By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. George Siemens[Edit][Delete]: Learning in Synch with Life: New Models, New Processes, Complexive Systems [Edit][Delete] May 25, 2006
George Siemens has released a white paper created, as he says, "for Google's 2006 Training Summit." It's a nice breezy account of Connectivism, written in classic white paper style with many useful images and graphics. I am intrigued to note that it is copyrighted to "Complexive Systems Inc.," a consulting and reserach firm founded by Siemens. I will note that the last section of the paper ('Implementation') could have been dropped with no loss. Indeed, saying things like 'analysis before implementation can prevent costly errors' and 'develop the skills of learners' doesn't really advance anyone's understanding. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Alexander Hayes[Edit][Delete]: [M]applications : Mobile Learning Inquisition, May 25, 2006
Sometimes the best conversations take a few months to gell. Like this one. Responding to January 4 post from Alec Hayes, Stephanie Rieger opines that we do not see student generated mobile content because "making mobile content right now is cost-prohibitive and available only to those with large budgets." That was in January (and Rieger's blog abrubtly stops there, sadly). This week, Hayes responded with an outburst against commercial MMS offerings ("Why should we be charged $0.50 per MMS message when collectively we can realise learning outcomes and engage our students with ease and authenticity?") and assertions that mobile content is within the reach of the average content creator. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Various authors[Edit][Delete]: Pageflakes, May 25, 2006
Another entry in the personal aggregator sweepstakes, this application again looks like the way an e-portfolio should look, more or less (I sent a bunch of suggestions to the designers). Meanwhile, Michael Feldstein says the same of another service called Tabblo. Meanwhile, as Seb reports in his latest newsletter, EDUCAUSE has a nice RSS aggregator. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Ewan McIntosh[Edit][Delete]: Will Richardson: What Are the Changes in the Read-Write Web?, edublogs [Edit][Delete] May 24, 2006
Good set of notes from what appears to have been a good talk summarizing what changes when Web 2.0 meets e-learning. For example: "We have to learn not to push information any more. We have to teach our students how to pull information that is relevant to them." And, "It's insane to make kids do their own work. Working together, finding and making connections, learning how to work in a collaborative world (because that's what's out there in the business world) is all that matters. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Jay Cross[Edit][Delete]: The Power of Dialogue, Informal Learning [Edit][Delete] May 24, 2006
Jay Cross offers a post that stirs a variety of emotions in me as he examines the nature of authentic dialogue. "One individual brought up an aspect of dialogue, vulnerability. She wondered if naked wouldn't be a better term. Another said it was about showing one's real self. The apt term for me was authenticity. In retrospect, maybe the hip term for the honesty present in our discussion is transparency. Whatever it was, the dialoguers got out of their element, were no longer 'on,' suspended their egos, and acted as other-empowered human beings. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Will Richardson[Edit][Delete]: eLIVE 2006... Live, Weblogg-Ed [Edit][Delete]Weblogg-ed [Edit][Delete] May 24, 2006
Summary of a talk by Alan November at eLIVE 2006. Some interesting points, but I really think the point of view is skewed. Here's a quote: "What is the problem? The problem is not technology or teaching children technology. The problem is that India is ramping up in technology and education, online learning. China outstrips the US by the year 2050." These are not problems. These are enormous opportunities, not to mention a long overdue balancing of wealth and resources worldwide. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Jonathan Bailey[Edit][Delete]: The New Plagiarism, Plagiarism Today [Edit][Delete] May 24, 2006
At the best of times I am pretty sceptical about accustaions of plagiarism. In this case, where the author depicts a type of (what he considers to be) excess block quoting with attribution to be a new form of plagiarism, I am inclined to side with the numerous critics of the piece. To be sure, there are blogs of the type he describes in our field. But I have never detected any loss of readership or confusion about attribution as a consequence. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Catherine Howell[Edit][Delete]: Mirror, Mirror: Refining the reflexion Element in the IMS e-Portfolio Specification, EDUCAUSE Blogs [Edit][Delete] May 24, 2006
I haven't been too involved in the discussion of e-portfolios because I think a lot of that discussion is misplaced. This set of observations on the 'reflexion' element is a perfect example. Catherine Howell argues that the definition, in the IMS specification, is fuzzy, and insufficiently distinguished from an assertion. Quite right, but I would go further and ask what the point is of distinguishing between a reflection and an assertion at all, and even what the point is of placing these (via a form???) into an e-portfolio in the first place. It's this whole idea that everything must be contained in a single format rearing its head again. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Angela Regnier[Edit][Delete]: Open Letter to Ministers Oda and Bernier, Canadian Federation of Students [Edit][Delete] May 24, 2006
In 1985 or so I wrote an article in the student newspaper, the Gauntlet, titled 'CFS is Dead'. It just goes to show, not all of my predictions are accurate. I'm happy to have been wrong, though, because this week the Canadian Federation of Students has come out with a statement urging a "balanced" approach to copyright laws. "Students are concerned that the collectives and the major publishing and recording industries - entities motivated by profit - have been wielding too much influence in the process to-date, thereby drowning the legitimate concerns of teachers, researchers, librarians, and students." Hear, hear. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Unattributed[Edit][Delete]: Student TV Finds Home on Web, ESchool News [Edit][Delete] May 24, 2006
Innovative: "Student-produced shows across the country might have gotten their big break.... The Open Student Television Network (OSTN) launched in April 2005, and it has signed up a wide array of schools in the past few months: the network now claims 30 member schools, with access at 208 institutions." the idea is to provide a distribution channel for student productions. "The launch of these broadband channels parallels an explosion of amateur TV and film content on the web, fueled by the ever-dropping cost of producing a professional-looking product". More...