By Stephen Downes
May 12, 2003
Directory of Open Access
Journals
From the press release: Lund University
Libraries today launches the Directory of Open Access
Journals, supported by the Information Program of the Open
Society Institute along with SPARC
(The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources
Coalition). The directory contains information about 350
open access journals, i.e. quality controlled scientific
and scholarly electronic journals that are freely available
on the web. The service will continue to grow as new
journals are identified. By Various Authors, Lund
University Libraries, May 12, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Organic Aggregation of Knowledge Object in
Educational Systems
One wonders how Harasim
(1990) could have made a comment about web-based learning
several years before the web was invented. But if you get
past this and a bit more gratuitous name-dropping you get
to the heart of this paper, the gist of which isn't really
revealed until last section: "If learning objects are to be
single-purposed, of use only in a single context, and only
appropriate to a single level of granularity and
abstraction, then the value of learning object repositories
will be seriously impaired. The learning object is a raw
material that can be used in different ways. It is the
activities you do with it and their integration in
meaningful scenarios or functions that count. For this, we
need a very flexible educational operations system that
goes beyond fixed distance education platforms and LMSs,
and that can complement other platforms or LMS by providing
new repurposing capabilities." (This special issue of CJLT
devoted to learning objects has just come online.) By Gilbert Paquette
and Ioan Rosca, Canadian Journal of Learning and
Technology, Fall, 2002
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Great Idea, But How Do I Do It? A Practical
Example of Learning Object Creation Using
SGML/XML
Once upon a time, the idea was that
learning objects would be authored in XMl and then rendered
using stylesheet transforms. The idea was that it would be
as easy to change the look and feel as it is to switch
between looks for this Zen Garden CSS demonstration site. This
idea has been lost a little, but it's time to bring it back
and dust it off, much as has been nicely done in this
description of how learning objects should, really, be
written. By Janet Bartz, Canadian Journal of Learning and
Technology, Fall, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Informal Learning – The Other
80%
I don't know how to emphasize more that this
- rather than classroom-based learning - is where we should
be focussing our efforts. As Cross writes, "Informal
learning has always played a larger role than most people
imagined, but it’s becoming increasingly important as
workers take responsibility for their own destinies. Formal
learning consists of instruction and events imposed by
others. When a worker chooses his path to learning
independent of others, by definition, that’s informal."
This is an outstanding article, clearly documenting the
importance of informal learning, defining it, and showing
how organizations can make the most of it. By Jay Cross,
Internet Time Group, May 8, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
RDF Site Summary 1.0 Modules: Learning Object
Metadata
I have drafted a proposed RDF Site
Summary 1.0 Modules: Learning Object Metadata. The purpose
of this module is to support the RSS syndication of
IEEE-style learning object metadata. This is version 0.5
and intended for discussion purposes only. It contains
errors. Please comment on this draft, either directly to me
or on my website. Those who halp and contribute to the
completeion of this document will be listed as co-authors.
The document itself will, of course, be released under GPL.
By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, May 10, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Scholastic Aptitude Test: Answering All
Questions Incorrectly
This is a knee-slapping
account of one person's attempt to achive the lowest
possible score on a SAT examination. The project is fully
documented, with lavish illustrations, from the original
application to take the test to the white-knuckle stress of
finding the wrong answer in a testing environment. Some
biting commentary - and from the examples provided I see
that the tests are still very culturally biased. Every
person planning to take a SAT should read this article. By
Colin P. Fahey, May, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
The Four Basic Ontologies of Semantic
Interpretation
This paper will require careful
reading, but it really is a very nice analysis of four very
different approaches to defining meaning in language or
logic. Why is this important? Glad you asked. The current
project of defining learning objects with a standardized
vocabulary presupposes a traditional Tarski-style approach
to semantics. This approach presupposes that there is (to
gloss it a bit) one, and only one, world and this world is
directly reflected in the meaning and truth of our
statements. But if knowledge (and learning) is constructed,
or if knowledge (and learning) is a social or cultural
phenomenon, then our semantics change, and so, therefore,
does our approach to defining learning objects. My
objection to the 'one standard' is based in my objection to
Tarski semantics, and my approach to a better metadata is
grounded in a desire to include both socially defined
(Frege's 'sense') and personally defined (or 'constructed')
knowledge in our overall picture. By Roland Hausser,
Information Modeling and Knowledge Bases, December 31,
200-31 8:33 p.m.
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Chandler-Gilbert Goes
Wireless!
The 'unwiring' of this college creates
new opportunities, and with it, a vision for a new type of
learning. "We have now moved more closely toward our vision
of the 'social campus,'" write the authors, "where learning
doesn't stop when students leave the physical confines of
the classroom." This is an important point. As Allan Levine
writes in a related post to IT Forum, "Mostly, though, I
would suggest thinking it is NOT just making wireless
classrooms, but a wireless campus-- that is where the beef
is a [la] Clara. It is a recognition that much learning
takes place outside the classroom (library, group work
areas, social gathering areas, hallways, etc). Providing
wireless fits well with our mission of providing increasing
access to information, services, and learning. It is part
of a shift in thinking, in seeing that learning is a social
process, rethinking how we use/design space and
technology..." See also Philip Parsons and Deepika Ross, Designing the Hybrid Campus. By Tom
Foster, Mary McGlasson, Victor Navarro, and Pam Petty,
Ocotillo Spotlight on Instructional Technology, April, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
RSS Profile Wiki
The development
of RSS has been a chaotic process. The specification has
split, or "forked," several times. The community as a whole
is divided over whther RDF should form the basis. It is in
this environment that Mark Nottingham has decided to
stimulate discussion by setting up this RSS Profile Wiki in
an effort to see whether the community can settle on a
single profile. This follows some rather ominous comments
from Dave Winer to the effect that if the RSS
community stays divided, Microsoft will ruin it for
everyone: "[They're] going to define a namespace with
poorly documented stuff the rest of us don't understand.
Some of us will support Microsoft's extensions, others
won't.... And they'll add and subtract features
unpredictably until users get the idea that it's safer just
to stay with MS, and they'll own yet another market." By
Mark Nottingham, May, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Know a friend who might enjoy this newsletter?
Feel free to forward OLDaily to your colleagues. If you
received this issue from a friend and would like a free
subscription of your own, you can join our mailing list
at
http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/website/subscribe.cgi
[
About This NewsLetter] [
OLDaily Archives]
[
Send me your comments]