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by Stephen Downes
May 1, 2009

CCL Update
Canada's national organization for educational research, the Canadian Council for Learning, is on the bubble, its future in question. Its mandate was extended a year without additional funding, so the five regional knowledge centres - Aboriginal Learning, Adult Learning, Early Childhood Learning, Health and Learning and Work and Learning - will no longer be funded as of July 6. No further committment to funding exists beyond 2010. The CCL was founded in 2004 and funded by Human Resources and Social Development Canada. More coverage (in French) here, and a CBC report (in English) here (jump to 13:25 of the report). Press Release, Canadian Council on Learning, May 1, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Video, Canada] [Comment]

Open Opportunties, Open Threats?
"It's highly unlikely that those who have invested considerable finance, effort, and reputations in the construction of a hard and soft proprietary infrastructure are willingly going to change horses," writes Derek Morrison. It's a bit like switching from fossil fuels. Even if the alternatievs are better, or even cheaper, there's just too much invested in the existing infrastreucture. But for those facing a switch, there are compelling reasons to consider open source alternatives. "The Web 2.0 ethos of being external facing, encouraging user-generated content, collaboration, and sharing aligns more comfortably with the open source world rather than the "walled garden" model underlying proprietary platforms." Derek Morrison, Auricle, May 1, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Web 2.0, Open Source] [Comment]

Middle East Special Issue of IRRODL
Terry Anderson introcudes this new issue of IRRODL - a nice weekend work of reading for those interested in open and distance learning in the Middle East, with papers mostly from Turkey and Jordan. Anadoulu, of course, is home of the Turkishj Online Journal of Distance Education, which again offers numerous selections from writers in the region. Terry Anderson, Virtual Canuck, May 1, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Online Learning] [Comment]

New Study On Use of Web 2.0 Applications in Classrooms
A new report on Leadership in Web 2.0 for Education has been released. "If U.S. students are to be the next inventors, entrepreneurs and leaders in the global economy, we must see to it that our young people have the innovative tools they need to be successful in the 21st century, particularly in the classroom," said James Bosco, principal investigator and co-chair of CoSN's International Advisory Council." Of course, some people out there are working very hard to make sure that that doesn't happen. Unattributed, McArthur Foundation, May 1, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Web 2.0] [Comment]

Video File Formats, What and When to Use
What I like about this item is that it doesn't try to be an encyclopedia or to analyze all possible options. Instead, it addresses directly the question: what video format should I use. That's a great question, and from my own experience I can say that leigh Blackall's solutions and explanations are sound. Related: the TED blog is promoting the free and open source Miro player which will play a wide variety of video formats. Leigh Blackall, Weblog, May 1, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Video, Experience] [Comment]

Free Resources For Teachers by Teachers (5)
This short item plus video focuses on Curriki, "an Internet site for Open Source Curriculum (OSC), aiming to provide universal access to free curricula and instructional materials for grades K-12." Curriki is "the result of work done for GELC - the Global Education and Learning Community - an online project started by Sun Microsystems to develop works for education in a collaborative effort." As the title suggests, this item is one of a series of similar resources. Patricia Donaghy, Using ICT in Further Education, May 1, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Assessment, Video, Project Based Learning] [Comment]

Why Use Twitter? Notes for My Journalism Expo Twitter Training
I'm doing a social media workshop tomorrow for the Atlantic Journalism Awards conference here in Moncton - the local newspaper called it the 'Tweeting Workshop' - and so this item seemed like a good thing to clip and save. Amy Gahran, Contentious, May 1, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Twitter] [Comment]

Wicked Great CC Picture Finder
I tried out this Flickr image search tool and - I have to say - I was impressed. A great find by Marsha Ratzel. Marsha Ratzel, Reflections of a Techie, May 1, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Flickr] [Comment]

CISTI Seeks External Feedback
Your comments on CISTI are needed (CISTI isa Canada's national health and science library, run by my employer, the National Research Council). The deadline is May 7, 2009. "Question 1 - What is the role of a Canadian national science and health library in the 21st century?..." Richard Ackerman, Science Library Pad, May 1, 2009 [Link] [Tags: Canada] [Comment]

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