Scott Leslie :: FeedsSeptember 05, 2008Web 2.0 and Emerging Learning TechnologiesI was sure I had mentioned this project before - Web 2.0 and Emerging Learning Technologies. However, I can't find record of it. So, rather than ignore this valuable resource (put together by Curt Bonk and a global group), I'll risk linking more than once :). The last year has brought about a tremendous surge in interest in emerging technologies. I don't fully understand why. What's different this year than in the previous 8? Oh well, whatever it is, resources like the one listed above will become increasingly valuable as more educators discover the opportunities of extending interaction and content creation to the network. via elearnspace XO Replacement Parts Available at IlovemyxoI think it's only a matter of time before we see people cobble together the most unusual inventions out of XO pieces. If they made the processor available as well, that would complete the set - you could make XO grids and all kinds of things! Christoph Derndorfer, One Laptop Per Child News, September 5, 2008 [Tags: none] [Link] [Comment] Believe In...The YouTube version of grade 5 student Dalton Sherman's speech, I Believe in Me, Do You? is up to 63,449 views. It won a standing ovation at the Dallas, Texas school district event where it was given. Sounds great. But I read that "Dallas ISD contacted his family in June with the invitation. They wrote the speech for him, and he practiced three times a week all summer long." As a commenter writes, "there is something deeply disingenuous about this stuff aside from the blatant ghost-writing." Right. And despite the suggestion that "there is not even the pretense here that the message came from a student" one wonders how many people - consciously or otherwise - attribute it as a statement of the student's views. Crass and callow. Sylvia Martinez, Generation YES Blog, September 5, 2008 [Tags: Schools, Video, YouTube] [Link] [Comment] Open Standards and the JISC IE"In retrospect many of the W3C standards which I had felt should form the basis of the JISC IE have clearly failed to have any significant impact in the market place - compare, for example, the success of Macromedia's Flash (SWF) format with the niche role that W3C's SMIL format has." Just so. But these standards didn't fail because they were open. They failed because, for various reasons, they didn't do what people wanted. Open standards are still better - but the lesson here is that standards are not necessarily better just because they're open. Brian Kelly, http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/2008/09/04/open-standards-and-the-jisc-ie/, September 5, 2008 [Tags: Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)] [Link] [Comment] Making the Election Video: Behind the ScenesCommonCraft - which makes the "in plain English" videos - has released a site describing the making of their videos. it involves a lot of drawing and moving about of images. Via Sylvia Martinez, who notes that this is a "terrific post" because "it proves that no matter how experienced you are, creating a video is a process of trying things, seeing what works, and the intertwined nature of risk-taking, mistakes and creativity." Lee LeFever, CommonCraft, September 5, 2008 [Tags: Video, Experience] [Link] [Comment] First Thoughts in On SporeThis is just the sort of thing that makes all my time disappear. "The game really makes you think about what you are doing and without realising it the decisions you make help shape your civilization - this becomes apparent when you look back on your history." I haven't seen it yet - probably just as well. Ewan McIntosh, edublogs, September 5, 2008 [Tags: Gaming] [Link] [Comment] Document Startups in Chaos As Adobe's Flashpaper DiscontinuesAdobe is discontinuing Flashpaper, which (as this article notes) has created chaos for a bunch of companies that rely on the technology. The only one spared? Scribd, which "switched to a custom solution based on Open Office and other nifty open source tools." There's a lesson in that. Mike Butcher, TechCrunch UK, September 5, 2008 [Tags: Open Source, Scribd] [Link] [Comment] Why OLPC Should Be a for-Profit BusinessThis post, authored by Mark Beckford (Managing Director for Strategic Business Development at Intel in China), argues that the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project should have been set up as a for-profit enterprise. It would have benefited, he said, from a business mindset, a vibrant ecosystem, and competition. The problem is, the stuff that went into making OLPC possible would not have happened were it simply some private company - it wouldn't have had Kofi Anan's endorsement, it wouldn't have had Mary Lou Jepsen's screen, it wouldn't have had Walter Bender's Sugar, and it wouldn't have had the