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

Rapid (Collaborative) Authoring Tools for developers/SMEs in multiple locations
This is a very good list that is just as the title suggests. Links are to each of the projects (about two dozen) listed. Janet Clarey, Brandon Hall, June 18, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Project Based Learning] [Comment]

Journals and repositories: an evolving relationship?
With the suggestion that Elsevier is lobbying UK vice-chancellors in an attempt to replace open access repositories, it is relevant to look anew at the relation between repositories and academic journals. This article (PDF) is a useful look at the subject, offering several models showing how both journals and repositories can add post-authorship value to the publication. "There is potential for repositories and journals to interact with each other on an ongoing basis and between them to form a coherent OA scholarly communication system," writes the author. Stephen Pinfield, Learned Publishing, June 18, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Academic Publications, Academic Journals, Great Britain, Learning Object Repositories, Academia, Open Access] [Comment]

What's the Matter with Memory?
Here is another example of a 21st century skill, and not the sort of thing that is even remotely part of today's curriculum. People need to have some understanding not only of how they learn but also how they sometimes learn false things. This is especially important if they are to defend against the sort of manipulations that are described in this paper, where it is shown that while false memories can sometimes happen, they can, with the right mixture of suggestion and stimulus, be induced. Being able to recognize and defend oneself against such attacks is an important skill. Much of what we see in the news, for example, is not so much outright falsehood as the creation of shared experience in order to reinforce a previous suggestion of a falsehood. Many more interesting presentations are available from this CSE Meetings Sessions page. Elizabeth Loftus, Council of Science Editors, June 18, 2009 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment]

OUTPUTS: Web Services Workshop, 2nd June 2009
EthOS - the Electronic Theses Online System - held a workshop on web services (including both REST and WS) a couple of weeks ago. The result is an excellent collection of presentations (slides and audio) on most of the academic repository systems out there - SWORD, SRWE/U, Fedora, Eprints, DSpace, and Rosetta. There are also two case studies and some discussion of web services in general. The slides are not too technical and are presented as an overview. This is a great introduction to the field, if you're new to it, and a great review, if you're not. Various Authors, Electronic Theses Online System, June 18, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Audio, Web Services, Learning Object Repositories, Academia] [Comment]

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