Edu_Rss

The danger of too much compromise when consulting
Consulting isn't an easy business. While the consultant is often employed to assist with delivering a great project, this can quickly run into challenges and roadblocks. For example, the goal might be to deliver a portal that meets users needs,... From Column Two on November 19, 2005 at 10:47 p.m..

Books for Lending, Data for Taking
Several libraries are borrowing techniques from Internet companies that keep information about their customers' preferences so they can cater to their needs. From New York Times: Education on November 19, 2005 at 10:45 p.m..

Connecticut: Special Education and Minorities
Connecticut is moving to fix the overrepresentation of black and Hispanic children in special education classes. From New York Times: Education on November 19, 2005 at 10:45 p.m..

An Interview with Robert Thieverge , CanCore
Interview with Robert Thivierge, who is the President of the E-Learning Standards Advisory Council of Canada (a From OLDaily on November 19, 2005 at 10:45 p.m..

LAMS announces new version, LMS integrations, services and Moodle Partnership , LAMS
James Dalziel writes in, "in some ways, this is themost important LAMS announcement of late in that it points people to the actual code they can now use themselves." OK. But what is most interesting about this announcement, it seems to me, is not the new version of LAMS (come on, it's a .01 upgrade) or even the integration of LAMS with Backboard, Moodle and Sakai (with more planned), it is rather the emergence of an explicitly commercial model for the open source software. With "trial accounts" now available and a fee-based hosting and support model, the people at LAMS are looking to com From OLDaily on November 19, 2005 at 10:45 p.m..

ePortfolio Plugfest: Real Time Testing of Interoperability , European Schoolnet
Report, with links and resources, on the ePortfolios plug-fest held last October. You don't want to miss this if you're into e-portfolios (then again, if you are, you were probably following the PlugFest already). [ From OLDaily on November 19, 2005 at 10:45 p.m..

Da Plastique
The stuff I get in my email - nothing to do with online learning, but I do appreciate hearing about the photographic art of Avatar Adi Da Samraj. I could do without the "perpetual copyright claimed" notice though - even artists don't live forever, and neither does copyright. [ From OLDaily on November 19, 2005 at 10:45 p.m..

Cover Story: Transforming America's Schools , Carnegie Mellon Today
Mitchell Weisburgh sent me the link to this interesting article about a new program at Carnegie Mellon "to train doctoral students from several disciplines - including psychology, computer science, philosophy and statistics - to conduct applied educational research." I am all in favour of research - it is, after all, what I do - but need to caution that training in reasearch assumes - doesn't it? - that an appropriate research paradigm in the field is already in place. I wonder about that. [ From OLDaily on November 19, 2005 at 10:45 p.m..

Seconds Out, Round Two , The Guardian
The article seems OK so far as it goes, though it would have been nice to see some mention of the actual work taking place in what I have been calling e-learning 2.0. It looks at some of the generic applications on the web - web 2.0, folksonomies, the wiki - and overlooks the work in e-learning specifically (which, I might add, has been driving and not merely following these wider web applications). people like Scott Wilson, George Siemens, Alan Levine, Norm Friesen, James Farmer, and many, many more, deserve some credit for what they are doing - they are, after all, rewriting the textbooks on From OLDaily on November 19, 2005 at 10:45 p.m..

WSISBlogs Archive , Digital Divide Network
I was on the fence about whether to list this multi-lingual collection of WSIS blog entries - full of fascinating stories about how to organize an information society while holding a conference in a less than open society. On the fence, that is, until I saw this item: "A visually impaired participant was stopped at the security check because his guide dog hadn't been registered for the Summit. After lengthy discussions, the guard finally decided to give the dog a security pass - but not until he'd photographed the dog." A metaphor for our times. [ From OLDaily on November 19, 2005 at 10:45 p.m..

Interview mit Stephen Downes , eTeaching.org
Interview (short podcast) with me while I was in the Netherlands. Despite the title, the interview is in English (my Dutch bing less than proficient). Topics covered included the metaversity and content syndication. [ From OLDaily on November 19, 2005 at 10:45 p.m..

E-learning Grows Up , Parkin's Lot
I still have a lot of catching up to do, but I think this article is an appropriate way to lead today's unusual Saturday edition of OLDaily. Godfrey Parkin writes, "the 'e-learning 2.0' name is a ghastly and inappropriate label... because it suggests a finite release of a formal upgrade, which is the opposite of what is really happening." Well, I do apologize for it - but if I hadn't coined it, some marketing type would have, and then we'd be seeing "e-learning 2.0 (tm)" advertisements all over the place. "It's hard to see the renewed freedom, informality, creativ From OLDaily on November 19, 2005 at 10:45 p.m..

