Privacilla Criticizes Anti-Commercial Screed Against RFID Tags
Don't they realize, that when you start attacking critics of a technology as 'scare-mongers' that most people (including me) conclude that maybe there is something to worry about. More...

We Are the Problem: We Are Selling Snake Oil
Well. "Training does not work. eLearning does not work. Blending Learning does not work. Knowledge Management does not work. Yet we collectively reify our denial and project the root of the problem out to an external institutional framework. We are the source of the problem because we are selling snake oil. It doesn’t work but there is still plenty of money in it." So begins this wonderful rant on the Learning Circuits blog by Sam Adkins, who then backs up his comments. More...

Framing the Issues
I write a lot about meaning and language. While part of it has to do with dry topics, such as how we can find learning objects through use-based meaning, other parts of it are much meatier, looking at the values and ideas we pass onto children. More...

Students Fight E-Vote Firm
I have linked to the story about the Diebold electronic voting controversy frequently in NewsTrolls (see the research here) but this is the first time the issue has intruded into academia. 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...

Recommendations for Teaching in a Distributed Learning Environment: The Students' Perspective
"It was an inhuman amount of work," said one student. "I'm unhappy, I don't have a life. I don't go for a walk any more, I don't speak to my children," said another. These were just some of the responses from an otherwise satisfied group of students evaluating a new program offered by the University of Wollongong. More...