Nigel Robertson :: Feeds

Here Are The Results From My PLN Survey!

Sue Waters posts the results from an informal survey. Though one should not infer any quantitative conclusions from a small and self-selected sample like this, the suggests that emerge - such as the diagrams generated around the tools used - are worth a look. Sue Waters, Mobile Technology in TAFE, December 4, 2008 [Tags: none] [Link] [Comment]

Diversity in my reading habits

I enjoy reading edubloggers. From my experience, conversations now occurring with edubloggers is several years ahead of what happens in journals and conferences. I can’t think of a more innovative, intellectually fertile space. Over the last several months, however, I’ve been evaluating the diversity of my reading. Almost overwhelmingly, I read blogs with a left-leaning slant. Now, there could be various reasons for this: progressives are more likely to adopt new technology, educators are generally left-leaning, or, the left-view of education is the more sensible one to take. I’m not interested in defending or condemning the proliferation of certain political and societal views among edubloggers. I greatly respect and value the discussions and innovative ideas produced with this network. It does, however, point a weakness in my network: I lack needed diversity in my reading about education. During the recent US election, I made a habit of reading blogs and writers from both parties and broad range of political perspectives. The key, after all, is to understand other people’s views, not necessarily to condemn them.
Which leads me to my question: any suggestions on quality blogs within education that espouse a conservative view?

Apple Shuts Down iPod Interoperability Effort

People own their iPods, they don't just lease them. Apple, of course, doesn't understand this, which is why it is invoking the DMCA in an effort to block people from using iPods with Linux. "Lawyers acting for Apple last week caused the shutdown of an open-source project called iPodhash that was dedicated to decoupling iPods from iTunes software in order to enable content services for iPods on Linux platforms." The lesson, of course, is that if you're going to do development work, do it out of reach of U.S. courts. Bill Rosenblatt, DRM Watch, December 4, 2008 [Tags: Apple Inc., Patents, Project Based Learning, Copyrights, Patents] [Link] [Comment]

Measuring Up 2008

Measuring Up 2008 (.pdf) is a report on state of the American higher education system. Lessons can be gleaned for other countries, particularly with regards to costs as barriers. Tuition has increased by 439% between 1982 and 2006, far out pacing the increases other costs in society (medical care only increased an anemic (in contrast) 251% during the same time period - see p. 8 of the report). While online learning has many more advantages beyond a reduction of costs (in theory at least - costs are often as high, or even more so, in online learning versus face-to-face), figures as high as those cited in this report are grounds for exploring cost reductions through online education.

Ottawa

We in Canada have been going through an interesting political situation recently, and so it's an exciting time to be visiting Ottawa amid all the chaos. I've been glued to the news ever since last week - I've always been a bit of a political junkie and the current situation just has me enraptured. If you're outside Canada you may not find it so interesting, but I must say, right now you cannot call Canadian politics boring. Stephen Downes, Flickr, December 3, 2008 [Tags: Canada, Flickr] [Link] [Comment]

How PLEs Make Sense to Me - Intro to Emerging Tech Week 3

Dave Cormier responds to clarify some of the reportage on this - and others' - views on virtual and personal learning environments. "This idea of life long learning being connected to the platform is one that I continue to feel stronger about the more that I work on these topics. If people are continuously working in a walled garden like moodle, they are going to have to make separate copies of the work if they consider it worth keeping." Dave Cormier, Dave's Educational Blog, December 3, 2008 [Tags: Web Logs] [Link] [Comment]

Three Things I Believe About All Students

Vicki A. Davis identified three things she believes about all students: first, that every student has a purpose, second, that everybody benefits from a plan, and third, that schools make a promise to children to do right by their future selves. My take is a bit different. First, students don't have a purpose, they have to find it in themselves to make one. Second, that's it's better to have a strategy than a plan, because we all know the saying about the best laid plans. And finally, students would be wise not to count on the promises of schools, because they have over the years made too many promises to too many people and won't be able to keep them all. A lot like governments and our banking system. Vicki A. Davis, Cool Cat Teacher Blog, December 3, 2008 [Tags: Schools] [Link] [Comment]

