Reading the Fine Print: Considering Different eBook Publishing Options for the iBookstore
Wesley Fryer, Moving at the Speed of Creativity, July 28, 2011.

Some good analysis by Wesley Fryer on different eBook publishing options. To publish on Apple's iTunes you need an iConnect account and can work with one of five publishers: Lulu, LibreDigital, Smashwords, INscribe Digital and Ingram Digital. Not all provide the same services; only Ingram and LibreDigital, for example, provide multimedia eBooks. And they charge very different rates; not surprisingly LibreDigital costs a lot more than Lulu. Apple, of course, gets 30 percent. There's also "standard eBook" publishing on Kindle Direct Publishing and PubIt! by Barnes and Noble. So what do you think - should I commit some of my finely hones thoughts to the world of commercial eBook publishing?

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Books]

On Education, Badges and Scouting
Aaron Silvers, Weblog, July 28, 2011.

I was a Cub Scout and a Boy Scout (we don't have Eagle Scouts in Canada) and collected my share of badges. And so I can certainly see the applicability of the badges idea to education. Aaron Silvers writes, "If you’re a fan of what Foursquare and other gamification approaches to badges, then it’s simply a rewards or achievements layer that you slap on top of an existing experience." Now the system in Canada was a bit different, but the idea was the same. "Merit badges were/are focused on key skills.... evidenced by a subject matter expert who was your coach in that domain." The key here, notes Silvers, was that "we have to really think about what it means to have experts to coach and mentor the different badges we might want for public education. 500 badges to choose from, as Thomas Vander Ark poses even hypothetically, requires a level of coordination that is difficult for teachers, administrators and parents alike to imagine, even if both groups could agree that this is the right idea."

Related: long and detailed article from Mashable on gamification; recommended as a way to get the lay of the land.

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Mentors and Mentoring, Experience, Canada]

E-portfolios: join in now
Unattributed, Australian Flexible Learning Framework, July 28, 2011.

Here's word of another Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), this one from the Australian Flexible Learning Framework. "A free Massive Open Online Course – aka MOOC – aimed at teachers and trainers who are new to e-portfolios is running during August and September. It has been put together by a group from the VET E-portfolios Community of Practice (EpCoP) to help vocational education and training (VET) practitioners build their e-portfolio knowledge and skills by developing their own professional e-portfolio. The e-portfolio will enable teachers and trainers to demonstrate their industry and professional VET currency as required under the AQTF Standard 1.4, while helping them establish a professional e-portfolio learning network.

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Vocational Education, Networks, E-Portfolios, Australia, Online Learning]

A Basic Guide to Open Educational Resources (OER)
Neil Butcher, Commonwealth of Learning, July 28, 2011.

I would be happier if this guide to Open Educational Resources were less defensive and more creative in describing what they are and how they can be used. And I'd like to see a wider vision, rather than narrow measurements of value vased on educational outcome, such as this: "the value of OER projects and initiatives should be measured, in practical terms, against the extent to which they advance core educational objectives; and the principles of operation that govern OER communities should be driven by this imperative." My experience and observation is that the greatest value in OER initiatives almost always accrues to the creator of the resource, and this value reaches far beyond educational objectives, and into wider creation of community, culture and society. All of that said, this guide will be a reasonably useful document for those introducing OERs to new audiences.

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Open Educational Resources, Project Based Learning, Experience, Online Learning]