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OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
February 16, 2010

Childhood & Play

"He was not the Model Boy of the village. He knew the model boy very well though--and loathed him." From The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Sums up everything you need to know about childhood and being a boy. Jim Burke, Learning in Maine, February 16, 2010 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment] [Tweet]

Conflicts of Interest and the Race to the Top
Well this is what you get when you privatize the school system. More reaction from the Millot case I reported on yesterday. "We will see many more charter operators pulling in $400,000-500,000 a year for their role, not as principals, but as "rainmakers" who build warm relationships with politicians and investors." All money that is not being used to support education, but rather to support an 'education industry'. Meanwhile, here is part three of Millot's rambling defense. Diane Ravich, Bridging Differences, February 16, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Schools, Online Learning, Push versus Pull] [Comment] [Tweet]

TinyPad
Nifty little application that allows you to take notes, sync them online, and share them. Various Authors, Website, February 16, 2010 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment] [Tweet]

Public Knowledge Proposes New Copyright Reform Act
Public Knowledge (not to be confused with the venerated Public Knowledge Project) is proposing a five-step copyright reform plan:
- strengthen fair use and reform statutory damages;
- permit circumvention of digital locks for lawful purposes;
- conform with how digital technologies work;
- provide recourse for people and companies who are accused; and
- streamline arcane music licensing laws
The proposals are pretty slim and probably the minimum that would be acceptable to copyright reform advocates. Via Techdirt. Press Release, Public Knowledge, February 16, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Copyrights, Patents] [Comment] [Tweet]

Student Data Systems, Unite!
What's old is new again as yet another proposal to unite student data surfaces. This time the push is from some major foundations (Lumina and Gates) and higher education research groups like the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. A technical working group has been convened, and they should be ready to go any time now. Of course there are privacy and security concerns, and questions should also be asked about the ownership and control over this data. Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed, February 16, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Privacy Issues, Student Record Systems, Security Issues, Research] [Comment] [Tweet]

LaaN vs. Situated Learning

Good overview of the difference between Learning as a Network (LaaN) and Situated learning. The latter, of course, is the community of practice (CoP) model espoused by Etienne Wenger. "The social landscape is quite different within LaaN. As discussed in an earlier post, a strong distinction can be made between closed, bounded, structured, and hierarchical CoPs on the one hand and open, distributed, diverse, emergent, and self-controlled knowledge ecologies on the other hand." Mohamed Amine Chatti, Ongoing research on Technology Enhanced Learning, February 16, 2010 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment] [Tweet]

dScribe
This is an interesting model employed to promote the collaborative creation of educational resources. The model "brings together enrolled students, staff, faculty, and self-motivated learners to work together toward the common goal of creating content that is openly licensed and available to people throughout the world." Via Brian Lamb. Various Authors, Open Michigan Wiki, February 16, 2010 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment] [Tweet]

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