LionsTimelineFrom2004
Note: corrected link. Lion Kimbro, who was so badly treated by my discussion system (sorry Lion), offers some long range predictions. Note well the section on 'the hive mind' - I think that something like this is very much likely to be the case. More...

The Six Laws of the New Software
Most educational designers don't think of themselves as software architects, but of course, that's what they are. And as such, this document - which starts from the premise that most people already have the software they need - will be relevant. Especially in education, designers are competing with existing products - the classroom, the television, the telephone, the book. More...

eLearning in 2000 and 2004: Two Different Pictures
According to the authors, "eLearning (in Europe) has almost completely disappeared from top-level policy speeches, both as a term suspected of having lost its impact, and - more seriously- as a significant component of educational policy." This comes four years after the onset of a significant e-learning initiative in Europe. More...

Predictions For 2005
Predictions for the new year, with a lot of emphasis on alternatives to courses (Elliott Masie: "More learners are grazing content to select just those modules that they need RIGHT NOW!") and to course management systems (Michael Feldstein: "The three major commercial vendors of Course Management Systems (Blackboard, WebCT, and Angel) will begin to make visibly defensive moves in response to the growing threat from open-source alternatives."). More...

Happy New Year
I am home from Ottawa. This year I will spend New Year's Eve in a comedy club.
2006 was a year of extremes for me. It was a difficult year, but only because it was one where I tried to live my life to the fullest, and I guess I can't regret that. I made memories to last a lifetime, I touched so many places and so many lives, and was more than rewarded in kind.
I dreamed last night that I was given a fine suit, a thousand dollar suit that I would never buy for myself, with a silk scarf and a long overcoat, that when I wore it I looked like and felt like I had found my success in this life. I trimmed my hair, just a bit, to match the suit, and when I walked down the road, I strode forward with a flourish, waving the tail of my coat behind me.
Kia ora. Thank you, to all of you, and best wishes for the coming year. Stephen Downes, Stephen's Web December 29, 2006 [Link] [Comment]. More...

The Real Story On Harvard's Generosity
I have in the past predicted that there will be increasing political pressure on universities. In this item we see criticism of Harvard's tax-free status as its endowment grows by billions of dollars each year. More...

2008: Year of Information Overload?
This is a prediction that has gotten some traction in the blogosphere, but as George Siemens comments, "ok, and the last ten years were what?" Perhaps we'll hear more about intelligent software agents and data visualization, but I really don't expect either to make great strides forward in 2008. More...

Criminalizing Ripping CDs and Using Wget On Mac Windows and Linux
The story is a bit convoluted, but the upshot is that the RIAA has argued in a U.S. court that ripping your CD and storing the music files on your computer is illegal. This is significant, first, because it defines people as 'pirates' even if they never share music files, and second, because if the definition holds, it makes criminals out of pretty much every person who owns a computer. More...