By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Clarence Fisher[Edit][Delete]: Walled Gardens and Open Parks, Remote Access [Edit][Delete] October 4, 2006
The walls argument, again. "Without adding pictures and links, without the ability to connect with others and push forward your common thinking, bloggingGate is just online publishing without any of the benefits. A network is formed to drive people forward, to invite controversy and discussion. People need to connect to make this happen. Walled gardens may be put together for a reason, but open parks, spaces where people can roam a bit, see what they want, and sure, sometimes cause a bit of controversy, are the realities of our lives. It is in these commonly built open spaces where we learn about other people and other places. More...
Walled Gardens and Open Parks
Using OER courseware to improve your curriculum
OER courseware offers a number of benefits, including cost savings and increased student engagement--but it isn't without its critics. More...
3 Takeaways from this Week's 2U / OPM News
By Joshua Kim. On stock market valuations, the need for nuance, and the opportunity for a more scholarly conversation. More...
Mapping the Open-Source Publishing Landscape
By Lindsay McKenzie. More than 50 open-source publishing tools have been cataloged in a new landscape analysis funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation secured by MIT Press. More...
Heard on Campus: The possibilities presented by open educational resources
OER (open educational resources) is about more than student savings — it is about student success and lifelong learning. It is about faculty empowerment and increased student engagement. More...
Using OER courseware to improve your curriculum
While the use of OER (open educational resources) is often praised as a low-cost and more accessible alternative to physical textbooks, there’s still a lot of criticism surrounding OER courseware. More...
Project Open Source
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Project Open Source | Open Access writes, "BlackBoard's American patent is curious in that it purports to patent any kind of course-based multi-user system, particularly common features such as assigning roles and permissions to provide users with various levels of access". More...
The Importance of Being Open
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Andy Powell[Edit][Delete]: The Importance of Being Open, eFoundations [Edit][Delete] November 1, 2006
I have started uploading some of my PowerPoint slide presentations into Slideshare and am sympathetic with the observations in this post. "It is hard not to be tempted to make simplistic comparisons between JORUM and Slideshare and the other social tools... but I wonder how the 1200 resources deposited into JORUM over the last 11 or so months compare with the rate of presentations being deposited into Slideshare currently (even while it is still in beta)?" Why is this? It's hard to say, but the author suggests, "I think we fell foul of being too rigid in the use of a particular set of standards." Also, "Does JORUM's current registration process indicate a trust in the end-user?" When you create an online service, making it hard to use and restrictive makes it less likely people will use it. More...
DimDim
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Various authors[Edit][Delete]: DimDim, November 3, 2006
Leigh Blackall writes on TALO: "DimDim - open source web conference tool, is available as an alpha download. Dimdim is an open source web conferencing product with features like Application, Desktop and Presentation sharing with A/V streaming and chat". More...
Open Source Learning Resources Repository
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Lexa[Edit][Delete]: Open Source Learning Resources Repository, eLearning across the globe [Edit][Delete] November 3, 2006
According to this item, "European Schoolnet has recently released MINOR, an open source 'repository to store, manage, and exchange the multimedia assets produced by teachers', as it says in the news article they recently published. The application and source code can be downloaded from Sourceforge." MINOR stands for "Minor Is Not an Object Repository." Coded in Java, which means it's a pain to install and run. More...
