Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
May 4, 2010

We Learn

The internet is the most powerful tool for education ever devised, but how best to use it? In this presentation I talk about using the internet to promote interaction, organize knowledge and get relevant information. In English with Spanish translation in the audio. Photo by Maria Affronti. Presentation by Stephen Downes, Symposium, Rosario, Argentina,

A Conversation in Tigre
This is an informal conversation between myself and students of Alejandro Piscitelli's at his home. The conversation is fairly wide ranging, talking about reality and truth, right answers and practical solutions. Mostly, it's me offering my opinions - it's a bit one-sided - but I think it's entertaining. Presentation by Stephen Downes, Informal Conversation, Tigre, Argentina,

Color Survey Results
Finally, proof that indigo is totally a fake colour and that the spectrum really does have six colours. Now, you scientists - return Pluto to planet status, or the bunny gets it. "Over five million colors were named across 222,500 user sessions." Randall Munroe, XKCD, May 4, 2010 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment] [Tweet]

New Ning Plans: The Good, The Bad, and the Unknown
Details on the Ning clampdown, and interesting news that "a major education company will be sponsoring Ning Mini Networks for educators in primary and secondary education." Steve Hargadon notes, "I can imagine more than one large educational company whose providing Ning Mini networks for free would be looked upon with suspicion." Some other good things from the announcement: no more advertising, and the potential for a better sign-on system. Steve Hargadon, Weblog, May 4, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Online Learning, Networks, Marketing] [Comment] [Tweet]

So why do we need apps anyway?
Interesting statement, on many dimensions: "Ebooks don't cut it: everyone wants an app." It makes me think back a couple hundred years when I played with the idea that content would come with it's one content player attached (this would be in pre-internet days). So you wouldn't need an application like MS-Word or PowerPoint; you'd just play the content. I still think it's a good idea, but oh so inelegantly executed by Apple. Ben Werdmuller points tio the way forward: "If the ePub standard was updated to allow HTML5, it would evolve into a format for self-contained, multi-platform apps that could be sold in the same way as ebooks, music, videos, or apps in something like the iTunes App Store. Except app publishers would only need to build once to support many different kinds of mobile platform, thereby reducing the barrier to entry." Ben Werdmuller, Weblog, May 4, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Books, Video] [Comment] [Tweet]

Nonfiction Unit of Study
Some interesting discussion of nonfiction as an object of study, as Angela Maiers describes a series of classes. I like the presentation a lot. In day one she observes her students interacting with nonfictikn material. In day two she creates "a list of things we want to notice as readers of non-fiction that would reveal to us insight into the writers thinking and decision making." These are, as she quite rightly suggests, clues (not definitions, categories, essential features, etc.). In day three she refines that list, looking for unique characteristics. Then in day four she turns it around and talks about having a plan. Each of the four days is presented differently, each with different resources (a drawing, a photo, a video) appropriate to the discussion. Great work. Angela Maiers, Weblog, May 4, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Ontologies, Video] [Comment] [Tweet]

Nonfiction Unit of Study
Some interesting discussion of nonfiction as an object of study, as Angela Maiers describes a series of classes. I like the presentation a lot. In day one she observes her students interacting with nonfictikn material. In day two she creates "a list of things we want to notice as readers of non-fiction that would reveal to us insight into the writers thinking and decision making." These are, as she quite rightly suggests, clues (not definitions, categories, essential features, etc.). In day three she refines that list, looking for unique characteristics. Then in day four she turns it around and talks about having a plan. Each of the four days is presented differently, each with different resources (a drawing, a photo, a video) appropriate to the discussion. Great work. Angela Maiers, Weblog, May 4, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Ontologies, Video] [Comment] [Tweet]

Slideshows
This is an interesting idea: teaching the same basic lesson in six different ways. The point, writes Andrew Watt, was to show (at least in part) that there's no such thing as a digital immigrant. "The part that drives me crazy is this. Sometime over the weekend our school server must have gone down. None of the students on campus can access the Internet at all, nor could they." And I can just picture the wails the next day: "The internet was down! We couldn't do anything!" But it's like I said yesterday in my talk: what's new is the way of thinking. The internet shows us this, makes it accessible, but is not indispensable to it. Andrew B. Watt, Weblog, May 4, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Schools, Accessibility] [Comment] [Tweet]

Top Ten Reasons You Should Quit Facebook
Are people headed for the Facebook exit door? It's too early to call it a trend, but I can sense a gathering momentum. The author of this post explains why he is closing his Facebook account. "This is part altruism and part selfish. The altruism part is that I think Facebook, as a company, is unethical. The selfish part is that I'd like my own social network to migrate away from Facebook so that I'm not missing anything." Via Alexander Hayes. Dan Yoder, rocket.ly, May 4, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Books, Networks] [Comment] [Tweet]

Study Period on Virtual Experiments
The eLearning Standards Advisory Council of Canada (eLSACC) has issued another call for use cases. This request informs an ISO standardization project. "Virtual experiments may be provided as a local application or within a distributed environment. In order to be successful across multiple technology infrastructures, it is essential to ensure that the components of Virtual Experiments, the relationships between the components, and the underlying technology infrastructure requirements are clearly identified to ensure effective deployment on a client within a wide range of different scenarios and systems." Access the web page or the request (MS Word Doc) directly/ Various Authors, eLSACC, May 3, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Canada, Project Based Learning] [Comment] [Tweet]

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