Cost and Quality Metric for Different Forms of Learning
In an effort to eliminate oversimplifications in the discussions about the reasons people elect online learning and about the costs of online learning, this article defines several of the variables involved and provides a metric for evaluating different forms of learning. By Stephen Downes. More...

Social Network Analysis
Interesting short article about the relationship between networks of people and the transmission of information. Nicely draws out the connection between social networks and knowledge management. More...

SUNY-Buffalo Drops Online M.B.A. Program
You can almost see the authors at the Chronicle rub their hands in gless as they conclude following the closure of SUNY-Buffalo's online MBA program that "the business school joins a growing list of institutions that have concluded that online programs aren't worth the expense and hassle." And of course, the other online learning email dailies (who shall go unnamed) pass along this conclusion without comment. Tsk tsk. Because the conclusion is just wrong. More...

Children Create Virtual Companies
This is interesting... and innovative use of online learning to provide an educational experience that is part real, part simulation. Students in Japan set up virtual companies online - they don't actually sell anything, but they offer products on their website that are voted for by online visitors. More...

Knowledge Matters -- Skills and Learning for Canadians
Kind of an awkwardly designed website, but if you keep at it you will find two major policy papers on this site recently released by the government of Canada. Follow the link to the 'Knowledge Matters' paper and for a quick overview, read the detailed Executive Summary. More...

The ADL SCORM Version 1.2 Conformance Test Suite Version 1.2
ADL releases the SCORM Version 1.2 Conformance Test Suite Version 1.2 (Self Test). Available to the ADL community since last October (so some of you may have some catching up to do), this Test Suite is the one used during ADL Plugfests and other ADL events. More...

Finnish Universities Release Free VLE with Support for Educational Modelling Language (EML)
One of the first VLEs (Virtual Learning Environments) to support the Educational Modeling Language (EML), FLE3 is an open-source web-based learning environment built on the ZOPE content management platform (ZOPE is also open source). More...

Yahoo! Education
I hadn't seen this before, but Scott Wilson at CETIS flagged the new Yahoo! Education site about a week ago. Touted as a free service (of course Yahoo! Groups moderators know better, as a fee structure has just been proposed for that 'free' service), Yahoo! Education allows educators to set up a calendar and syllabus and to upload course content. More...

The Convergence Culture Clash
Another one of these items from thw world of online news, this time looking at the (eventual) convergence of television, radio and online sources. Contains useful advice for educators: note especially the old/new comparisons. More...

What Web Services Are Not

A good antidote to the hype surrounding web services. They are not stand-alone applications. There will not be one universal XML standard. More...