Edu_RSS
Blackboard Administrator Scripts
Updated versions of my Blackboard Administrator scripts as referenced on the Wytheville site I used to maintain. Also, for downloading the output of the backup tool, see Wackget, which should allow you to drag all the links to the program and not have to download them individually. From
Serious Instructional Technology on December 19, 2005 at 9:45 p.m..
Metrics for memes
Peter Morville has written a blog post that tracks the usage of usability and IA terms. To quote: At the 2002 IA Summit, while talking about New Roles in Information Architecture, I showed the number of Google Hits for a... From
Column Two on December 19, 2005 at 6:47 p.m..
The ABCs of the BBC: a case study and checklist
Helen Lippell has written an article on the creation of the A-Z index at the BBC. To quote: The project to overhaul the bbc.co.uk index began in late 2004. There was a push to change the visual design to make... From
Column Two on December 19, 2005 at 6:47 p.m..
Josie Fraser - EduBlog Awards
The EduBlog Awards were handed out over the weekend and this website was fortunate enough to be selected as the Best Individual Weblog for 2005. Thanks to everyone involved. Live audio from the event was captured as From
OLDaily on December 19, 2005 at 6:45 p.m..
Stephen Downes - Photos - Stephen's Web
As part of my ongoing coding efforts I wrote my file upload routines last week, which gave me the impetus to update my photo galleries. I'm still writing captions, but all the photos are now accessible in my new gallery format. I'm planning a code release when I get back from the Christmas break; the gallery file upload and auto-generation will be a part of this (you have to take your own pictures, though). [ From
OLDaily on December 19, 2005 at 6:45 p.m..
Linda E. Patrik - Using Blogs to Teach Philosophy - Academic Commons
A project that is close to my own roots. Interestingly, the author writes, "Unlike academic writing in most other disciplines, philosophical writing frequently and strongly states the 'I' because philosophers have to develop and defend their own positions. They cannot weasel out of taking responsibility for their views, and thus the assertion of the 'I' means that they are willing to stand or fall with their expressed position." [ From
OLDaily on December 19, 2005 at 6:45 p.m..
Rachel Smith - ArtXplore - Academic Commons
People interested in mobile learning will want to have a look at this short item (with links). "Susan Tennant [developed] ArtXplore, a multimedia program running on a hand-held PDA... ArtXplore provides audio and visual content to the museum patron, including graphics, animation, video, and panoramas." [ From
OLDaily on December 19, 2005 at 6:45 p.m..
Clarence Fisher - Validating Information - Remote Access
I think there are answers to the concerns Clarence Fisher raises in this item, but I think it is important that the concerns be aired. He reaises two major objections to the concept of validating information through aggregation. First, students do not have the opportunity. "Most often our kids work in units of study." And second, "as St. Augustine says, 'volume does not make right.'" And I think Fisher is exactly right to point to WalMart's (and, I might add, Chapters's) book vending policies to show why you can't simply go with the aggregate. The point of my response From
OLDaily on December 19, 2005 at 6:45 p.m..
An Evaluation of Open Source CMS Stressing Adaptation Issues
http://moodle.org/other/icalt2005.pdf This paper looks at the ever expanding world of open source course management systems, but adds to the comparison the factors of "adaptability, personalization, extensibility and adaptivity" (this later meaning "automatic adaptation to the individual user's needs"). The results; Moodle is judged to be the best in terms of its adaptation capabilities, though all of the projects are deemed to be light on end-user adaptivity. - SWL From
EdTechPost on December 19, 2005 at 5:48 p.m..
SiteAdvisor - Flagging the danger zones
When I was first introduced to Chris Dixon, a founder of SiteAdvisor.com, a few months ago, I was highly skeptical about his project. SiteAdvisor was going to tell people whether Web sites were safe. It struck me as over-ambitious, over-simplified and ripe for corruption. But after looking into it, I was impressed enough to join the board of advisors. The SiteAdvisors.com site is still in stealth mode, but Ben Edelman — a security expert, Berkman fellow, and also on the board of advisors — has posted a long and thorough explanation of what SA is up to. So, the company... From
Joho the Blog on December 19, 2005 at 5:45 p.m..
And in other news...
My first-ever monthly comic book comes out this week from Vertigo/DC! I've previewed a bit of it here, before, but I figure the actual release deserves a post all its own.Honestly, I was at a breakfast this morning talking with someone about some business thing, and then trying to bang out an OpEd about Google's purchase of 5% of A From
rushkoff.blog on December 19, 2005 at 2:46 p.m..