widespread notice and publicity. And, had it been a for-profit enterprise, it would have been bought out and quietly killed by Intel at the first sign of success (see the history of Firefly for a good example of this sort of thing). Mark Beckford, OLPC News, September 5, 2008 [Tags: Project Based Learning, China] [Link] [Comment] Bebo Is Forcibly Changing UsernamesI really hate it when sites mess around with user names. The way Second Life forces you to choose a last name. The way Google makes everybody a gmail.com email address (to Google, I am now stephen.downes.ca@gmail.com - how ridiculous!) - and this change by Bebo. Leave our user names alone! I don't go around changing Google's name to Gargle! or Bebo to Bobo. Or Second Life to Second Wife. My name is my identity; it is mine, and companies that mess around with it eventually see the last of me. Yes, even Google. Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins, Mashable, September 5, 2008 [Tags: Second Life, Google] [Link] [Comment] E-Learning On a ShoestringThis doesn't look like much at first glance but if you keep following the links you'll find a wealth of practical information. I really like the idea of e-learning advice that doesn't begin, buy an LMS. "You'll find guidance on low cost tools and technologies, as well as ideas and stories to help you get started." There's a menu bar across the mid-top of the page that aids navigation (it's a bit difficult to spot). It would be nice if it were licensed as open content, as the authors no doubt availed themselves of a lot of freely shared material in order to create this resource. Various Authors, Australian Flexible Learning Network, September 5, 2008 [Tags: Usability, Online Learning, Open Content, Navigation] [Link] [Comment] September 04, 2008Top Ten Online Psychology ExperimentsSo if you take a psychology test and put it on the web and make it a game, is it still research? Via JT Cobb. I should note that I'm a big fan of Casual Fridays at Cognitive Daily and often take part in these light-hearted trials. Sandra Kiume, PsychCentral, September 4, 2008 [Tags: Research] [Link] [Comment] Quick Introduction to Connectivism CourseGeorge Siemens has created a short video introduction to our online Connectivism and Connective Knowledge course. Also, our MOOC will be the subject of a Fringe Alt discussion (see here and here). George Siemens, elearnspace, September 4, 2008 [Tags: Connectivism, Video] [Link] [Comment] Chrome Is a Desktop Web Application PlatformI think this is exactly what Google has in mind: "It comes dressed as a web browser but is actually a Desktop Web Application platform. It facilitates the creation of Web Applications that are desktop like in functionality." See also Tony Hirst. And Seb Schmoller runs a quick review of Google Chrome as a guest Contribution from Dick Moore. Ben Emson, Weblog, September 4, 2008 [Tags: Google, Google Chrome] [Link] [Comment] When Corrupting the Youth Is GoodFrom time to time people raise the question of ethics - what ought to guide our posts? What ought to guide our teaching? And it has seemed to me over time that the principles of ethics and the principles of reason converge - that what is ethical is to write and teach in accord with the principles of good reason (sometimes called 'critical thinking', though I need to talk about this separately some time). Because the only way youth can be 'corrupted' (in any meaningful sense of the term) is when they read uncritically, and when teaching contravenes the ethic and spirit of critical enquiry. Clay Burell, Beyond School, September 4, 2008 [Tags: none] [Link] [Comment] Third Life - Auricle: the Next GenerationAs Brian Kelly warns, "We should be aware of the dangers of associating services with departmental names and specific technologies. This has been well documented, including Tim Berners-Lee's article on Cool URIs Don't Change! - although this is clearly easy to say, but more difficult to implement in practice." That's why I use downes.ca and resist the efforts of companies like Google (or employers like NRC) to make me use corporate domains. Anyhow, as Derek Morrison writes here, Auricle is alive and well in its third (and, one hopes, final) incarnation. Derek Morrison, Auricle, September 4, 2008 [Tags: Online Learning, Google] [Link] [Comment] HP's Virtualization Honcho John Bennett: Rethinking VirtualizationVirtualization is something that will occupy more and more attention in the future. Why? "We see a large number of customers spending less than 30 percent of their IT budget on business priorities, and growth initiatives, and 70 percent or more on management and maintenance. With virtualization and with these broader transformational initiative, you can really flip the ratio around." Dana Gardner, E-Commerce Times, September 4, 2008 [Tags: