By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Personal Learning
An article that is winning wide praise, this item asserts that "The key to learning is not the medium nor the message, it is the quality of the dialog with your peers that really matters." The author also echos a growing dissatisfaction with the usual way of doing things. "The traditional practice of determining information needs and competency gaps seems more and more a hollow exercise." Unfortunately brief, and the sketch of some basic principles needs much more filling out. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. AAHE Announces Closing
The American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) is ceasing operations later this year. Communities of practice and projects will be would down; members will still have access to the website and publications. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Researching Electronic Portfolios and Learner Engagement
David Tosh recommends this paper and in particular a diagram relating increased choice with increased motivation. I would agree that choice impacts motivation, but probably a lot more besides (for example, relevance). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. CanCore Guidelines v 2.0: Electronic Bi-Lingual Version now Available
Norm Friesen writes: "CanCore released its 2.0 Guidelines in both French and English less than a year ago. These documents have since been available, free of charge, in PDF format from the CanCore Website. Now these guidelines are also available in three different dynamic formats." The versions are: a full-text searchable version, allowing users to locate particular terms and sections in the guidelines. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. DCMI and ODRL – A Discussion Paper
How should the Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) and Dublin Core work together? This is the topic of meetings between the two groups and of this discussion paper. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Trends in North American E-Learning
Rory McGreal sends along the link to this presentation on learner demographics and the rise of online learning. The talk is focused on the United States but points to some resources worldwide. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Wrong, Wrong and Wrong: Math Guides Are Recalled
It's OK... I have trouble iwth speling too... All I can say is: aren't officials glad the texts were emailed rather than printed and shipped. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. LazyWeb Query: Are Creative Commons Licenses Legal?
A post by Tim Bray led me to Bob Wyman's post on the Atom discussion list about the use of Creative Commons in Atom, which led me to this blog post questioning whether the use of Creative Commons license is legal at all. The answer, of course, is maybe. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Encyclopedic Knowledge
For the record: Encyclopedia Brown was a literary influence on me in my childhood. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Three Keys to Implementing a Laptop Program: Over-Plan, Over-Train, and Over-Support
This article is pretty well summarized in the title, though it is worth noting that the introduction of laptops into the classroom is only the first, and smallest, part ofa laptop program. More...