By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. ADL to Conduct Mobile Learning Research Needs Analysis
Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) , March 11, 2013
This came to me via a LinkedIn posting from Jason Haag: "ADL is launching a new research effort with the goal of supporting education and training professionals transitioning from eLearning to mLearning by providing a mobile learning framework and catalog of microstrategy examples for thinking more deeply about their systematic design processes and mobile-specific affordances." In particular are the unique affordances made possible by mobile learning, such as global positioning and direct device-to-device communication. More...
Short Term Hacky Fix for ds106 Radio Live Stream Announcing (using Ladiocast)
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Short Term Hacky Fix for ds106 Radio Live Stream Announcing (using Ladiocast)
Alan Levine, CogDogBlog, March 13, 2013
I've nbeen waiting for a long time for an audiocasting tool more user-friendly than nicecast to come along. It's possible that Ladiocast is it. But it doesn't matter to me any more, as I just bought a new Lenovo to replace my MacBook - all part of my long-term project to remove Apple from my life. More...
inBloom & Microsoftian Over-reach
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. inBloom & Microsoftian Over-reach
Tom Hoffman, Tuttle SVC, March 6, 2013
inBloom is basically a learning support application that pulls together student data in order to make recommendations. More...
The Amplify Tablet: A Device Custom Made For Teachers And Students
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Amplify Tablet: A Device Custom Made For Teachers And Students
Jeff Dunn, Edudemic, March 6, 2013
Did the world need "a device custom made for teachers and students?" I don't know, but it now has one, courtesy the the edtech startup Amplify(which naturally launched at SXSW). From my admittedly distance perspective, the designers have confused "education" with "command and control":
- The teacher has the ability to monitor everything happening on the rest of the tablets in the classroom.
- the ability for a teacher to send out an ‘eyes on teacher’ announcement where all devices tell the student to look up at the teacher. More...
How to Deploy Two-Factor Authentication
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. How to Deploy Two-Factor Authentication
Joel Snyder, EdTech Magazine, March 8, 2013
We're reading more recently about something called 'two factor authentication'. Here's the concept: "This technique combines a password with something else the user has, such as a token, smart card or a biometric identifier." The 'gold standard' of two factor authentication is the token - a card, signet ring, or some other item that can't be easily duplicated. More...
How Texting Can Keep Teens on Track to College
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. How Texting Can Keep Teens on Track to College
Ben Wildavsky, The Quick and the Ed, March 7, 2013
Ben Wildavsky reports on a study that shows a "remarkably cheap and easy technology 'nudge' can keep students on track to matriculate." The idea is to send messages to students over the summer (the report focuses on "low income" students, but that seems a bit patronizing) to offset the effects of "summer melt," or the loss of gains made in the previous school year. More...
Classes start tomorrow!
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Classes start tomorrow!
Kelli McGraw, March 4, 2013
I'm sending this along because, well, how can you say no to My Little Pony? (For those who didn't know, My Little Pony is a thing. More...
IMS Global Announces Learn ing Analytics Interoperability Framework
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. IMS Global Announces Learn ing Analytics Interoperability Framework
Press Release, IMS Global, September 29, 2013
Announced by IMS: "IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS Global) has announced initial public release of the breakthrough Caliper Learning Analytics Framework and associated Sensor API (application programming interface)". More...
In a Violent Media World, YouTube is an Oasis
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. In a Violent Media World, YouTube is an Oasis
Tom Jacobs, Pacific Standard, February 21, 2013
I found this interesting. "Amateur creators are providing the kind of realistic depiction of violence—with an implicit anti-aggression message—that the mainstream media are not." More...
Making Search Engines Work for Education Resources
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Making Search Engines Work for Education Resources
John K. Waters, THE Journal, February 20, 2013
This article unwittingly makes the case both for and against the Learning Resource Metadata Initiative (LRMI). The idea of such an initiative is to help educators find resources to support learning either in the classroom or online. But this, we are told, is very difficult. More...