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by Stephen Downes
October 13, 2009

Personal Learning Environments & Personal Learning Networks - Day One
Our PLE/PLN Conference has started, with the first presentation, "PLE/PLNs: Empowering Education Beyond Borders," by Sharon Peters & John Thole, having taken place this morning. You can get an audio recording here and the Elluminate version should be available shortly. I'm just about to start the next session, with Lucie Grey, in a few minutes, and we have Graham Attwell tomorrow morning and Josie Fraser in the afternoon - see the schedule for times, and Abastracts are here. Access the conference via Elluminate here. Various Authors, , October 13, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Audio Chat and Conferencing, Audio, Podcasting, Personal Learning Environment] [Comment]

Government of Canada announces launch of its Language Portal and free access to TERMIUM Plus for all Canadians
This is interesting, from my email: "Good news. Termium is now free and made available to everyone (all Canadians) and not only Public Servant Employees." According to the article, "The (Our Languages) Portal provides Canadians with free, one-stop access to a wide range of language tools, including TERMIUM Plus - the Government of Canada's terminology and linguistic data bank. Users can also consult various writing tools, articles on language problems and numerous other online Canadian resources." But if you ask me, the best bit of content on the site is HyperGrammar2, "a self-teaching tool designed to help you improve your knowledge of English grammar, which deals with such topics as spelling, punctuation and capitalization (French speakers can use a similar service called Le Bellerive). Press Release, Government of Canada, October 13, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Canada] [Comment]

Review: MobileEducator iPhone Application and CMS
Michael Fienen reviews a platform designed to support online learning using mobile applications. Inspired by projects such as groups such as the students at Stanford (iStanford via MobilEdu), or a student team at OU (OU2Go) the group at MobileEducator designed a framework that allows you to build an application, compile it and submit it to Apple. "The system is built out by you (or with assistance from them) to include all your own graphics, colors, and any selection of modules that are offered with content you provide. That might be RSS feeds, images, video, links, etc. This process is made simple via the MobilityCMS platform, a web based content management system (CMS)." Michael Fienen, .eduGuru, October 13, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Online Learning, Video, Content Management Systems, RSS, Project Based Learning] [Comment]

Brad Neuberg: Introduction to HTML5

This post links to a presentation covering the implementation of new HTML 5 technologies into 'modern' browsers. It's important to take note how quickly the browser's capability ads a media platform has been expanding recently, as the diagram above indicates. Eric Miraglia, YUI Theater, October 13, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Video] [Comment]

Wikipedia Goes All Douglas Adams With Portable E-Reader
Outstanding. Everything the Kindle isn't, at a quarter of the price. "Meet the WikiReader, developed by Openmoko in official collaboration with Wikipedia and available at retail starting today for $99," a "palm-sized electronic encyclopedia containing the more than three million English language articles of Wikipedia." Finally, "the Wikireader's content isn't static: You can update its built-in memory card by free downloadable code, or by a $29 subscription service that'll send you a fresh card biannually." If it were solar powered, it would be perfect. Kit Eaton, Fast Company, October 13, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Subscription Services, Wikipedia] [Comment]

Open Courses: Free, but Oh, So Costly
In a longish article that puts the worst possible spin on open educational resources (OERs) the Chonicle the Chronicle points to the unsustainability of large funding models and asserts that "student scribblers" will be unable to make up for the loss of the big ticket programs. It also describes the phenomenon of open courses being offered (without actually mentioning any) and suggests that universities may start charging money for OERs. Meanwhile, we hear from the president of Western Governors University that "much open courseware is 'lousy'." Marc Parry, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 13, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Open Educational Resources] [Comment]

Free Education - Sustaining Open Source Curriculum?
Article in Huffington Post advocating open educational resources (OERs) and describing Curriki (sort for 'curriculum wiki'), a major source of such materials. The author, who is executive director of the Curriki project, then describes a number of sustainability models being considered by the site. Barbara Kurshan, Huffington Post, October 13, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Open Educational Resources, Project Based Learning] [Comment]

The New Literacy: Stanford study finds richness and complexity in students' writing
Interesting. About what you'd expect from a generation that reads and writes constantly on the internet. "Today's kids don't just write for grades anymore. They write to shake the world. Moreover, they are writing more than any previous generation, ever, in history. They navigate in a bewildering new arena where writers and their audiences have merged." Cynthia Haven, PhysOrg, October 13, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Assessment] [Comment]

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