By Stephen Downes
June 25, 2003
Learning Objects 2003 Symposium: Lessons
Learned, Questions Asked
Eight papers on the use
of learning objects - unfortunately, some of the more
interesting papers in this symposium appear not to be
online. By Erik Duval, et.al., LO 2003 Symposium, June 24,
2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Technical
Team Releases Beta Version of SCORM 1.3
Advanced
Distributed Learning (ADL) has released the long-awaited
beta version of SCORM 1.3 - developers are encouraged to
use and comment on the implementation until Plugfest 8,
coming this fall, at which time SCORM 1.3 will be finalized
and all eyes will turn on SCORM 2 (which promises to be a
major revision). By Various Authors, ADL,
June 18 or 20, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Intel's Education Odyssey
Now up
to Day 300, Intel's Education Odyssey features stories of
innovation in schools. For example, today's story - which caught the interest
of the blogging community, describes the day a blog was
first used in the classroom. It's a resource base almost
overwhelming in its scope. The site also offers Javascript
and RSS syndication, allowing schools to place it on their
own sites. By Various Authors, Intel, June, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Developing a Cild-centred Dsign
Pocess
"Edutainment," notes this article, "aims
to make learning fun." It cautions, however, that "This
design approach often limits the potential of children's
experiences with interactive technologies because it
dictates the way they learn by applying existing teaching
techniques to content development, rather than
acknowledging the great potential interactive technologies
have to provide children with new ways of learning." We may
not be seeing this trend in academic research, observes the
author, but we are seeing it in commercial products.
By Amy Branton, The Guardian, June 13, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
A Feature or a Bug; SCORM and Cross Domain
Scripting
Survey article documenting an 'issue'
in SCORM previously documented in these pages: its
inability to support cross domain interaction. The article
goes beyond previous discussion of the issue, though, with
a look at (and critique of) several approaches: the HACP
protocol, Internet Explorer back-doors, rewriting rules
(which change the apparent URL of a website), or
non-Javascript interaction. By Wilbert Kraan, CETIS, June
22, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Microsoft, Google may go
Head-to-head
I imagine that the good people at
Google always knew that this day was coming. They
solidified their brand. They established a positive cash
flow. They have cultivated an image of "doing good." And
they did not burn their reserves with a premature IPO. So
now that it appears that Microsoft - not content with world
software domination - will be invading their territory,
Google is in a very strong position to hold onto its turf.
Not that Microsoft is weaponless - with a deal signed with
companies like eLibrary to embed lookups in (say) Word
documents, and with its new MSNBot search engine, the
Redmond carnivores company will pose a
significant challenge to Google - one which may force
Google to begin firing shots at some of Microsoft's weak
areas: email, browsers, operating systems... By Jim Hu and
Mike Ricciuti, CNet, June 25, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
'Rewiring the Brain' for Better Reading
Skills
One day the term 'online learning' may
refer to the state of the brain, not the state of the
computer. Just kidding. But the trend toward "brain-based
learning" is gaining momentum, and to a certain degree with
good reason, because our understanding of neural processes
can lead a long way toward an effective pedagogy. That
said, the movement has already brought out the half-baked
solutions and shady claims. For example, one program -
which may well have merit in its own right - called 'rewire
the brain' - consists esentially of palying computer games.
Now again, I support the use of computer games in learning.
This product may well be effective; I have no reason to
believe otherwise. I do not support computer games that
cost $224 per student, far more than even the most advanced
commercially available computer game, simply because it is
able to tap into a newish fad. I wish people would learn to
avoid being fooled by such marketing hype. There's no
excuse for it. By Connie Langland, Philadelphia Enquirer,
June 25, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Calif. Principal Teaches Student Reporters a
Lesson
One of the unanticipated consequences of
the internet on education: students digging up past dirt on
their teachers. This story describes the efforts of some
students at Venice High School (California) to confirm
long-standing rumours about one of their teacher's past.
Online sources, including magazine articles and court
records, led them to the story of the teacher's affair with
an actor the year he was 17 and she 29. Adding to the mix:
though the teacher is very much a public figure, quoted
frequently in the press and campaigning through her
website, the school principle vetoed publication of the
article, citing its intrusion into the teacher's privacy.
And so one wonders: is the collation of information from
public sources, such as magazines, an intrusion into
someone's privacy? Is it enough to warrant corrective
action? This is a great story but one with, I fear, an
unsatisfactory ending. By Daniel Hernandez, Baltimore Sun,
June 25, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Inter-Organizational Communities of
Practice
This detailed article is a good look at
the use of communities of practice to facilitate knowledge
management and sharing between organizations. Though a
reasonable practice (since there may not be sufficient mass
in a given discipline within a single organization),
inter-organizational communities of practice carry with
them particular difficulties. "Even when there was adoption
of networked technologies to allow connectivity between the
companies, the potential for knowledge exchange was highly
dependent on the level of trust." But, communities of
practice "also offer an informal mechanism for
collaboration between organizations, particularly when
learning is the prime motivation." By Christine van
Winkelen, elearningeuropa, May 20, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Interactive Training for a Better Future:
eLearning for the Socially Excluded
In the
discussions of the effectiveness of e-learning we rarely
hear about its use to extend access to those previously
denied the opportunity to learn (the cynic in me thinks
that this is because you rarely find the socially excluded
working for corporations). But in my mind, this is one of
the potentially most powerful impacts of the technology,
reaching beyond the gainfully employed (or supported) and
enfranchised. This article discussed a platform called
HOPE, designed to serve one such group, prison inmates. By
Laura Martin Aguado, elearningeuropa, May 5, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
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