Blackboard's Screeching IPO
More analysis of the Blackboard IPO. What struck me was this remark: "Another great characteristic of the business is that there are significant costs to switching from one software package to another." OK, Earth to Fool: this is not an advantage. More...
Facts About Basic Education in Developing Countries
Just in case we need a refresher about the importance of what we are doing. "Basic education is a fundamental building block for all development initiatives. Educated people are more likely to seek modern medical care, understand the consequences and treatment of infectious diseases and treat illnesses correctly. More...
One Last Night in Hammamet
I'm just going to link to the home page of Andy's blog because he has about eight or ten posts absolutely worth reading as he describes his experiences in Tunisia as a delegate to the WSIS prep-con. He also refers us to summary of the meeting. More...
Benefits of An Online Discussion List in A Traditional Distance Education Course
The authors describe the use of online discussion in a nursing course at Central Queensland University and conclude that the exercise demonstrated "success in fostering an environment where students could develop higher order thinking." This they attribute to "ensuring the elements of a constructivist model of learning were incorporated in the design and use of the discussion list." This conclusion does not follow from the study, since they do not set up and test similar discussion list where constructivist principles were not employed; it may be possible that a discussion list promotes higher order thinking with or without constructivist elements. More...
Beyond an Institutionalized Learning Environment
This article is interesting because it describes e-learning in the Philippines and because it looks at an approach especially appripriate to a nation characterized by "a lack of adequate landline facilities and Internet connections in far-flung and traditionally underserved areas of the country": SMS and instant messaging. More...
From a Distance: Student Empowerment and Constructing Teacher Identities Online
This is pretty neat. "Teachers' identities are intertwined with various contexts and collaborative partnerships they encounter as practitioners." Consequently, "they are constantly challenged to unpack how this configures within a broader scheme of things." Personal identity is a fluid concept in an online world - I have many! - and, as the authors note, a fundamental element of communities of practice. More...
Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education-TOJDE July 2004
The July issue of TOJDE is online and presents what is probably their best issue to date. I cover three articles from this special issue. More...
Virtually Perfect
This is a very good article, one of the best of the year and certainly the best I've seen on this topic at this level. It describes how various universities are building and using mobile production suites to capture and display learning resources (such as, say, classroom lectures), taking as its point of departure the Georgia Institute of Technology's Big Bertha system. More...
Many Schools Choose to Stick with Traditional Yearbooks Although CD-ROMs are Gaining Ground
This is another case of new technology reshaping an old standby, as schools are replacing the traditional school yearbook with a CD-ROM. It's a great idea, not only because it lowers production costs but because it allows students to record video and other media that would have been impossible for a yearbook. More...
One Quarter of Online Americans Have Heard of VOIP
This shortish report (more of a memo, really) from Pew documents what observers have been sensing for some time: that voice over internet (VoIP) is catching on and is well into the 'early adopter' phase of the technology cycle. More...
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