SCORM Ain't Dead: That Which Can't Be Said
Mike Rustici, Rustici Software, April 21, 2011.

Two part article (Part One, Part Two) on the present and future of SCORM. The essential premise, as suggested in the title, is that SCORM is not dead. But more, argues Mike Rustici, "ADL is doing the right things to support SCORM in its current form going forward, in the best ways it can as governed by its many masters." The first part of the article details the 'many masters' ADL must serve: the Pentagon, the financiers, and the lawyers (especially from IMS). In the second part, Rustici describes the ADL and SCORM of the future. "here we have "SCORM-Next", only bigger. The FLEX project is ADL's technology path to achieving the 2025 vision... a research program to define the initial experience tracking API. Project Tin Can is an open effort that seeks input from anybody... (and) Many of the shortcomings of SCORM are addressed by the LETSI RTWS SCORM extension."

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Clever trick to make YouTube videos fill up the browser
Daniel M. Russell , SearchReSearch, April 21, 2011.

This is, as the title suggests, a clever trick. modify the URL to include the modified argument "watch_popup" and the YouTube video will fill the full browser window, rather than being a small video embedded in a YouTube page.

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Flipboard: Threat and Opportunity
Frédéric Filloux, Monday Note, April 21, 2011.

If you have an iPad, download FlipBoard (it's free) from the App Store, and then search for 'Stephen Downes'. OLDaily will pop up just as nice as you please, and it has never looked better. The presentation is as good as any magazine, and the content (mostly written by you!) is better. See also Vicki Davis, who writes, "Flipboard makes the iPad irresistable, particularly for content producers, executives, principals, and those who need to stay abreast of trends."

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Tablets are Good, Content is Better, and Teachers are the Best Educational ICT Investment
Wayan Vota, Educational Technology Debate, April 21, 2011.

Wayan Vota makes a prediction we'll be able to test more quickly than most people realize. "Regardless of how amazing the iPad is, until we invest in trained teachers who know how to use technology to improve their teaching activities, until we have parents and politicians focused on learning outcomes and not iTunes apps, regardless of how many apps or how easy the technology is, I fear that iPad educations in the developing world will be wasted." We will see iPads - or, more likely, much less expensive generic pads from Asus or low-cost Chrome tablets and others - throughout the world in very short order. Will educational activities on these devices be wasted? I think not.

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The Spinning Dancer Illusion
Unattributed, MathFail, April 20, 2011.

By now everyone has seen the spinning dancer illusion, and probably also the ridiculous claim that the direction the dancer turns indicates whether you're left-brained or right-brained. This version of the illusion should be enough to dissuade you of that. By looking at the left or right version of the figure, you can alternate back and forth without difficulty or effort. It's interesting to experience how our awareness snapssnapping-to is characteristic of what I mean when I say 'knowledge is recognition' - to know is to snap to awareness of the nature of some phenomenon or another.

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Interview with Russell Stannard
Various Authors, British Council, April 18, 2011.

Video interview with Russell Stannard on the connected classroom. Interesting discussion of some connective applications, for example, Storybird, Vocaroo (a very simple audio recording and forwarding site), audioboo, word-magnets, Jing, and more.

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