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Asian Journal of Distance Education
Just launched, volume 1, number 1 of the Asian Journal of Distance Education contains articles by Fred Lockwood, Tony Bates and Kinshuk, among others. Unfortunately, only abstracts are posted online, which means you have to purchase the dead tree version if you actually want to read any of these words of wisdom. More...

CTE and Work-Based Learning
You will want to get to this one before ERIC is shut down (I wonder whether they did any 'scientific reasearch' before making that decision). According to the author, "Work-based learning represents the integration of workplace experiences and career and technical education (CTE) curriculum." You will therefore want to read this item in conjunction with the work on workflow learning, also listed here this week. More...

Patenting Air or Protecting Property?
While some people cling to the idea that progress and innovation can be measured in erms of the numbers of patents granted, it is becoming clear that the rapid proliferation of the technology monopolies are having the opposite result. More...

Open Access Journals in the Field of Education
Long and from what I can tell (I tested a bunch) accurate list to open access online journals in the field of education. This is a tremendous resource. More...

Copyright Board Freezes Music-Media Levies
The Copyright Board of Canada opted for the status quo in a ruling today, maintaining (but not doubling, as the music publishing industry had asked) levies on music recording media. In Canada, individuals may use such media to copy songs for their personal use, and the levy is paid as a royalty to music publishers (who are supposed to, in theory, pass the money on to musicians). More...

E-Learning Standardization in Japan and Singapore: An Informal Report
Norm Friesen summarizes e-learning standards initiatives in eastern Asia following meetings with e-learning standards organizations in Asia: ALIC (Advanced Learning Infrastructure Consortium) of Japan, and the ECC (E-learning Competency Centre) of Singapore. He observes that the Japanese have developed expertise in collaborative learning while noting that in Singapore more attention is being paid to returns on the investment made in e-learning as the government shifts its focus toward biotechnology. More...

The Future of the Profession Formerly Known as Training
The verdict? Murky. "In the end, it became clear that not only was there no consensus, but also that the richness of opinion mirrored the actual state of the profession: semantic chaos concealing highly organized pockets of practice. Instructors, courseware designers, competency experts, group facilitators, knowledge managers, executive coaches, career coaches, performance improvement specialists, diversity consultants, chief learning officers…they all feel they are part of the 'profession' no matter what they call themselves." But there are some trends emerging: leadership training, action learning, for example. More...

More E-Learning Patent Suits Expected in 2004
More on patent vultures, this time looking more closely at e-learning and in particular a company called IpLearn, a two-person operation that "offers no products or services but licenses technology for its U.S. patents covering 'foundational technologies' for the e-learning industry." You know, there was once a time when you actually had to invent something in order to obtain a patent. More...

Collaboration Changes Focus
George Siemens suggests that this article is "very important...and has many implications for elearning application developers as well (i.e. LMS)." He makes a good case. The central point is this: "The more complex learning management systems become, the less usable they will be to the average designer/learner. Integration is an over-hyped concept. It has appeal in theory, but practicalities support the value and flexibility of modularized functions." I completely agree with this. More...

Peer2Peer Networking in Higher Education: New Challenges in a VI
I don't know what 'VI' stands for - 'virtual infosystem'? - and the author never bothers to define it. A sloppy beginning for an article that, though it predicts the inevitable onslaught of Peer2Peer networking throughout academic, is not overly enthusiastic about the prospect. More...