January 14, 2011
Open Courses
Various Authors,
Contact, January 14, 2011.
Contact, University of Ontario Institute of Technology newsletter, has just published an issue on open learning, including a link to my recent article about CCK11, and a new interview (MP3 audio) with me by Maureen Wideman.
New website sells class notes
Jeff Lagerquist,
Canadian University Press Newswire, January 14, 2011.
No real surprise, but it's amazing how quickly the note-sharing services offered by sites like NoteWagon and StudyMonkey.ca are becoming formalized and commoditized. Of course the universities and professors will object, but notes are arguably original creations, and you can't copyright the ideas presented in the classroom, only the presentation itself.
The End Of The Road For Web Services
Simon Phipps,
ComputerworldUK, January 14, 2011.
I've long been sceptical of Web Services (properly so-called, not to be confused with actual internet services that use HTTP and REST for loosely-coupled data access). "Formed in the name of 'preventing lock-in' mainly as a competitive action by IBM and Microsoft in the midst of unseemly political knife-play with Sun, they went on to create massively complex layered specifications for conducting transactions across the Internet. Sadly, that was the last thing the Internet really needed." Now it looks like the end of the world for that triumvirate of WSDL-SOAP-UDDL, with the Web Services Interoperability Organization disbanding, their documentation being absorbed by OASIS for historical purposes. Via Tom Hoffman.
The End Of The Road For Web Services
Simon Phipps,
ComputerworldUK, January 14, 2011.
I've long been sceptical of Web Services (properly so-called, not to be confused with actual internet services that use HTTP and REST for loosely-coupled data access). "Formed in the name of 'preventing lock-in' mainly as a competitive action by IBM and Microsoft in the midst of unseemly political knife-play with Sun, they went on to create massively complex layered specifications for conducting transactions across the Internet. Sadly, that was the last thing the Internet really needed." Now it looks like the end of the world for that triumvirate of WSDL-SOAP-UDDL, with the Web Services Interoperability Organization disbanding, their documentation being absorbed by OASIS for historical purposes.
Distance education in Mongolia
Tony Bates,
e-learning & distance education resources, January 14, 2011.
Oh, now I see why I've been getting Facebook friends from Mongolia. Tony Bates is visiting and offers this interesting look at the recent history of distance and online learning projects from a country we don't frequently hear about. He writes, "Distance education for the vast areas of Mongolia that are not urbanized still remains undeveloped... there was clearly demand for distance education from the rural people we talked to, and it would not require a great deal of investment now to produce great benefits through distance education, especially for rural adults [but] timing is critical. The infrastructure was not in place for online learning in 2004. Now, in 2011, the mobile and land Internet infrastructure is at the point where major developments are possible."
New Web Venture Offers ‘Syndicated Courses'
Tushar Rae,
Chronicle of Higher Education, January 14, 2011.
Interesting twist on the 'course as consumable' model. Omnicademy's "system will let professors upload material from courses they're already teaching and offer the courses to students at other colleges through the Omnicademy site... Universities can review the courses and decide which ones they want to adopt and offer credit for. When students log into Omnicademy-using a .edu e-mail address-they will only be allowed to select from courses that have been approved by their institution." I hesitate to call this a 'web venture', beyond the incidental fact that course components are offered online. It's more of a course federation system, with the bulk of the novelty being in the facilitation of course-sharing between universities.
Connectivism and Connective Knowledge: CCK11
George Siemens,
elearnspace, January 14, 2011.
As George Siemens writes, we are offering Connectivism and Connective Knowledge for the third time starting Monday. As he notes, " We are doing away with the central-space of Moodle – our final break from the LMS and will be using only the commenting feature within gRSShopper. While it might not seem like a huge change on the surface, it is probably our most significant experiment to date... In CCK11, we are still providing a centering-like structure (gRSShopper), but the format will push more of the conversation to blogs and other environments. Rather than being the course centre, gRSShopper will be more of a conduit – pushing discussion into spaces owned and controlled by learners." If you want to register, sign up here.
Branding Doesn't Work. So Now What?
Douglas Rushkoff,
Ooyala, January 14, 2011.
Douglas Rushkoff: "Mass marketing - branding - was created in order to simulate the human connection we used to have with the people with whom we used to have peer to peer interactions." It is the outgrowth of two centralizing inventions that characterized the industrial: common currency, which requires that people work through banks, and the chartered corporation, which was granted the right to certain types of production. So instead of working and accumulating wealth themselves, people worked for corporations and accumulated wealth in banks. Mass media, in turn, was created in order to support mass branding. And in time we came to value those images more than other people. But then we got the net, which reinstates the possibility of peer to peer interaction. And we're talking with each other about what we, as a society, are going to become. And brands don't have any place in that conversation. Because peer-to-peer conversations tend to be about facts, and branding is about myths. People don't talk about the 'Keebler Elves', the myth that was substituted in place of a cookie factory; they talk about how cookies are made, who makes them, whether they're organic, etc. Rushkoff is right on; don't miss this half hour video.
Review of Federal Support to Research and Development
Unattributed,
Government of Canada, January 14, 2011.
The Government of Canada has undertaken a review of federal support to research and development. The questions are:
- What federal initiatives are most effective in increasing business R&D and facilitating commercially relevant R&D partnerships?
- Is the current mix and design of tax incentives and direct support for business R&D and business-focussed R&D appropriate?
- What, if any, gaps are evident in the current suite of programming, and what might be done to fill the gaps?
An overview of the background paper demonstrates a focus on commercialization, as opposed to pure research or research in the public interest. Nonetheless, I don't expect the panel to dismiss these alternative perspectives. Submissions are being accepted until February 18th.
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