Edublog Awards Nominations

OK, so the edublog awards nominations are out. I honestly don't know what they were thinking this time around - there's something like twenty or so nominees in some categories (and I'm not sure what to make of the result that this website is not among the twenty or so considered for best individual weblog - it's not sour grapes, I'm just bemused). Also, there has been confusion about the rules; people have been posting their nominations on their weblogs, as requested, but apparently you must also fill out a form - this was new to me today and new to a number of people out there (I've been sending them URLs they've missed). And I can't find the weblogs posting the sites that actually appear on the nomination rolls. I do have some nominations, so if you can find them (or anything) in the list of nominees, be sure to vote. Meanwhile, Doug Johnson has written a post on ranking, awards and other nonsense and then a follow-up today on poking the wasps' nest. Meanwhile, and finally, the best place to find new edublogs is not the Edublog Awards, espite the population increase - it's right here, as it has always been. various Authors, Edublogs, December 3, 2008 [Tags: Ontologies, Web Logs] [Link] [Comment]

It Seems I'm Always Too Slow When It Comes to Grading

Brian Lamb relays responses he received from a request for feedback on an alternative grading structure for essays. He proposed a system of incentives to encourage students to hand in work early. An inventive response: "We're changing our point of view: we're telling them that we grade not only the final product (the video) but the amount of social conversation it triggers." And we're waiting with bated breath to find out where he will be next week. Brian Lamb, abject learning, December 3, 2008 [Tags: Online Learning, Video, Web Logs] [Link] [Comment]

My Experience with OLPC in Tuvalu

Leigh Blackall ventures into the south Pacific to conduct a workshop using the OLPC XO laptop computers and encounters difficulties. As one commentator summarizes, "The author points out serious flaws with the Sugar interface and the OLPC software that have not been fixed, even in the latest builds, though they have been known for years: The interface is too slow; The Journal metaphor is confusing and only partially implemented; Networking and collaboration are flaky; The touchpad is flaky; Standard Linux applications (like Firefox) do not run, despite the Linux core of the operating system." Leigh Blackall, Learn Online, December 3, 2008 [Tags: Operating Systems, Portable Computers] [Link] [Comment]

Web 2.0 in Africa

Whenever people are able to connect and collaborate, engage in conversations, share expertise, and access information, the impact on a society (or quality of life to individuals) can be enormous. This is obviously true for developed countries. But can the same be said about developing countries? Does giving internet access to a poor farmer in South America, Africa, or in poorer regions of Canada, US, or Europe, benefit? Don’t people need the basics of life first? Yes. And no. Web 2.0 in Africa (via Elearning Africa blog) suggests web 2.0 tools can assist farmers in regions such as Uganda gain and share important knowledge about farming. Rather than external experts being the main providers of information, farmers share information about banana growing/harvesting with each other. Reminds me of E. M. Forster’s statement “only connect”. The rest progresses from there…

More Net Gen Nonsense

Mark Bullen writes an important blog - netgen nonsense - that I encourage educators to follow. He takes a critical look at evidence (or lack of it) that supports the concept of net generation learners. His blog title is obviously intended to be controversial, but his views are well considered. His main message: evidence to date does not support broad assumptions about different traits/characteristics of learners who have been raised in a technologically rich environment. From a recent post (he is quoting a research report from UK): “The findings show that many young students are far from being the epitomic global, connected, socially-networked technologically-fluent digital native who has little patience for passive and linear forms of learning. Students use a limited range of technologies for formal and informal learning. These are mainly established ICTs - institutional VLE, Google and Wikipedia and mobile phones. Students make limited, recreational use of social technologies such as media sharing tools and social networking.”

Networks of Everything

Apparently, by 2017, personal networks will consist of over 1000 devices. I’m not sure how they came up with that number, but it seems realistic. Most of us already deal with hundreds of devices on a daily basis. They’re not all networked yet…but they will be. The key to effective functioning with these multiple devices will be in how they are connected and in how we can use that connectedness in making decisions. Obviously, we need something more than just tying these devices together. We need new approach to managing the overwhelming information they will produce. That’s partly as software problem and partly a conceptual shift. As I’ve stated before, as information becomes more complex and abundant, we will begin to rely to a greater degree on technology to perform a grunt cognition role by deciphering and presenting patterns for us to consider.

