By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Derek Wenmoth[Edit][Delete]: PLEs and MLEs, October 31, 2006

[link: 1 Hits] As another one of those diagrams that advance the concept another iteration, this illustration and post "is an attempt to describe the development and potential intersection of these two systems, ie 1. Personal Learning Environment that is "owned", managed and maintained by the individual learner, and 2. Managed Learning Environment that is "owned, managed and maintained by a school or institution." This exploration is worthwhile, especially since it is hard for institutional administrators to see where their technology fits into the personal learning landscape. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Leonard Low[Edit][Delete]: Mobile Learning Ecologies, Mobile Learning [Edit][Delete] October 31, 2006

[link: 1 Hits] OK, this bit is right: "Mobile learners have the opportunity to retain a persistent network of peers, mentors, teachers, and nodes of content and functionality - to add and remove nodes, and interact with them as and when convenient. This is quite similar to the way our internal neural networks operate: we create connections of information..." But with this correction: this applies to all learners, not just mobile learners. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Dave Berlind[Edit][Delete]: Whether It Meant To Or Not..., Zdnet [Edit][Delete]ZDNet [Edit][Delete] October 31, 2006

[link: 1 Hits] Jotspot, a site I've used in any number of my presentations, has been acquired by Google (and Socialtext, a sit I never used, was acquired by Microsoft - coincidence? I think not). Maybe Google can do something about the hundreds of spam comments it has acquired. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Brian Lamb[Edit][Delete]:Graham Attwell[Edit][Delete]: The New Pedagogy of Open Content, The Wales Wide Web [Edit][Delete] October 31, 2006

[link: Hits] Downloadable version of this paper presented at the OECD conference on open educational resources this week in Barcelona (I wish I was still involved - and it would have been handy! - but NRC and OECD could not agree on a contract, so I'm out). Anyhow, "One of the most often cited barriers to the development of Open Content and Open Educational Resources is that of persuading users, in the form of teachers and trainers to share". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Brian Lamb[Edit][Delete]: Make as Big a Mess of My Second Life, Abject learning [Edit][Delete]Abject Learning [Edit][Delete] October 30, 2006

[link: 5 Hits] I have been a bit sceptical of Second Life, and for similar sorts of reasons: "For one, my bent toward 'fast, cheap, and out of control' technologies has left me underwhelmed by top-heavy immersive 3-D environments." Then there's this, reported by Brin Lamb: "Four of the Lower Mainland's major post-secondary educational institutions will simultaneously open a virtual campus in the online cyberworld Second Life and a new real-world $40-million digital media school on Great Northern Way". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Marc Meola[Edit][Delete]: Wikipedia And Academia, ACRLog [Edit][Delete] October 30, 2006

[link: Hits] So I guess there was a discussion about Wikipedia at the Chronicle, captured in this comment. Marc Meola responds, For the folks who say all sources have errors, that's true but it's impractical to ask people to be critical of and to fact check everything." It's this sort of thinking that leads people to trust "authoritative sources" and to then be led down the garden path. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Brian Benzinger[Edit][Delete]: Back to School With the Class of Web 2.0, Solution Watch [Edit][Delete] October 30, 2006

[link: Hits] I'm in a cybercafe in Toronto on my way home from Spain, as the Toronto Airport wireless is once again not functioning. I'm already jet-lagged, and I'm not even home yet. Anyhow, a quick Monday edition, and I'll slow down for a more comprehensive issue tomorrow. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Dahah Boyd: Wikipedia, Academia and Seigenthaler, Apophenia December 16, 2005

Another defense of Wikipedia, this one looking at the backlash from academics against the online encyclopedia. "The academic community pointed to this case and went 'See! See! Wikipedia is terrible! We must protest it and stop it! It's ruining our schools!'" I have already responded to this post that such opinions do not reflect the entire academic community, and that many support wikipedia and distributed media in general (many of who are reading this post). But I will say here as well that the sentiments identified in this article are real (just look at the slanted Chronicle coverage, from a journal that has harangued against online learning as long as I can remember (see for yourself)). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Marco Fioretti: Linux in Italian Schools, Part 7: Teaching Free SW to Adults in Bari, Linux Journal December 16, 2005

Marco Fioretti wraps up a seven-part services on the use of Linux in Italian schools (parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). Good, solid observations and discussion. "Those who eventually do participate in Linux training sooner or later ask some variant of "what is the real usefulness of Linux, since [for example] it doesn't support as much hardware as Windows?" Loseto's answer is that Linux won't be the solution to their employment problems. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Unattributed: Canada's High School Dropout Rates Are Falling, Canadian Council on Learning December 16, 2005

The Canadian Council on Learning today released statics arguing that Canadian drop-out rates are falling - only 10 percent of people aged 20-24 did not have a high school diploma and were not in school (that still seems pretty high, but I digress). I read this after just having read yesterday this scathing item from Christopher D. Sessums on rates in the United States. He writes, "The national graduation rate is 68 percent, with nearly one-third of all public high school students failing to graduate." All of a suddent, ten percent looks pretty good (though it is important to recognize that these statistics are compiled very differently). It is tempting to look at the different political systems, as Sessums does, but I'm not sure the answer lies there. More...