By Stephen Downes
July 12, 2004
Corn Hill Nursery
Days like this I
wonder whether I'm getting old and ossified. My Edu_RSS
system stubbornly refuses to harvest beyond a certain point
because of a database that keeps 'going away' for no
apparent reason. Nobody to help me with this; I'm on my
own. In the world of e-learning, meanwhile, the systems and
protocols look more and more like jibberish each passing
day as every possible requirement from every possible
system - whether it makes sense or not - is piled into that
tangle of 24-character variable names called Java (none of
which will work at all unless you have exactly the right
configuration, somewhat like my database). Again, maybe
it's just me, but it seems to me that if you need an
advanced degree to make this stuff work (and of course it
have to be exactly the right kind of degree) then it's just
not going to work. It won't, it can't. Because learning,
above all, must be a populist enterprise. Now I'm
not proposing that we go back to the world of stone tools
and chalk. But the last time I looked people weren't using
learning objects in any great number, either in the
classroom or (even more so) to support home learning. Gosh,
make sure you can float before building a battleship. Am I
really just an old fuddy-duddy who doesn't get it? Maybe
so. Maybe I should retire from this line of work and become
a photographer. Then I can call my pictures any name I want
and if you don't have exactly the same configuration as I
do, don't worry, the pictures will still display just fine.
Oh, and you can learn how to use a digital camera in an
afternoon. By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, July 12, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Most Effective Pedagogic Technique Ever or
21st Century Cannon Fodder Processor?
A
tongue-in-cheeck rendition of the debate surrounding
e-Portfolios that makes some good point. The affirmative
gets the debate rolling by citing studies showing
e-Portfolios have pedagogical value. "PDP maybe
pedagogically effective," counters the opposition (nowhere
in this summary is the term 'PDP' defined; follow the link
to the materials), "but where's the killer app? From the
point of view of a student, what purpose do ePortfolios
have other than providing a slightly long-winded way of
building a CV for job interviews?" But the lack of software
is not an issue: "ePortfolio development is not just some
UK-only concern at some point in the future, it is an EU
wide requirement as of December." Maybe so, but "we live in
the real world and it is time for a reality check." By
Wilbert Kraan, CETIS, July 11, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
IMS Question and Test Interoperability Gets
Major Make-over
This specification "concerns
itself with three distinct functions: the actual format of
a question, the format of a bunch of questions in a test,
and the format and processing of the answers that come
back. In terms of substantial change, the new version only
really concerns itself with the form of question items." As
the author warns, this specification isn't ready for prime
time yet. If you have been working with it - silly you, now
you have to start over (well, maybe not from the
beginning...). By Wilbert Kraan, CETIS, July 12, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Using the Enterprise SDK to Create a Minimal
IMS Enterprise Web Service
If you can't read
computer code you don't have a chance with this one. Even
if you do read computer code, you have to have some good
background in order to make it fly. This is the minimal,
simple set-up. Why oh why do I have this uneasy feeling?
One phrase keeps running over and over in my mind: "house
of cards." By Scott Wilson, CETIS, June 24, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Experiences from the Use of Skolelinux: Use
of Open-Source Software at Four Norwegian
Schools
A set of four case studies describing
the deployment of a Norweigan version of Linux in four
Norweigan schools. The upshot is that the software is well
suited to use in a school environment, there being "no
pedagogical reasons" not to use it. Some issues were
encountered translating Microsoft documents and some
websites were found to support Internet Explorer only, but
workarounds could be found. The training of schoolteachers
- exclusively in Windows applications - also posed a
problem. But the schools were able to save money using
Linux and reported that they would make the same decision
again. PDF. By Jon Blaatid, Statskonsult, November, 2003
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
Turn Your iPod Into a Wireless Jukebox With
Pocketster Pro
I don't think that people have
really caught on to the degree to which wireless
communication will change file sharing. Previously, you
needed to use the internet to share files (unless you were
just swapping tapes), which meant that a central authority
could monitor your activity. Wireless file sharing - this
article described how to share files wirelessly from your
iPod - circumvents that central control, as the signal
travels directly from person to person. The only way to
control sharing is to control the end-user device (as they
have managed to do with mobile phones) and to make it
illegal to break into your own computer. More on this from Alec Couros. By Various
Authors, Simeda, July, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
The History of Probability - Excel
Version
I read Hacking's The Emergence of
Probablility years ago and this modern redaction, an
Excel spreadsheet, is at once a useful overview and at the
same time a lesson in how not to do it. So I don't really
recommend the spreadsheet, unless you want to cut and paste
from it into a more useful format. The discussion on
Metafilter is interesting, though. And I do recommend the
book. By Stephen Boisvert, Metafilter, July 11, 2004
[Refer][Research][Reflect]
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