By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Top 5 Firefox2 Extensions for Educators
Firefox extensions are both a blessing and a curse. Mostly a blessing (the curse comes from the increased complexity that results). They're pretty simple to install and extend the browser's functionality well beyond what you might otherwise expect. This item lists five major extensions for educators using Firefox. My won list is a bit different. At home I use the Download Statusbar and Adblock Plus. At work the Web Developer extension is indispensable. I used to use Performancing to add content to my blog, but I never installed the Firefox 2.0 version. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Towards a Personal Learning Environment Framework
Some good thinking on the concept. First, we agree that "we don't need a top-down integration of different services into a centralized platform like PLEX and Elgg do." And second, the author compares a potential PLE to an integrated development environment (IDE) called Eclipse, which has "plugins for different programming languages such as C\C++, Python, Perl, Ruby, PHP, design tools and many more." More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Mogopop: Publish Interactive iPod Content for Free
With everyone going gaga of the recent announcement of Cisco's Applie's iPhone, this item, on creating custom iPod content, seems relevant. "Mogopop is a free Web 2.0 site that allows you to create interactive movies, 'sites' and books for iPods. It incorporates an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editing system, and a built-in iPod preview window so you can see how your content will look on your iPod, as you create it." Which raises the question - are we replacing the web here? It is almost as though we are being slowly introduced to a new platform where the publishers control the hardware and where developers are reduced to creating compliant 'sites' using proprietary technology. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Canadian Network for Innovation in Education
That's the (pretty mediocre) name for the association resulting from the merger of the Canadian Association for Distance Education (CADE) and Association for Media and Technology in Education in Canada (AMTEC). The two organizations have been drifting toward each other for some time now and had already agreed to joint conferences. But the name, my goodness, it's like some government department that doesn't know what it wants to be. My vote? Canadian Online Learning Designers. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Facts About Online Sex Abuse and Schools
The question is, "Are we going to take a 'zero risk' approach to using technology and the tools of the Web?" This question is particularly relevant given the statistics, which show a general decline in child abuse (and in view of the other statistic, showing that a parent is responsible for more than three quarters of the cases). From where I sit, the great foofraw over online abuse serves only to mask the disinterest shown by those same legislators in the more mundane variety. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Grid Computing, Facebook, and YouTube
Still working on the site, including some email issues. Hang in there. This link is to a handly list of the EDUCAUSE guides that have been published over the last year or so on a variety of online learning topics. Good reference. More...