e-learning Stakeholders and Design
The comment from elearnspace reads simply, "If the designer isn't in contact with the end user, how can the learning environment / software / course / resource be designed to optimize their experience?" It points to the necessity of feedback, but while I would agree that feedback is useful, I draw the line at saying it is necessary. More...
Idea for Online Networking Brings Two Entrepreneurs Together
*sigh* Now that it looks like social software has a future, the patent vultures are coming out of the woodwork. More...
The Dawning of the Age of Transparency
There was a day when 'normal business practice' meant total secrecy. Too many investors have been birned over the last few years for this culture to persis. More...
Opinionated – And Proud to Admit It
Why OLDaily is more that 'just the facts': "Opinions make you think, or at least stop you being stupid. Or perhaps, less charitably, help to disguise it. Certainly, whatever the interpretation, they provide comfort. Sometimes, passionately held opinions are stupid ones. But Wittgenstein believed that if people never did stupid things, nothing intelligent would ever happen." So the next time you roll your eye. More...
How Learning Communities Use Learning
People today think of learning content (such as learning objects) as things that are to be used in courses. But reusable learning resources are most properly used in online learning environments, such as simulations. It is important not to gloss the concept of simulations with the idea that they will all be like Doom or Quake - that is, they will for the most part not resemble 3D environments in which a large part of the activity is exploring through caves and buildings. More...
In Defense of Textbooks and Their "Imposed Patterns"
Mostly I disagree with what the author advances in this article, but it is what we call in the trade a 'great rant' and well worth reading. The author, who recently served on Prentice Hall's "Master Teacher Editorial Board," argues that textbooks are the students' best hope against poor or indifferent teaching. More...
Thinking XML: Learning Objects Metadata
Short but comprehensive overview of learning object metadata, intended mainly for technologists who are unfamiliar with the educational application of XML. More...
Copywrong: Copyright Laws are Stifling Art, but the Public Domain Can Save Us
This longish article is a lucid and well written explanation of the dangers of excessive copyright regulation. The central premise, expressed in the first sentence, is that "artists steal." That is, subsequent work is built on prior culture. More...
Pirated Movies Flourish Despite Security Measures
So where are we headed: metal detectors and frisking before people enter the movie theatre? The MPAA has launched a campaign against what it calls video piracy complete with carefully scripted advertisements ("Alls I want to do is make movies," says the actor playing a set painter in a carefully scripted plea to protect the 'little guy' from piracy). This campaign is failing miserably. More...
How Educating America's Students Can Be Based on Science
The U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) yesterday released this report, Identifying and Implementing Educational Practices Supported by Rigorous Evidence: A User Friendly Guide. The report documents a research process that narrowly defines what is meant by 'science': "randomized controlled trials are studies that randomly assign individuals to an intervention group or to a control group, in order to measure the effects of the intervention." Readers will recognize this as the methodology proposed by an organization called the Campbell Collaboration (though you would be hard-pressed to find the reference in the report). More...
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