Edu_RSS
Press Bias And The Internet
Dana Blankenhorn wrote an interesting rebuttal to an AP article titled, "Piracy Tool Turns Legit". The article put a negative spin on Opera's latest move to support BitTorrent as "The Opera Web browser will soon support a file-transfer tool commonly associated with online movie piracy." Blankenhorn writes: Excuse me, AP, but bull-cookies. BitTorrent is not [...] From
Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on July 18, 2005 at 10:48 p.m..
Onward
OK, I'd like to start off this post with a plea for forgiveness. If I haven't replied to the email you sent me months ago, or returned your phone call from way back, or posted to our group blog in ages, or been especially active on your advisory board mailing list lately, please accept my sincere apologies. I've spent the past couple of months in a kind of personal and professional whirlwind, which I *hope* will come to rest soon. :) I won't go now into all the reasons why I've been so busy. Let me just sum it up by saying that lots happened and some difficult From
Seb's Open Research on July 18, 2005 at 9:46 p.m..
List of FP5 & FP6 projects
This list just goes on and on with dozens of projects funded by the European Fifth and Sixth Frameworks. Everything from
The 5th Dimension (Learning Communities in a Global World) to
WINDS (Web-based Intelligent Design tutoring System). Links to project web sites in most cases. By Various Authors, CORDIS / ISTweb, July, 2005 [
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OLDaily on July 18, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
A Cautionary Tale....
I'm sure many people will recognize themselves in this story. Well worth reading: a tale of hour an unnamed British university developed a VLE, and why (really) it is purchasing a commercial product. Via
Auricle. By Jon, Virtual Learning Environments (JISCmail), July 15, 2005 [
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OLDaily on July 18, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
Ten Tips for New Trainers/Teachers
I think this item will be popular, but I'm uncomfortable with it. Enough of the advice is good but it seems to me that some of it is misleading. Like, say, this: "Emotions provide the metadata for a memory. They're the tags that determine how important this memory is." Well, no. Or this: "Our brains are tuned for it (listening to stories). Our brains are not tuned for sitting in a classroom listening passively to a lecture..." Arguable, our brains aren't 'tuned' for anything, and even if so, distinguishing between 'lecture' and 'story' doesn't From
OLDaily on July 18, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
Could We Have A Little More, uh, Conversation?
Tom Hoffman argues that the educational blogosphere is less developed than other areas because there's not enough conversation going on. Writers, for example, "chirpily" approve links like Andy Carvins's recent suggestion on how to use a wiki to teach students. Carvin's "whole premise" seems to be "that Wikipedia entries... have a non-trivial number of unambiguous factual errors." Well, no. What Carvin in fact says is that "either they'll verify that a particular factoid is correct, or they'll prove that it's not." Either way works fine. But is it true than edublo From
OLDaily on July 18, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
Why Not to Use Blogs as E-Portfolios
This item bothered me a bit not because I think we should unquestioningly use blogs as e-portfolios but because of the reasons offered to suggest we shouldn't. For example, "persistence creates the illusion of fixed identity, whereas higher education explicitly conceptualises its mission as formative and processual." Well, sure, you grow and develop when you learn, but you don't change your name. You can keep a persistent identity even as you grown. Also, "it becomes harder to see what is current for an individual, and what belongs to his/her 'past'." Leaving aside o From
OLDaily on July 18, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
IDxchange and IDOL Quarterly
David Penrose points us to this site. "The IDxchange blog is a resource for professional Instructional Designers, who may also be working on their graduate degree at Capella University. The participants make up The IDOL (Instructional Design for Online Learning) Group, and are responsible for the development of what we hope will become a staple of instructional design reading - The IDOL Quartlery." By David Penrose, Instructional Design - Podutainment, July 15, 2005 [
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OLDaily on July 18, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
Learning as a Social Process?
George Siemens is "getting a bit frustrated with the continual statements that learning is a social process." He continues, "My interest in learning networks stems from the individuality of each node in the larger network." People, it seems to me, often confuse 'social' with 'group'. People are being 'social, it seems, if they are doing the same thing. That's why we hear about a 'common vision', 'shared values', 'collaboration', and the like. But my understanding of 'social' (and Siemens's too) is different. It&a From
OLDaily on July 18, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
Austin, Texas
So anyhow I dragged to old scanner out from under the cat, downloaded a driver from the net, and copied some of my old pictures from 1981 (not a typo - that's 24 years ago) when I spent three months training with Texas Instruments in Austin. Some of the pictures have faded over time, but it's an interesting effect, while others (printed on better paper, I guess) are as good as new. By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, July 18, 2005 [
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OLDaily on July 18, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
Principles for Evaluating Websites
How do you know whether something you read on the web is true? You can't know, at least, not for sure. This makes it important to read carefully and to evaluate what you read. This guide will tell you how. By Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web, July 16, 2005 [
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OLDaily on July 18, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
Wikimania 2005: The First International Wikimedia Conference
Wikimania 2005: The First International Wikimedia Conference will be held in Frankfurt am Main, Germany from 4 August 2005 to 8 August 2005. Wikimania provides an opportunity to meet and talk with people at the forefront of the Wikimedia communities and wiki software development. Researchers and speakers will present studies and experiments on Wikipedia and other projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, on wiki culture and technology, and on the world of free knowledge. The program will include a range of presentations, workshops, and tutorials, aimed at newcomers From
Seblogging News on July 18, 2005 at 8:48 p.m..