How Not to Get Shafted by a Hosted Podcast Service
It's every podcaster's nightmare: You create a podcast, produce episodes, build a loyal audience... then suddenly, without warning, your hosting service folds. Not only can your listeners not find you -- you can't even access your own content! Sadly, it happens. It happened recently to the customers of Purecast. But it doesn't have to happen to you. Over at Multidimensional Me today, Koan Bremner has published a thorough, plain-language tutorial every current or would-be podcaster should read. See "Learning the Lessons of Purecast." Here's what she covers... From Contentious Weblog on November 19, 2005 at 8:54 p.m..

BlogTalk Reloaded... rectified
For some reason the announcement of BlogTalk Reloaded that I cited yesterday forgot to mention that 2005 the BlogTalk conference went downunder... organized by Anne Bartlett-Bragg, James Farmer, and Adrian Miles.So, here is From Seblogging News on November 19, 2005 at 8:49 p.m..

[mac] Status...
The basics are working, or at least are on the way to working. I'm going through the many suggestions you've had for software. Heck, I've even installed a kickass screensaver, LotsaWater that makes it look like your desktop is under an inch of clear water during a rainstorm. Very cool. (Why aren't there screensavers like this on the PC? Maybe there are and I just haven't noticed.) I still feel like I'm driving on the wrong side of the road. But Britt Blaser has been incredibly helpful, answering the questions too dumb to be worth surfacing in public, such as:... From Joho the Blog on November 19, 2005 at 7:48 p.m..

Gang Violence In Saskatchewan
I was looking forward to a breakfast conversation with Stephen, Rob and Dean this morning, but my plans changed rather quickly. At about 2am this morning, I got a phonecall that my wife's brother had been jumped by several youths and stabbed multiple times. Luckily, he made it through his surgery, and he's doing OK [...] From Couros Blog - Frequent Rants from an Ed. Tech'er on November 19, 2005 at 6:56 p.m..

Open source versus Microsoft
Computer experts tend to refer to such large companies as Microsoft, Webct, Blackboard, and others as bad companies. I might not agree with the way Microsoft does many things but without that company, where would the internet and computers be... From Teaching and Developing Online. on November 19, 2005 at 5:52 p.m..

Gizmo – A free phone for your computer
Gizmo -Advanced Features - Call Recording: Gizmo is a voice over IP application that is similar to Skype, but that has a few interesting features that look attractive...... Callers can dial one of these access numbers from a conventional phone and connect to your Gizmo account free of charge... From Education/Technology - Tim Lauer on November 19, 2005 at 5:46 p.m..

Science.gov Search Engine and Portal
I'm re-posting this item about Science.gov from Peter Suber's Open Access News. I found the Science.gov site well-organized for browsing by topics and the search engine to be effective. Orient to the site using the Site Map and the Help links.  ______JH ___________ Science.gov 3.0. Science.gov 3.0 is now online. Science.gov is the comprehensive portal and flexible search engine for OA science hosted by U.S. government agencies. Versio From EduResources--Higher Education Resources Online on November 19, 2005 at 2:47 p.m..

PLoS-- the Public Library of Science
PLoS is an extremely valuable resource for scientists and students in the fields of biology and medicine. The mission of PLoS is straightforward: "The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource. Our goals are to: Open the doors to the world's library of scientific knowledge by giving any scientist, physician, patient, or student - anywhere in the world - unlimited access to the latest scientific research. Facilitate re From EduResources--Higher Education Resources Online on November 19, 2005 at 2:47 p.m..

Appropriate reaction
Uproar in House as Parties Clash on Iraq Pullout Headline in the NY Times Well, it's about bloody time. Except it sounds like it was just name-calling. [Tags: iraq media]... From Joho the Blog on November 19, 2005 at 1:46 p.m..

FeedTree - distributing Web news with peer-to-peer multitasking
Joaquin Salvachua pointed me to FeedTree, a very interesting project coming out of the Computer Science Department at Rice University. I haven't had the time to actually play with it yet... but from browsing through the FeedTree WikiSeblogging News on November 19, 2005 at 11:48 a.m..

Kid Bloggers Roll
Just wanted to inform everyone that Tucker now has a blog roll going at Bloglines. (See proud father smile greatly...) From weblogged News on November 19, 2005 at 10:47 a.m..

MySyndicaat Webfeed service
I have just had a look at MySyndicaat. A service in beta that apparently offers...A FeedBot (i.e., a Feed-roBot) is a syndication tool that at user-specified time intervals retrieves content from heterogeneous sources and combines into a new syndication feed. The syndicated feed is stored and maintained by MySyndicaat. When combining feeds, feed content from the various sources is spliced according to feed ite From Seblogging News on November 19, 2005 at 9:48 a.m..

