By Stephen Downes
October 17, 2003
Fall
After what must be the best
September weather in history, the leaves have started to
turn here in New Brunswick and the brisk north wind is
nudging at our necks, letting us know that another season
of snow and ice is nigh. But in between the haze of summer
days and winter's storms there is a brief interlude when
the lanscape erupts with colour, nature's last moment of
glory before tucking in for the season. We call it Fall,
and I have captured some of its glory in this series of
photographs. By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, October 17,
2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
B.C. Educational Technology Users Group
'Blogtalk'
Scott Leslie reports on an
interesting experiment involving the use of blogs to
facilitate an online discussion on possible uses of blogs
in education for the B.C. Educational Technology Users
Group (ETUG). The experience left him with mixed feelings.
"On the applications of blogs to education, there seemed to
be a few glimmers but then there were just as many issues
that arose." And maybe this isn't the right sort of use for
blogs. "I'd say that blogging tools in general do not
replicate (nor should they be expected to) the kind of
focused or threaded discussion that can (sometimes) happen
in discussion forums or mailing lists." By Scott Leslie,
EdTechPost, October 17, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Rethinking Thinking
As a former
logic teacher and the author of a widely popular site about
logical fallacies, I have thought often about the role of
(what is called) critical thinking in learning. At first
blush, critical thinking is the capacity to evaluate and
assess presentations of fact and argument, a skill my own
teaching showed me had been virtually eliminated from
students' skill sets. In the traditional educational
setting, after all, the teacher and the text are the oices
of authority, and by the time students reach the point
where they should be forming their own opinions, they find
themselves lacking the tools to do this. Even in
discussions among educators, I find a striking lack of
critical capacity. This article reflects some of these
concerns, but in my mind it fails to address the key point:
teachers must want to instil in their students the
capacity for doubt. By Mark Clayton, Christian Science
Monitor, October 14, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
A Guide to Institutional Repository
Software
As summarized by Melissa Hagemann, "The
guide describes the five open source, OAI-compliant systems
currently available. As many institutions are developing
repositories, OSI thought it would be helpful to produce
such a guide so that each institution could select the
software best suited to meet its needs. Included in the
guide is a brief narrative overview of each system followed
by a summary of the systems technical features. The guide
will be updated as additional systems are developed." By
Various Authors, Budapest Open Access Initiative, October
17, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Child's Play
Todd sent me this
item - what do today's kids think of yesterday's video
games? Not much, apparently. "It takes this whole console
just to do Pong?" asks one, unbelieving. I wish they had
shown them some of my favorites, like Galaga and Joust. Oh
well. By Crispin Boyer and Shawn Elliott, Electronic Gaming
Monthly, October 14, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Learning Ecology, Communities, and
Networks
It goes without saying, but in an
online environment classes and classrooms are artificial
constructs, relics of an age when physical and resource
limitations required the clumping of students into discrete
spaces. But the twelve-week chunk of learning with
predefined curriculum and geographically defined cohort has
its limitations, and authors are increasingly exploring
more appropriate models for the information age, including
especially online learning communities and networks. This
article is an overview of such explorations and grapples
with the basic concepts: what is a learning community? What
is an ecology? Good read. By George Siemens, elearnspace,
October 17, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
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