Moving information architecture from design to implementation
David Moore has published an interview with Lou Rosenfeld, discussing a range of information architecture topics. To quote: Information architects used to focus on design. Nowadays, we have to focus as much on how to get our designs accepted and... From
Column Two on July 18, 2005 at 8:45 p.m..
Yes: Kill the Press Releases, Please!
As I expected, a lot of people (mainly from the world of PR and from press release distribution services) are vehemently disagreeing with my earlier missive: Let's Put Press Releases Out of Their Misery. I'm slammed right at the moment so can't reply to all of these people in detail. (Sorry.) However, I did summarize my counterarguments to their claims in a comment to a recent posting from the weblog of Newsmotto, a press release distribution service... From
Contentious Weblog on July 18, 2005 at 6:55 p.m..
MySpace -> News Corp. (danah boyd)
I’ve been waiting for a mega-media company to buy MySpace and sure enough, it happened. News Corp bought Intermix Media (the half-parent of MySpace). Unlike the other YASNS, the value of MySpace comes from the data on media trends that... From
Corante: Social Software on July 18, 2005 at 6:49 p.m..
Centralization and decentralization in e-Learning
Centralization and decentralization in e-Learning. I don't think the problem is that many educators are unwilling to acknowledge the trends that are unfolding in the learning sphere, it seems to me that many educators simply do not see the trends at all, or if they do they don't understand those trends as being relevant to them. The same thing is true of many e-Learning vendors and may be true of e-Learning entrepreneurs too.
Co-opting the creative revolution: "Digital technology is providing people wi From
Bill Brandon: eLearning on July 18, 2005 at 5:48 p.m..
Looking for the bigger picture
Looking for the bigger picture. I'm quoting George Siemens verbatim here, not because I agree with everything he says in his post but because he is getting at something that seems very important to me as well. My view is that we really don't understand yet what learning is or isn't, and so we have no business saying that "learning is this and no other view is acceptable." This is true of behaviorism as much it is of constructivism. We just aren't that smart yet. If we were, we could produce perfect, one-trial learning every time for every individua From
Bill Brandon: eLearning on July 18, 2005 at 5:48 p.m..
What Is Your Social Network Worth?
NewsCorp has just announced that they will be purchasing Intermix Media, the owner of the popular MySpace.com social networking site, for $580 million USD. Of course, this is not the first big acquisition of a social networking service, as some time back, Google purchased the popular Orkut. With these strategic purchases, I find myself wondering if [...] From
Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on July 18, 2005 at 4:55 p.m..
Blogging for Bucks
In the early days of blogging, most bloggers made no or very little money. And while that's still the case for most, independent blogging has turned into a viable career for some people. Australian Darren Rowse is one of those lucky ones.Rowse makes his living by writing or being involved in about 17 blogs (as well as peripheral activities like public speaking and consulting on the topic of blogging). His blogs include
Digital Camera Review,
Camera Phone Review, From
Poynter E-Media Tidbits on July 18, 2005 at 4:55 p.m..
A guide to trustworthy web sites
Stephen Downes has written a
short guide to evaluating the trustworthiness of web sites. In a comment at Webblogg-ed I suggest this: It would be good to work with students each semester to update and extend Stephen's guide. In every field in the university, this would be a worthwhile assignment.... From
Weblogs in Higher Education on July 18, 2005 at 4:52 p.m..
Very Basic Blogging Workshop: Aug. 24
I'm excited to announce my first independently produced workshop: Very Basic Blogging. This 3-hour event will be held Wed. Aug. 24, 2005 at the Outlook Hotel in my lovely hometown of Boulder, CO. If you currently know little or nothing about the world of weblogs, or if you want to know how to get more out of blogging (or even just reading weblogs), then this workshop is for you. It will get straight to the point. You'll learn how weblogs can help you achieve your professional, creative, community, or personal goals more effectively. Here's a sneak preview of the event... From
Contentious Weblog on July 18, 2005 at 2:55 p.m..
Transhumanism & The Modern Day Transcendentalists
When Henry David Thoreau became a part of the Transcendentalist movement, he intended to change society. Thoreau envisioned his movement gaining momentum, eventually becoming a large enough force to have an impact on people's lives. Transcendentalism was, however, a short-lived movement, dying out with Thoreau's death in 1862. Humanity's struggle to free itself from the chains of society, it seemed, had died soon after its birth. From
kuro5hin.org on July 18, 2005 at 12:45 p.m..
Screencasting, vlogs, and video weblogging
Screencasting, vlogs, and video weblogging. This has been developing for about a year now, right along with podcasting. Video weblogs, screencasts, etc., are more expensive than either weblogs or podcasts but they may offer a tool for workstream instruction and for network marketing. Read the Wired article referenced in J.D. Lasica's weblog.