none] [Link] [Comment] Stephen Downes: Redes de AprendizajeDiego Leal has very graciously translated my paper Learning Networks (The Buntine Oration) into Spanish. I gave the talk in 2004, but is remains relevant today. Translation by Diego Leal, .Edu.Co.Blog, September 4, 2008 [Tags: none] [Link] [Comment] iLeonardoGiorgio Bertini writes, "iLeonardo is a Social Utility for connecting to people and their collections of relevant information on the web. People use iLeonardo to build digital notebooks of anything from the Internet. In return the utility displays similar notebooks that other people have created and made public." The idea has a lot of potential, however, right now it has been overwhelmed by someone doing 'voter information' for the U.S. election. Also, the forms to send feedback or request an account pop under the demo video, rendering them unusable. The idea is worth keeping an eye on, though. Various Authors, Website, September 4, 2008 [Tags: Networks, Video, Research] [Link] [Comment] EdmodoInes Pinto writes, Edmodo is a "microblogging platform just launched, specially designed for teachers and students, dailly life school management, creation of students or teachers groups in the same school or between teachers or students from different schools in different countries." It makes you log on before you get a glimpse (bleah). And I don't like the choice between 'guys' and 'ladies'. The tool itself is a bit like a structured instant messaging tool. Interesting, possibly worthwhile. Nicely coded. Various Authors, Website, September 4, 2008 [Tags: Schools, Instant Messaging, Online Learning] [Link] [Comment] Blending online and traditional mediaPew Internet has released an interesting study on how people blend online and traditional media. I rarely read a physical newspaper or watch a news program. Apparently that's not the norm. While traditional media has declined (newspaper readers has dropped from "40% to 34% in the last two years alone"), it certainly hasn't been abandoned. In the report we're introduced to new terms: integrators, net-newsers (ugh), traditionalists (largest group), and disengaged. We're still at that interesting crossroads of serving the the function of the old with new media and beginning to recognize new opportunities. via elearnspace Quick introduction to Connectivism CourseI'm almost done posting links to the course on this blog...I'll continue the posting on the course blog. A short presentation introducing massive open online courses (MOOCs) is now available here. via elearnspace Connectivism course starts next week...The Connectivism and Connective Knowledge online (open) course starts on Monday. If you're interested, you can still sign up. The course outline is also available if you'd like to get a sense of what's coming next... via elearnspace September 03, 2008Google Chrome Now LiveGoogle's Chrome browser is now available. You can download it for free and install it on your Windows machine (Linux and Apple users won't even see the download link). Here's the Wikipedia page on Chrome. The open source project behind Chrome is called Chromium, and you can download the source for various systems and mess around with it. Here's the developer documentation. TED TalksTED Talks are extremely popular. Excellent speakers and provocative subjects. Universities are aware of the value of short informative videos and are launching similar initiatives. I see no reason why all universities and colleges shouldn't have a similar feature to attract learners, students, and donors. Why not showcase your best? via elearnspace Does technology connect or disconnect us from others?I've read a series of books/articles recently that are quite negative on technology. A particular emphasis seems to be that technology is somehow making us dumber - distancing people from what really matters. We search Google and think we have acquired knowledge. We blog and think we have subjected our ideas to peer review. Or, we publish an article on our website and think that qualifies as a publication. I partially understand the negatives being expressed by these authors. Times of transition are unsettling. We don't know if we're giving up too much. I struggle with this with my children - how much screen time a day is too much? This past week, I found myself informing my daughter that she should search for information beyond Wikipedia and rely on other sources as well. But that's just good information management. We should always be seeking multiple sources. We should always be striving for a deeper understanding of subjects through the type of information and dialogue we engage in. Critics are valuable in that they give us moment to pause and consider where we are really going. via elearnspace << Back |
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