By Stephen Downes
August 13, 2004
List Feeds
Just for fun, and in
view of some recent discussion, I have created an RSS 2.0
feed for IT FORUM. I have also created a feed for DEOS-L.
By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, August 13, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Free/Open Source Software in
Education
This 55 page PDF is an authoritative
guide to Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in education.
The author describes the advantages of open source, surveys
major open source tools, discusses migration to open
source, and adds a section on educational open source
applications. This work is not to be missed. Via
Education-India. By Tan Wooi Tong, IOSN, August 13, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
College Tours With a Virtual
Twist
It's the analogy I like. Think about how
you would create a mobile digital campus tour. The old way
of doing it (still widespread) involves giving people a
specific route to follow and a tape or CD-ROM that is
played as you follow the route. Being able to turn it on or
off gives you some flexibility, but it's not much use if
you don't follow the route. Contrast that with the tour
technology described in this article. Using GPS, the system
determines where you are and then tells you about it. It
may suggest where you might go next, but nothing breaks if
you follow your own path. Now I ask, which is a better
model for online learning? A system that tells you where to
go, or a system that responds to where you are? Now, what
was that about learning design again? Via University
Business. By Jack Gillum, USA Today, August 4, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
An Overview of the Weblog Tools
Market
Very good article describing the size and
distribution of the weblog tools market (where a weblog
tool is a system that allows you to build a weblog).
Leading the way, with about half of all blogs between them,
are Blogger and LiveJournal. What's very interesting are
the different demographics the different systems have
attracted; LiveJournal, for example, tends to attract a
younger and more female client, while Moveable Type
attracts a much broader range of user. By Elise Bauer,
elise.com: On the Job, August 6, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
MPEG LA Releases DRM Reference Model
2.0
There is no doubt a lot going on behind the
scenes here as the MPEG Licensing Authority (MPEG LA)
releases Version 2.0 of its DRM Reference Model "to create
a pool of licensable patents on DRM-related technology, so
that would-be DRM implementors can license relevant
intellectual property.... to cover DRM implementations that
conform to the Open Mobile Alliance's OMA DRM 1.0
specification" What this article - oddly - doesn't mention
is that the OMA has based its work on the open source
alternative, ODRL. I am also curious about how this will
impact the deliberations of the IEEE-LTSC Digital Rights
Expression Language subcommittee, which has been conducting
its deliberations all year on the basis of the earlier
version of the MPEG REL. By Bill Rosenblatt, DRM Watch,
August 4, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
School-Based Coaching
The premise
seems sound - "[Coaching] offers long-term follow-up,
long-term consistency, and a sense of trust so that you can
go in and be a supportive agent for the classroom teacher."
But coaching programs are expensive and while there have
been numerous initiatives, the research isn't there yet to
prove the strategy's effectiveness or to identifybest
practices. "I saw too many examples where the coaching
wasn’t enough. Most of what I saw showed that coaches could
help a school improve, but not alone." Via PEN Weekly
Newsblast. By Alexander Russo, Harvard Education Letter,
July/August 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Our Education System is Lacking Competitive
Assessment
I confess that I don't understand the
faith that competition always produces the best result.
Cooperation often makes more sense. If you and I both want
to go to Adelaide, the most efficient thing for us to do is
to share a car, not to race. I think education is an area
where cooperation, rather than competition, is more
efficient. Competition discourages the sharing of
resources. It encourages schools to fudge results and to
jettison troublesome students. Yes, schools should be held
accountable. And yes, marketplace approaches, such as
granting maximal autonomy to schools, are worthwhile. But
competition isn't the way to do it. Via EdNA. By Kevin
Donnelly, Online Opinion, August 12, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Open Access Journals: Revenue Beyond Author
Charges
The author considers alternatives to the
'author-pays' model of open access journals. Most of the
suggestions are tiny steps back toward the traditional
model. But he does raise a major point: "we can save
significant funds if we reconsider the entire Promotion and
Tenure process, with its publish-or-perish emphasis. The
existing system encourages unlimited scholarly publication,
and enormous numbers of editorial boards with little
guarantee of quality control from many commercial
operations. It is clear that at the present time there is a
market for any author if they are willing to be published
in a less significant journal." I agree; we don't need so
many journals, certainly not with institutional archiving.
While reading, don't miss this great link to the Journal Cost Update web page. Via Open
Access News. By David E. Stern, Yale University Science
Libraries, August 9, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Learning Management Systems: Are We There
Yet?
Interview with Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
vice president Ira Fuchs which tackles head on the question
of why learning objects have yet to be widely adopted. "All
I can say," he writes, "is that technology is making it
easier to package, search for, and utilize learning
objects. But whether we will ever completely overcome the
NIH, 'Not invented here,' obstacle, only time will tell."
But, "However, a new business model will be required. The
model we have today is that you buy a software black box
and you get tied to it. If you want extensions, you hope
that they’ll be in a future release. Further, there’s no
ability to leverage the brilliant minds on all our campuses
to make these systems better. We want a different model,
one in which we can collaborate among our campuses on
improvements." Via Timsoft. By Unknown, Syllabus, July 1,
2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
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