By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Paul Albright[Edit][Delete]: Final Report of UNESCO Forum on Open Educational Resources in HE, UNESCO [Edit][Delete] February 14, 2006
The final report of the UNESCO Open Educational Resources (OER) Discussion Forum has been released. "Open course content, whether full course materials or course elements, constitutes an important resource to higher education institutions, teaching staff and learners. However, if there is little or no awareness of availability, open course content cannot be exploited, and even with awareness of availability, there are challenges and barriers to its effective use. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. On Freedom and Compassion
We cannot be free unless we are free in our hearts, and we cannot be free in our hearts unless the very value of freedom becomes one with who we are, until the very value of freedom is one that guides us, not only through adherence to the limits set out by law and custom, but in our lives, our feelings for each other. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Tony Karrer[Edit][Delete]: eLearning 2.0: Informal Learning, Communities, Bottom-up vs. Top-Down, eLearning Technology [Edit][Delete] February 15, 2006
Discussion of my own e-learning 2.0 paper along with Jay Cross's thoughts on informal learning. The author also draws from Marcia Conner, who adds to the mix the distinction between intentional and unintentional learning. This sets the stage for a discussion of how to manage the outcomes of informal learning. Writes the author, "I am used to thinking about prescribing a blended learning regime that my learners will be asked to follow that at the end of the day, I'm confident will result in knowledge transfer and performance." The problem is, in my thinking, that knowledge doesn't "transfer". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Jon Mason[Edit][Delete]: E-Framework Newsletter, JISC - DEST [Edit][Delete] February 15, 2006
Two issues of this new newsletter have appeared, the most recent being the January-February edition, which features a look at e-portfolios within the context of the e-framework. Drawing on a presentation from Peter Rees Jones, the article looks at how "to re-engineer the data so that wherever you are in the education system the individual learner can demonstrate to another institution, an employer, or to a parent, what they have done, how they are succeeding and who they are". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Graeme Daniel[Edit][Delete]: Web 2.0 and Education, WWWTools [Edit][Delete] February 15, 2006
Discussion of the concept of Web 2.0 in learning, loaded (as is the usual WWWTools fashion) with references and resources. Worth noting is the take on the exchange of views between myself and Stephen O'Hear, a writer for the Guardian. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Derek Morrison[Edit][Delete]: Biting the WebCT bullet?, Auricle [Edit][Delete] February 15, 2006
With the Blackboard-WebCT merger now approved, the institutions who use WebCT now face a problem: what next? One option is to do nothing, and wait for Blackboard to unveil some new merged application and a migration strategy. Or, as Derek Morrison writes, "Don't be passive and wait for a vendor to determine your future. See this as an opportunity to review your options. Take some risks and don't just stick with the status quo. I've suggested in previous Auricle postings that even if a magic wand was to remove all, what we now call VLEs, from the planet then e-learning would still survive, and may even thrive. More...