Presentation
The Role of Open Educational Resources in Personal Learning
Stephen Downes, March 29, 2011, Best Practices in Upgrading Online, Calgary, via Adobe Connect

In this talk, I argue that rather than think of OERs as content objects, containing knowledge and information intended for transfer to the student, OERs should be thought of as the raw material a learner works with through the practice of managing their own learning. More specifically, the role of open educational resources is to function as a vocabulary of multimedia ‘words' with which learners converse with each other and with experts in the field. The main emphasis of this presentationis to speak of the role of OERs in the development of learning networks - these networks that are the characteristic result of conversations, and in which our academic and scientific communities are contained. This talk blends the point made in my recent Girtona talk with the longer analysis of my 'Speaking in LOLcats' talks.

[Link] [Slides] [Audio]

Presentation
Supporting an Open Learning Network
Stephen Downes, March 29, 2011, V Jornadas SIG Libre, Girona, Spain

In this talk I outline definitions of open as they relate to open educational resources, cover some areas of OERs, and introduce alternative ways to think about OERs. Alternative slides, with videos, actually used during the talk: vid slides.

[Link] [Slides] [Audio]

Chatting with John Baker about the future of D2L
Barry Dahl, Desire2Blog, March 29, 2011.

In this article on the future of Drsire2Learn, an interesting bit about Blackboard: "Since Feb. 2010, the [number] of shares sold short has increased rather steadily from 7.67 million to the current level of 13.48 million, which represents 45% of the float in Blackboard. Ouch. You've gotta wonder what that feels like to have so many people betting against you." I wonder what the stock analysts are seeing that I'm not.

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Paul Stacey from BCcampus: Open Education and Policy
Timothy Vollmer, Creative Commons, March 29, 2011.

Paul Stacey is as much an authority as anyone on the subject of open educational resources, and in this interview by Creative Commons he offers a useful resource in the form of a chart cross-referencing OER projects and the licenses they select. Interestingly, "foundation-funded OER projects generally require a single Creative Commons license (usually CC BY or CC BY-NC-SA). But, for publicly-funded OER, there are usually more license options available. One recommendation Paul makes is for OER projects to offer a range of licensing options along the 'open' continuum." I agree with this recommendation, and have long wondered why it is that foundations insist on having everyone adopt a single model. It suggests, to me, that the foundation has an objective over and above mere provision of OERs.

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Educational Technology Breakthrough: Let Kids Teach Each Other
Larry MacDonald, Huffington Post, March 29, 2011.

Heh. It had to happen. "Kids Teaching Kids has developed a free service that will ultimately allow any kid with access to a cell phone or computer to watch a video teaching how to solve every problem in every textbook."

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Media Awareness Network Launches Tool to Ensure Teens are Safe and Wise Cybercitizens
Press Release, Media Awareness Network, March 29, 2011.

The Media Awareness Network has released what appears to be a useful tool to promote digital literacy. "As they navigate through popular environments such as search engines, instant messaging systems, social networking sites and file-sharing services, students learn and practice the skills they should be using online every day." The tool, MyWorld, is divided into chapters and can be used to support classroom activities.

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