By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Miguel Guhlin[Edit][Delete]: Banishing Disillusionment, Mousing Around [Edit][Delete] January 10, 2006

[link: 0 Hits] So today was proposal day at the office - a ten minute slot to argue for learning networks, web 2.0, open access, and the rest. And to explain why there is no "exploitation" or licenses or shrink-wrap 'products', why networks have value and why they should be distributed, why people need to be able to create their own content, why there needs to be openness, and to handle questions about the value of networks and why the (completely unrelated and unlamented) eduSource project was not a success. So now I reflect Miguel Guhlin's thoughts: "I read once that to pick up new things, you have to let go of the old. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Vincent Tinto[Edit][Delete]: Learning Communities: Building Gateways to Student Success, National Teaching and Learning Forum [Edit][Delete] January 9, 2006

Mentioned in passing by Alan Levine, Vincent Tinto is a good source for information on learning communities in traditional settings. In this article, from 1998, he identifies several types of learning communities and observes, "The responsibilities and roles of the faculty and students, and of student affairs professionals, become less distinct, more blurred as each attempts to negotiate meaning with the other". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Lanny Arvan[Edit][Delete]: They're Changing Guard (with apologies to A. A. Milne), Lanny on Learning Technology [Edit][Delete] January 31, 2006

[link: Hits] There's a lot of blog coverage today of the current ELI conference, most of it by the new guard Lanny Arvan writes of, but it is interesting to look at it in the light of his reflections. "Presnky (and others at this conference) seemingly argue that there needs to be immediate response that progress is being made and that must come from external sources (moving from one level to a higher one in a video game). This I think is wrong and pernicious and will actually be quite limiting for the generation if it becomes the norm in behavior". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Unknown[Edit][Delete]: CEO Speak: Brainvisa&Hurix Systems, The Learned Man! [Edit][Delete] January 31, 2006

[link: Hits] Discussion of the state of e-learning in India. "The Indian companies are as competitive, creative, innovative and focused as their foreign counterparts. Right now India is shining and would continue to shine, as more and more work would flow in." Some discussion about the difficulties serving the domestic Indian market. "The traditional learning method is not an option, as we do not have that kind of infrastructure, e-learning will democraticize education in India". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Henry E. Schaffer[Edit][Delete]: Online Material Decreases Class Attendance?, EDUCAUSE Blogs [Edit][Delete] January 30, 2006

[link: 4 Hits] As usual, poor and incomplete research results in contradictory reports about the impact of technology in the classroom; one study says the use of iPods caused no change, while another (consisting apparently of a reporter asking some friends) draws the opposite conclusion. If we look at the reporter's 'data', though, what we find is a communications professor who, even with no resources posted online, could only attract 60 to 70 percent of his students (yes, apparently 30 percent of his students decided that seeing nothing was better than sitting through one of his lectures). So I have only one response when I see a statement like this: "the result, Allen said, was that only about one-third of her 154 students showed up for most lectures". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Ray Grieselhuber[Edit][Delete]: How to Make Wikipedia Better (and Why We Should), Online Journalism Review [Edit][Delete]Online Journalism review [Edit][Delete] February 2, 2006

[link: 6 Hits] Personally, I don't think the author gets the point. The suggestions he offers - forcing editors to register, demanding references and reasons for changes, clearing copyrights for all materials prior to posting - would only marginally reduce the number of errors (after all, Britannica has almost as many errors) and would create significant barriers to input. Had any of these been in place at the start, Wikipedia would not exist. The point of something like Wikipedia is that it is easy to contribute, and errors are cleared up after the fact by the community. This means that readers will need to be aware that Wikipedia is sometimes wrong. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Rob Reynolds[Edit][Delete]: The Relevance of Textbooks, XplanaZine [Edit][Delete]XPlanaZine [Edit][Delete]Xplanazine [Edit][Delete] February 2, 2006

[link: 4 Hits] So I'm just about to leave for a short stop in London and a longer one in Malmo, Sweden (if the weather allows me here in blizzard-ridden eastern Canada). Wish me luck! Hence, no issue of OLDaily tomorrow, and the weekly is a day early this week. More...