Presentation
Elspeth McCullogh Interview
Stephen Downes, October 24, 2012, Adobe Connect, online

Interview on mobile learning and the directions mobile and online learning will take in the future. In this interview I define mobile learning, talk about opportunities and challenges in the field, and address the major issues related to competences, assessment and the design of learning.

[Link] [Audio]

New Crowdfunding Site Lets You Choose Which Authors Get Published
Jeff Dunn, edudemic, October 25, 2012.

So the model is by now familiar from sites such as KickStarter - authors pitch ideas, if you help fund you get credit in the book, and if the book doesn't make its funding target you get your money back. So what do you say, should I pitch a book? Say, 'a guide to the logical fallacies' or some such thing?

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Books]

Google Free Zone
Alex Chitu, Google Operating System, October 25, 2012.

What do you think of access points that are free for Google (or Facebook, or as I've seen in the past, Skype) but cost money if you want to use any other part of the internet? I call it the not-so-thin edge of the wedge, and am not sanguine about the potential for a (very) proprietary internet to emerge from such initiatives. What happens when AT&T gets it in mind to make searching through Bing cheaper on its mobile network than searching on Google? What stops them from charging hefty premiums to access content they don't like (like this post, say)?

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Audio Chat and Conferencing, Google]

Windows Messenger for Firefox
Various Authors, Mozilla, October 25, 2012.

I'm not sure what I think about this, but I've turned it on for now and we'll see. "Messenger lets you use Facebook right from your Firefox browser so you can continue your conversations wherever you go on the web. You can also view your notifications, friend requests and messages by clicking the icons in the upper-right corner of Firefox." (p.s. yes, I use Firefox, and not Chrome. Chome is a beautiful slick browser, but it handles textareas improperly, making it really difficult to work with forms (and I use forms a lot)). Here's the Firefox blog announcement.

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Microsoft, Google Chrome, Books, Web Logs]

3D printers: gimmick or game changer?
Donald Clark, Plan B, October 25, 2012.

A lot of people are predicting big things for 3D printing in education (and elsewhere). No doubt it will have its uses - people could print their own golf tees, cutlary, and whatnot. But revolutionary? I'm inclined to say no. Others agree. "Are they the ‘next big thing’ or merely an expensive way to produce lots of ‘small, useless, plastic things’? ... Little plastic objects have also been around for a long time but are not used that much in learning. Sure, there will be some applications in learning but this may not be a game changer."

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Gaming, Paradigm Shift]

MOOC as Networked Textbook and a look back at the feedbook
Dave Cormier, xED Book, October 25, 2012.

Is a MOOC more like a book or more like an event. It's an intriguing question and it's raised by the emergence of book-link MOOCs in recent years. But Dave Cormier comments, "More and more I see any MOOC as an event. It’s an event in which you can participate in whatever way you like. The social (and financial) contract explicitly at the core of most courses doesn’t exist. While this may lead to some of the low rates of completion that are part of what a MOOC is, they allow for flexibility of participation. The MOOC as ‘textbook’ is one of those methods of participation."

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Books]

MOOCs, Motivation, and the Mass Movement toward Open Education
Hans de Zwart, Technology, Innovation, Education, October 25, 2012.

Report of a fast-paced session on MOOCs at Learning 2012 by Curt Bonk - slides are available at TrainingShare (direct link). I found this interesting"If you want to be a leader in the MOOC space then there are a few things you could do. Each of the following points was backed up by some news item or article: .." and then we have a list of a couple dozen things, like "offer something novel," "be first," "set bold audacious goals," etc.

[Link] [Comment][Tags: none]

The Current State of Open Access Repository Interoperability (2012)
Unattributed, Confederation of Open Access Repositories, October 25, 2012.

From the email files, "The Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) is pleased to announce publication of the report, The Current State of Open Access Repository Interoperability (2012). The report provides an overview of the current interoperability landscape in terms of the types of services that are now possible because of recent research and development efforts from throughout the Open Access community, and it presents interoperability initiatives in connection to these services." Direct link (37 page PDF). You won't get a number from this report (eg., repositories are now "25 percent interoperable"). Instead, the report is "a guide to outline the common services and challenges that interoperability initiatives3now address– and what to expect in forthcoming years."

[Link] [Comment][Tags: Research, Interoperability, Learning Object Repositories]