Put Your Lectures Only Easily and for Free with Panopto

Pretty basic technology, but it's hard not to see something like this becoming standard. "Basically, the PowerPoint slides are synced with the video, and you can move up or down in the slide deck, with the video syncing automatically. Students can annotate your slides. You can add secondary video feeds or screen capture." Daniel Lemire, Weblog, December 2, 2008 [Tags: Video] [Link] [Comment]

How Can Institutional Processes Better Support Flexible Learning?

This question has been coming up a lot in Britain (there seems to be much less discussion of it at an institutional level elsewhere - maybe I'm just missing it). Scott Wilson asks how institutional processes can support new learning. He'd like to see them more able to support smaller and on-demand courses, personalized coursework, recognition of prior learning and new ways of learning. See also this post from Phil's JISC CETIS blog. Scott Wilson, Scott's Workblog, December 2, 2008 [Tags: Great Britain, Personalization, Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), Web Logs] [Link] [Comment]

Pownce Closes, Moves to SixApart

The graph in this post makes the reasoning perfectly clear. Pownce never came close to catching up to Twitter. Now I don't regret ignoring all those Pownce invites that cluttered my in-box. At least they're leaving with class, providing an application that allows users to download all their data and connections. See also the Blog Herald, Mashable. Bryan Alexander, Liberal Education Today, December 2, 2008 [Tags: Twitter] [Link] [Comment]

Expressing IEEE Learning Object Metadata Instances Using the Dublin Core Abstract Model

Mikael Nilsson writes, "I've finalized an early, but readable, draft of the mapping from IEEE LOM to the DC Abstract Model. The mapping is presented using the DC-TEXT syntax for DCAM." People are invited to submit comments to the DC-IEEELTSC-TASKFORCE list. Mikael Nilsson, Dublin Core, December 2, 2008 [Tags: Dublin Core, Metadata] [Link] [Comment]

How can institutional processes better support flexible learning?

This was the topic of a session I ran at the JISC CETIS conference; focussing on the agendas of work-based learning and other policy initiatives, the question for institutions is what would need to change, and what areas are actually ready. We had groups develop ideas and pitch them to video.

I had participants consider the drivers and influences on the process, the potential impact, the readiness for change, and the types of interventions that would be useful.

Briefly, the ideas presented were:

Validation processes that are agile and proportionate, enabling smaller courses and courses on demand. The recommendation is that pilots are developed with the regulatory agencies involved so that institutions can try out more flexible approaches to designing, validating and offering courses.

Enabling the use of net resources in education, supporting teachers and students in making effective use of resources and exercising appropriate discrimination. Recommendation is for materials supporting teacher education and student skills.

Marking processes that supports personalised coursework, where the submissions are less media-specific, enabling students to submit work in media they are confident in (e.g. video, text, audio) without causing problems for markers and institutions. The recommendation is to support a toolkit for "social marking" that involves students as well as staff in holistic rather than atomic assessment of student work.

Recognising prior experience in formal education, developing support for Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning, and associated information, advice and guidance, particularly to support workforce development and linking education with employment. The recommendation is to support process modelling to better understand how APEL and similar processes fit today, and can be enhanced in the future.

Making the VLE flexible to handle new ways of learning, decoupling the processes of planning, engagement, and assessment in the VLE and reconnecting them more flexibly through a coordination mechanism, supporting, for example, engaging in academic planning and assessment in one organisation, but engagement in another - such as in a work-based system.

