12 juillet 2019

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Scott Jaschik[Edit][Delete]: Privatization and Public Universities, Inside Higher Ed [Edit][Delete] August 10, 2006
Book review looking at the trend toward the privatization of the public university system in the United States. Interesting because it recognizes the phenomenon of de facto privatization, where public funding is reduced and replaced by tuitions, foundation grants, research revenues, and other enterprise income. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Press Release[Edit][Delete]: Creative, Capable, Connected - Our New Brand, Education.au [Edit][Delete] August 10, 2006
education.au got a new identity last Friday. Personally, I've always felt identities should reflect what people or organizations are, or what they do, while compliments - such as 'creative', 'capable' and 'connected' - should be the domain of friends and well-wishers. But perhaps I take an overly modest approach to branding. Also from the same EdNA newsletter, information on podcasts from Friday's seminar and news that Australia will no longer refer to VET (vocational education and training). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Joseph Epstein[Edit][Delete]: Friendship Among the Intellectuals, Commentary [Edit][Delete] August 10, 2006
I really didn't like this mean-spirited paper listed in today's ArtsJournal, but I spent enough time with it to merit passing it along. I am torn between wanting to disparage the author's off-handed swipes against socialism (by equating it with Stalinism) and wanting to show disdain for the offhand manner in which the author supposes that he is an intellectual (and therefore qualified to talk on the subject of friendship among the intellectuals). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Jakob Nielsen[Edit][Delete]: Screen Resolution and Page Layout, Alertbox [Edit][Delete]AlertBox [Edit][Delete] August 10, 2006
In his first relevant post in quite a while, Jakob Nielson says we ought to optimize screen displays for monitors with a 1024x768 resolution, but that we should continue to employ liquid layout for users of other monitors. You'll notice that this is what I do on my website. What Nielsen doesn't tell us, though, is how to do this. Usually such sites use three column liquid layouts. You should also ensure that the columns have margins (called 'gutters') and that the centre column loads first. Columns should have 1-2-2 width ratios, with the narrow column used for navigation, or the classic 'Drupal' look of 1-3-1. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Scott Leslie[Edit][Delete]: stu.dicio.us - What a Student-developed, Student-focused Learning/study Tool Looks Like, EdTechPost [Edit][Delete] August 10, 2006
Described on the stu.dicio.us blog: "[Stud.ilio.us is] part scheduler, todo manager, and 'web 2.0' notetaker, stu.dicio.us is also a social network. By using stu.dicio.us, you agree to make all of your notes public. The search function allows you to search for notes by school, professor, class, or the note itself." Pretty interesting concept, dead simple. What I like is how it becomes something really useful by focusing on a student need and essentially ignoring what teachers or administration would want. Scott Leslie writes, "So... a web-based, mobile-accessible site for students to store THEIR notes/information about THEIR studies, which simultaneously gives them access to other students' notes as well. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Miguel Guhlin[Edit][Delete]: Data Analysis, Around the Corner [Edit][Delete] August 10, 2006
Be sure to have a look at the 'multiple measures of data' graphic in this post. It is a four-circle Venn Diagram identifying four corresponding measurement metrics and how they interact. Of course, once you admit these dimensions of measurement, what is to argue against a variety of other measurements - nutrition intake, for example, local crime rate, perhaps, or per-student computer budget - into the same sort of calculation. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Jay Rosen[Edit][Delete]: The Pros Gonna Blog You Under the Table, PressThink [Edit][Delete] August 9, 2006
Could a professional reporter replace me? Of course one could. I have a lot of distractions; a professional could blog full-time (and would probably have spell-checking software). But here's the question: what is the market for a professional blogger who specializes in online learning? Pretty slim, I would say. And would such a blogger feel comfortable opposing the recent patent of potentially the largest advertiser on the site? Not so likely. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Scott Leslie[Edit][Delete]: The Future of... - Three Contrasting Views, EdTechPost [Edit][Delete] August 9, 2006
received an email recently that prompted me to look at my essay, The Future of Online Learning, written almost exactly eight years ago. Games, multimedia, conferencing - it's all there, as well as online communities, facilitators, even the emphasis on testing and personalization. I talk about instructional management systems, of course, but also talk about what happens when class and course based models are abandoned. How does my article compare to the three futures described here. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Charles Nelson[Edit][Delete]: Plagiarism: Another Perspective, Explorations in Learning [Edit][Delete] August 9, 2006
Interesting take on what may be called "institutional plagiarism," including "ghostwriting, honorary authorship, political speechwriting and beauracratic documents." Certainly I have seen no shortage of presentations written by staff for some executive member or officer who will present it (it's always sad to see them flip through slides knowing nothing about their content). For that matter, what would we call a news article that reprints a press release? An editorial that reprints a campaign circular. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Unattributed[Edit][Delete]: Virtual and Immersive Learning, Campus Technology [Edit][Delete] August 9, 2006
I really have mixed feelings about this. I remember looking at ActiveWorlds years ago, long before Second Life came to the fore. Neat, I thought, but rendering problems and a distinct lack of any applications spoke against further investigation. Now people are looking at these virtual environments in more detail, and even building life-sized virtual environments, as at Purdue, and though I still suppose they're a good idea, I am still hard-pressed to get excited about them. I mean - I have this image of a student rushing to school, rushing to her VR studio, opening the door - only to find herself in a (virtual) classroom. Yes, I like immersive environments - but the environments I've tried cost millions of dollars and are available only to the military and millionaire students. More...