New screencast blog opens (recording of computer screens). J.D. Lasica, on his blog about new media,
Bill Brandon: eLearning on July 18, 2005 at 11:48 a.m..
Annotated sonnets
This butt-ugly site (and I say this as someone who apparently thinks there can't be too much orange on a web page) publishes each of Shakespeare's sonnets along with a first level of "what this line says" commentary and a whole bunch of further analysis. The home page is hard to parse, but it gets better when you hit the sonnets themselves. (Note: I am not a Shakespeare expert and can't vouch for the scholarship.) The site is generous in ways into the sonnets, allowing text searches, giving an index of first lines, etc. There's also a companion site for... From
Joho the Blog on July 18, 2005 at 11:48 a.m..
1CWCom: ecos y fotos
Una recopilación abierta con algunos ecos y fotos de la Primera Conferencia Weblogs Comunicación: 1CWCom: BrevÃsima reseña de las ponencias y Audio Algo Digno de Reflexión...: Primera Conferencia Weblogs Comunicación Cosas y más: Conferencia II Isopixel: 1CW Reflexiones Mis aventuras:... From
eCuaderno v.2.0 on July 18, 2005 at 10:49 a.m..
RageBoy's two new blogs
Judging from the title of the first of RB's two new blogs — Ex Blogging Officer — I'm guessing that his tenure at HighBeam has ended. Too bad for HighBeam. Chris was doing someting very cool for them: Writing about what interests him, using their service for research, thereby demonstrating the utility of their product. I believe doing this is called something like "ganja marketing" or "gorgonzola marketing"... Chris followed this up by launching the blog for the book he's been working on, frequently at his former Highbeam blog: Mystic Bourgeoisie. Chris says that he From
Joho the Blog on July 18, 2005 at 9:49 a.m..
Trusting Wikipedia
Alex Halavais has an
interesting post about ways we might think about certifying the value of
Wikipedia, and I think he gets it right when he argues that just assigning academics with PhDs or "acknowledged experts" to do the work is probably not the right way to do it: First, that some absolute fools manage to get the doctorate. Some of these fools graduate from the best schools out there, and some of the less able programs graduate more fools than scholars. So, the Ph.D. is certa From
weblogged News on July 18, 2005 at 8:46 a.m..
Christian Leader Given Nine Years for Molesting Children
On Thursday 14 June Graham Capill, the former leader of minor New Zealand political party Christian Heritage, was convicted of sexually abusing three little girls aged between 8 and 12. He was sentenced to a total of eleven years, including nine years in jail, for rape of a girl under 12, indecent assault, and unlawful sexual connection with the three girls. From
kuro5hin.org on July 18, 2005 at 7:45 a.m..
Shuttles Dogged by Aging Parts
As the space shuttles -- now 13 to 21 years old -- start to show their age, troubleshooting becomes more challenging and maintenance more crucial. From
Wired News on July 18, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..
Google Growth Yields Privacy Fear
As the ubiquitous search engine expands into other businesses and accumulates piles of personal information, privacy pros warn of the dangers of a 'Google-opoly.' From
Wired News on July 18, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..
First PSP Shooter Fires Blanks
Coded Arms is the only first-person shooter available for Sony's PSP, but even in the absence of competition, it isn't worth your money. By Chris Kohler. From
Wired News on July 18, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..
Free Beer for Geeks
Open source isn't just for software any more. It also works for beer. At least that's the hope of one group that recently put an open-source license on its recipe for caffeinated beer. By David Cohn. From
Wired News on July 18, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..
Who Says Robots Can't Bluff?
Competitors at the World Poker Robot Championship prove that machines can excel at the popular pastime. Today's bots don't rival skillful human players, but programmers say they're catching up. Marty Cortinas reports from Las Vegas. From
Wired News on July 18, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..
Best. Phone. Sex. Ever.
Friday Goldman says she's discovered the secret to keeping customers on the phone longer. Now, she's ready to sell it. By Brian Lam from Wired magazine. From
Wired News on July 18, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..
ITunes Mints Podcasting Stars
Inclusion on Apple's lists of podcasts brings sudden exposure to hundreds of online audio programs, but ballooning bandwidth charges and other technical issues follow. By Steve Friess. From
Wired News on July 18, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..
Rethinking Schools online
In this special edition, Rethinking Schools explores the hottest trend in education reform: small schools. The special issue includes contributions from national reform leaders like Michelle Fine, Deborah Meier, and Ann Cook. It also includes reports on small school efforts... From
Teaching and Developing Online. on July 18, 2005 at 1:52 a.m..
Grim reporters
About 7/8ths of the way through today's conversation with Tim Russert and Bob Woodward on
Meet the Press, classic Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein said of Washington that Nobody in this town can tell the truth openly because of fear they're gonna lose their jobs. The other two reporters did not resist this idea, and they should know. This too is a clue to the... From
Weblogs in Higher Education on July 18, 2005 at 12:46 a.m..