In their own words, here they are:

More information on the wiki

The Dawn of Eduprog

"This genre defining movement perfectly reflects a domain that generates questionable "concept" specifications of baroque complexity (cf. FRBR, IEEE LOM) and application profiles and reports the equivalent of extend guitar solos (cf. DC Description Set profile & UKLOM Core, from the eduprog back catalogue)." See also Brian Kelly. Lorna Campbell, Lorna's JISC CETIS blog, December 1, 2008 [Tags: Great Britain, Edupunk, Dublin Core] [Link] [Comment]

Standards for Technology Enhanced Learning

Passing along a request for input from Erik Duval. He postulates: "The main issue is no longer that we do not have sufficient standards. Rather, we have maybe too many and, more importantly, we don't make use of them in very advanced ways... Tools are lacking or too much let the standard shine through, rather than focusing on the user experience." Feedback is welcome. Also, see his snowflake number paper. Erik Duval, Erik Duval's Weblog, December 1, 2008 [Tags: Experience] [Link] [Comment]

Wii Remote Theremin

OK, I get it now. The Wiimote is a sensor (see, you miss basic points like this when you don't actually get your hands on the technology - and yes, I've asked NRC for a Wii for Christmas). And you can attach it to a computer. Lock it in place and move the infrared LEDs around. And so, "In an ingenious geek-out that's almost too perfectly suited for TED, designer Ken Moore presents a much-anticipated hack of the Nintendo Wii Remote: a theremin." Ken Moore, TEDBlog, December 1, 2008 [Tags: Wii, Wikipedia] [Link] [Comment]

Deconstructing the Work Literacy Learning Event

Not long after George Siemens and I launched our Connectivism course, Michele Martin, Harold Jarche and Tony Karrer launched their own Work Literacy structured in a very similar manner and using Ning as the aggregating agent (we used my own gRSShopper). Harold Jarche posted his reflections a few days after the course ended. The current post is Michele Martin's reflection. Interestingly, their experience was almost exactly the same as ours. Martin adds a list of things she'd change for next time: a shorter course, more consistent structure, more explicit sharing of responsibilities. See also Tony Karrer on the course design. Michele Martin, The Bamboo Project, December 1, 2008 [Tags: Traditional and Online Courses, Connectivism, Experience, RSS] [Link] [Comment]

Understanding Knowledge, George Oates, Flickr and Building Learning Communities in School

Two things stand out in this post. One is the obvious statement of the lessons that can be learned from the success of Flickr as a content storage site - "If we are genuine in building a learning community then we need to reduce all the telling people what to do stuff and rark up all the opportunities for belonging - the contributing and participating stuff." The second consists of observations of the differences between keynotes at the National Digital Forum and typical educators' conferences. "The NDF2008 keynotes were notable for their focus on real achievement. The NDF keynoters had all done the stuff they were talking about. ... Conference circuit junkies, (e) learning futurists and prophets didn't get a look in at the NDF08 conference." Well, hrm. Where does that that leave me? Written software? Check. Built online courses? Check. Built a learning management system? Check. Taught in classes? Check. Taught online? Check. Real projects at work in the real world? Check. OK, she must be talking about the other keynoters and e-learning futurists. Right? Artichoke may have a point, but as always, it's better to name names than to paint with such broad tar-brush strokes. Artichoke, Weblog, December 1, 2008 [Tags: Schools, Traditional and Online Courses, Online Learning, Learning Communities, Online Learning Communities, Project Based Learning, Flickr] [Link] [Comment]

Digital Age Learning Matrix

Louise Starkey looks at new technologies from the perspective of theories of creativity. Obviously, there are many more descriptions of creativity than are contained in this short paper, but I think that the case is made that a model of "creativity in the digital age" can be used to characterize the use of different technologies for different types of learning, creating a "digital age learning matrix". Louise Starkey, Teaching in the digital age, December 1, 2008 [Tags: Online Learning] [Link] [Comment]

Blackboard Now Suing USPTO

Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. Blackboard, which successfully sued Desire2Learn for a patent infringement earlier this year, is now suing the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in an attempt to force it to abandon its review of the patent enforced in the court case. This creates what is known in logic as the fallacy of petitio principii. The court ruling presumed the correctness of the USPTO. Now the USPTO is being required to presume the correctness of the court ruling. See also Patently-O, from D2L, and the suit itself. Michael Feldstein, e-Literate, December 1, 2008 [Tags: Desire2Learn, Patents, Copyrights, Blackboard Inc., Patents] [Link] [Comment]