Stephen's Web

OLDaily

by Stephen Downes
July 13, 2010

Build Your PLN
Good set of examples describing how to build a personal learning network (or environment, depending on your point of view. Note to Miguel: something called b.scorecardresearch.com is wrecking your page on my Firefox - and what are you doing running a tracking service like this anyways?). A search tells me that "scorecardresearch is part of a larger organization, www.fullcirclestudies.com, and have a partner further up the food chain http://www.comscore.com/." It has been hanging Firefox recently. Miguel Guhlin, Moving at the Speed of Creativity, July 13, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Networks, Research] [Comment] [Tweet]

Second nuking
I feel D'Arch Norman's pain. "I was asked to turn in the iPhone last month. Due to the contract setup, it couldn't be cancelled right away, so I was able to borrow it for an additional month. That month is up, so now I just finished nuking the iPhone again so I can turn it in. I've likely saved the University hundreds of thousands of dollars by advocating and using free and open source software for nearly a decade. But that $50/month will probably be what finally saves the University from budgetary destruction. Phew. Disaster averted." I had a Blackberry - but apparently it was unreasonable for the NRC to allow its e-learning expert a mobile device. So they took it away, and I now learn about mobile learning by intuition. D'Arcy Norman, D'Arcy Norman dot net, July 13, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Online Learning, Open Source] [Comment] [Tweet]

11 Models that are Better for Childhood Learning than Schools'
I like this list so much I'll just print the whole thing - 11 Models that are Better for Childhood Learning than Schools':
- Summer Camps: Be engaged outdoors, not coerced indoors
- Libraries/YMCA: Pick what interests you today
- Internships/Volunteering: Spend time with smarter people and do meaningful work
- Family Trips: Go on journeys with the people who matter most
- Pick-up Sports: Experience existential play and find balance
- Organized Sports Leagues: Raise your own game through competition
- Meaningful Jobs: Understand what work is
- Self Study: To explore a passion
- Tutor with small class or individual/ Music class: Learn at the right pace
- Community theater: A common goal for a disparate group
- Book clubs/ discussion groups: Learn to be as well as learn to know
Clark Aldrich, Unschooling Rules, July 13, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Schools, Gaming] [Comment] [Tweet]

Education As We Know It Is Finished
Education as we know it is finished, says Forbes. There's a lot to like about that - the era of industrial-age schooling was due for an overhaul anyways. And there are all these new technologies we can use to make learning personal and personally relevant. The bean counters at Forbes, however, have a different set of priorities. "With big budget cuts looming, online learning is likely only to grow, as students increasingly look to it to for courses they want to take and credits they need for graduation." Or as Mike Klonsky summarizes, "It will be much cheaper without teachers." We need to be clear (and this is a bit of a theme for today) about the direction learning technology will take us. I would be very disappointed, and indeed more than a little concerned, about the death of public education. At the same time, it is critical that we do more to make learning more accessible, and more relevant, to learners. We have to walk a fine line here, between the marketers and hucksters on one side, and the fossils and demagogues on the other. Clayton M. Christensen and Michael B. Horn, Forbes, July 13, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Schools, Online Learning, Accessibility] [Comment] [Tweet]

Web 3.0: The Way Forward?
Good presentation and let me be the first to name the new web: Web eXtended (or just Web X). Can't wait for Tim O'Reilly to claim he owns the name now. The idea of Web X is that it combines web 2.0 (social web) and web 3.0 (semantic web) to create what I have called, in the past, the semantic social web. But it's more than just that, because it takes these and moves them off the web and into your hand. And more than just that, because it's the web of data, the geoweb, augmented media, the 3D web, and more. The eXtended web - the web, extended from the internet, into your life. (p.s. Steve, something called b.scorecaredresearch.com is killing your site on Firefox). Steve Wheeler, Learning with 'e's, July 13, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Semantic Web, Research] [Comment] [Tweet]

Closing the Digital Frontier
More on how the shift from browsers to mobile internet also spells the end of the era of free. "They (Apple) are operating on the largely correct assumption that people will be more likely to pay for consumer-friendly apps via the iPad, and a multitude of competing devices due out this year, than they are to subscribe to the same old kludgy Web site they have been using freely for years." Yes, well, we'll see how happy people are to pay (and keep paying) for every little thing. Michael Hirschorn, The Atlantic, July 13, 2010 [Link] [Tags: none] [Comment] [Tweet]

Somebody Explain This to Me
"Would somebody please explain to me why the new reform agenda is made up of so many unproven or failed strategies?" George Wood asks. "Everywhere I turn the mantra is the same-fire teachers, close schools, start charters. Even from people who should know better. One more thing, I also find it interesting that some of the more powerful pushers of these ideas are the so-called titans of Wall Street-the Broad Foundation, Bill Gates of late, and Democrats for Education Reform (a bunch of well-funded venture capitalists). Hey, private capital did such a great job with the economy (and oil wells) why not turn over our public schools to them?" Related: the Rethink Learning Now education advocacy toolkit. This is an excellent resource full of statistics, voting records, resources and strategies. George Wood, The Forum for Education and Democracy, July 13, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Schools, Online Learning, Microsoft] [Comment] [Tweet]

Partnership to Enhance the Discovery of Educational Resources Using the Semantic Web
IMS has announced a partnership with the Global Learning Resource Collection (GLRC) to "help governments worldwide set-up web-based directories of educational resources searchable by national or state standards." According tot he release, "GLRC supports the trans-jurisdictional mapping of learning outcomes creating a globally connected, navigable environment for publishing and finding learning resources."

GLRC was created by JES & Co., which took over management of the Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM) from the U.S. Department of Education and converted it into the Gateway to 21st Century Skills. "Since its establishment in the early 1990s, JES & Co. has led and managed The Achievement Standards Network (ASN), The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, The Gateway to 21st Century Skills (formerly known as GEM), the Dell Academy, the Intel Student Certification Program, and Microsoft's Partners in Learning."

Through these links I found iLearn Technology and, more importantly, the i:earn Technology Bloggers Alliance, a collection of 48 educational technology bloggers. The 21st Century Skills bloggers - Peggy's Corner and Joann's Weekly Picks - have joined this 'alliance'. I've added all 48 to my aggregator. (This may not be new to you, but it's all new to me.)

I know people love public-private partnerships but I approach all this with some caution. Selecting a resource at random (which I see after the fact was featured in Peggy's Corner) I see that it's all about Peeps - the particular resource I looked at was titled 'Explore Shadows." The first link I licked in it - this one from WGBH, a PBS station in Boston - popped up a marketing survey from some research company (I closed it by instinct and now I can't get it back). There are recommended books, and a Peep Event Kit. According to the credits the original Peep cartoons were created by Canada's National Film Board while PEEP and the Big Wide World was created by Eggbox Media, LLC. If I followed another resource, would it be tied with another product line?
Press Release, IMS, July 13, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Google, Canada, Research, Web Logs, Patents, Blogger, Books, Marketing, Microsoft, Copyrights] [Comment] [Tweet]

Know Where: Connectivism's Challenges for Longlife Learning and Professional Training in a Network Society
Interesting: Carla Maria Elias has created a 'Connectivism Collage' combining images and video. The collage was created with Vuvox Collage, which I hadn't seen before now. Carla Maria Elias, elearning hoje, July 13, 2010 [Link] [Tags: Connectivism, Video] [Comment] [Tweet]

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