Unicon provides Sakai 'Test Drive' sites
http://www.sakaitestdrive.com/ If you haven't already had the chance,
Unicon has made it even easier to have a look at Sakai 2.1 (just released on December 1, 2005) through their new "Test Drive" sites. The sites, available for free for 90 days, give you access to a demo course and worksite and allow you to change roles so as to see the system from various user perspectives. The background here is that Unicon once developed a CMS on top of uPortal called
EdTechPost on December 19, 2005 at 1:46 p.m..
Structured blogging
The new structured blogging initiative is interesting and could be important. It establishes simple data standards for some typical types of things blogger blog about: Reviews, events, media, etc. These types of metadata effort have the same basic dynamics: If they were widely adopted, there would be tremendous system-wide benefits — e.g., computers would be able to find, aggregate and normalize reviews of local restaurants because the phone number fields and ratings fields would be identifiable, etc. But, people don't adopt metadata standards all that readily, despite the potential From
Joho the Blog on December 19, 2005 at 11:48 a.m..
Newspapers uncut
Lovely idea from City of Bits in response to some umbrage taken by Lance Knobel.Considering the effectively unlimited storage capacity afforded by servers, mainstream media could publish far more letters as well as, of course, its own unused copy. For... From
Monkeymagic on December 19, 2005 at 10:54 a.m..
Blog Break Interruption #1...Too Funny...
Got this e-mail this morning: I was reading weblogged and noticed an error at the top of your blog. The text on the title graphic has the word classroom spelled wrong. It reads "classsroom". Just thought you'd want to know. Oy. Been like that for months. Fixed now. No wonder I didn't win best individual blog... ;0) From
weblogged News on December 19, 2005 at 10:47 a.m..
Breakdown of Organisations
Sounds like Ross Mayfield has some fascinating dinners. Howabout this for a snippet?"we're seeing a fundamental shift in how we think about aggregating human effort ... Big companies are going to be the last to get this From
Web Design References: Site Update on December 19, 2005 at 9:47 a.m..
NIH Vaccine: Live Bird-Flu Virus
Scientists in Baltimore will vaccinate mice using a nasal spray made with live bird-flu virus, hoping such a treatment could immunize people more quickly and effectively than shots in the event of a flu pandemic. From
Wired News on December 19, 2005 at 7:46 a.m..
Back to the Future E-Mail
It's a time capsule of your thoughts, sent to yourself -- a future self, that is. A couple of young web entrepreneurs create a website that lets people send e-mail to themselves, 20 years hence. From
Wired News on December 19, 2005 at 7:46 a.m..
The Poop on Diarrhea Vaccine
A new study gives travelers some hope that they can do more to stay well than just guard against risky food and water while visiting foreign countries. An experimental vaccine may help ward off E. coli contamination. From
Wired News on December 19, 2005 at 7:46 a.m..
Vaporware 2005: Let Us Have It
What are the tech products you most wanted this year, but didn't get your greasy mitts on? Send us your nominees for Wired News' annual Vaporware Awards. By the Vaporware Team. From
Wired News on December 19, 2005 at 7:46 a.m..
GPS Could Speed Tsunami Warnings
Seismology did a marginal job of predicting the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. Some experts say GPS to could get a jump on evacuation after underwater quakes -- and a warning system wouldn't cost much. By Elizabeth Svoboda. From
Wired News on December 19, 2005 at 7:46 a.m..
Good Luck, Hwang Woo-suk
The fallout from the controversial researcher's troubles will affect more than scientists studying stem cells: Patients who follow Hwang's work ride an emotional roller coaster. One of them shares his story. Commentary by Steven Edwards. From
Wired News on December 19, 2005 at 7:46 a.m..
Testing Drugs on India's Poor
Pharmaceutical companies rush to try experimental medications on India's never-ending supply of poverty-stricken test subjects. Welcome to the real world of The Constant Gardener. By Scott Carney. From
Wired News on December 19, 2005 at 7:46 a.m..
Una pregunta inquietante
Tom Foremski, uno de los bloguers de ZDNet se pregunta en The rise of search . . . and the decline in journalism: ¿Qué pasa si los viejos medios mueren antes de que los nuevos medios aprendan a caminar?. En Visión, Julio Alonso (Sr.) responde: Se necesitan periodistas de verdad. Si ... From
eCuaderno v.2.0 on December 19, 2005 at 6:52 a.m..
John Allsopp
John Allsopp has just launched a new site called WebPatterns.org. To quote: WebPatterns is slowly getting ready for prime time, so bookmark this page, as we will be continually adding to the site. If you are interested in design patterns... From
Column Two on December 19, 2005 at 12:47 a.m..