Dr. Bot Makes the Cut
Turns out robots make pretty good surgeons, at least when it comes to clearing blocked arteries. Plus: Microsoft moves ahead with its promise of total home entertainment. From the Wired News blog Gear Factor. From Wired News on November 19, 2005 at 8:46 a.m..

Tainted Sony CDs Used Open Source
Another haymaker lands on Sony BMG execs, with the revelation that its controversial CDs relied heavily on an existing open-source project to get off the ground. From Wired News on November 19, 2005 at 8:46 a.m..

Queer Eye for the News Guys
A New York TV station equips its news trucks with GPS transmitters, freaking out the crews who think it's management's way of keeping an eye on their whereabouts. From Wired News on November 19, 2005 at 8:46 a.m..

La mejor música del mundo
No me he podido resistir a entrar en la danza del meme musical que me pasa Montse, y aunque no están todos los que son, desde luego son todos los que están: A: Andrés Calamaro, Antonio Flores, Aretha Franklin, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Alicia Keys B: Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Beny Moré, ... From eCuaderno v.2.0 on November 19, 2005 at 7:46 a.m..

Acatopia
Interesting comment, just sent to me by email. "Just search for a book you are reading, or a book you have read. You will then be able to ask any question you have, and help answer other readers' questions." It will be interesting to see whether communities develop around books. [ From OLDaily on November 19, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..

Anti-Piracy Message Stumbles at Colleges , L.A. Times
For a good chuckle, read this item on students' reactions tgo the 'anti-piracy' message being offered on university campuses (L.A. Times - may require a login, sorry (but it didn't ask me for one)). "'Arrrrrrr!' shouted a group of students in the front row, prompting a chorus of pirate-like catcalls in the vein of Johnny Depp." And more to the point, and getting to the heart of the issue: "Several of the students said the government should be focusing on eliminating poverty and improving education instead of jailing kids who download movies, music and software." V From OLDaily on November 19, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..

Growing By Degrees: Online Education in the United States, 2005 , The Sloan Consortium
According to the press release summary, "Results from the 2005 survey also show slightly more schools use core faculty to teach their online courses than their face-to-face courses and the number of students studying online continues its consistent growth with 2.3 million enrolled in at least one online course in the fall 2004 semester." The full report is available From OLDaily on November 19, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..

Did Sony 'Rootkit' Pluck From Open Source? , ZD Net
As you recall, Sony placed virus-like software on some of its CDs that secretly installs malicious software on users' computers. Now evidence has surfaced that the company raided open source software to code the rootkit. There's a lesson here about piracy and large corporations, I think. Something like, "Do what I say and not what I do." [ From OLDaily on November 19, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..

http://www.imsglobal.org/ti/index.html , IMS
From the email announcement: "IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc. has released the IMS Tool Interoperability v1 Guidelines... The IMS Tools Interoperability (TI) approach addresses the growing demand for a reusable mechanism for integrating third-party tools with core LMS platforms." OK. But what gets me is this announcement on the IMS page: "HTML documents may be viewed online, but may not be printed without permission." Wha...? Ooops, my finger slipped... it's printing... oh nooooooo.... [ From OLDaily on November 19, 2005 at 6:45 a.m..

Julius Edelstein, 93, Who Devised CUNY's Open Admissions, Dies
Julius C. C. Edelstein was a primary architect of open admissions at the City University of New York in the late 1960's. From New York Times: Education on November 19, 2005 at 2:45 a.m..

In Mount Vernon, Fights Close a High School Early
A series of fights at Mount Vernon High School in southern Westchester County prompted school officials to lock down the school. From New York Times: Education on November 19, 2005 at 1:45 a.m..

Schools Data Subpoenaed in Suffolk
The 70 school districts in Suffolk County have been ordered to produce voluminous financial records as part of a fraud investigation. From New York Times: Education on November 19, 2005 at 1:45 a.m..

Barbarians At the Tailgate?
Yale University alumni, for whom tailgating is a ritual, do not like the new rules on drinking at football games. From New York Times: Education on November 19, 2005 at 1:45 a.m..

On Being Radical
I listened to Stephen Downes presentation today and found it to be very interesting. I liked all of his comments, but I still find his fear of a LMS to be out of character. He mentioned a few time during... From Teaching and Developing Online. on November 19, 2005 at 12:54 a.m..

At SACE
It’s bad enough to have to miss SACE this year, but it’s absolute torture to hear from Rob, Alec and Dean about how wonderful it is! Dean provided a link to his presentation on RSS, which I must remember to ask him to do for our faculty sometime soon. Rob blogged Dean’s [...] From Rick's Café Canadien on November 18, 2005 at 11:47 p.m..