Stop Teaching My Kid
I couldn't pass on this one. The author's contention is that "most parents want an easy pass (in some cases, an easy A) rather than a course in which their children acquire real knowledge and skills." Whether or not this observation is statistically valid, it nonetheless speaks to a misplacement of value, replacing a desire for accomplishment (that is, learning) with a desire for a sign of accomplishment (that is, an A). More...
JISC Programme to Foster The Pick 'n Mix MLE
Nice description of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA): "Rather than have a calendar or scheduling function in every computer system that needs it, you have just the one calendaring component that exposes its service to anything or anyone who wants it." One major advantage of this approach is that "small and simple home-spun tools that make a real difference in teaching and learning can piggy-back on the functionality of bigger systems." The trick, of course, is to make this work. More...
Flagship UKeU E-learning Project Faces Major Restructuring
CETIS notes, "Following disappointing student numbers and serious difficulty in raising private finance, the UK e-Universities has been asked by government funders to come up with a restructuring plan before April. The emphasis should shift from commercial provision of courses to supporting e-learning development in the state universities." Predicting that the commercial courses model wasn't going to work would have been easy. More...
The Cockroach of Repository Interoperability: Simple Query Interface
CETIS never fails to amuse with its titles. It also never fails to enlighten with its crisp, clear writing. This article is no exception to either rule as it describes yet another learning object standard, the proposed Simple Query Interface being developed by CEN/ISSS. Unlike some other recent initiatives, this one is visibly drawing from the work of previous projects, including Ariadne, CELEBRATE, Edutella, Elena, EduSource, ProLearn, Universal/EducaNext and Zing (now there's some pedigree, eh?). More...
Fostering Interoperability, Japanese Style
CETIS is on a roll this week, and so I present four in a roll from the British educational standards agency. This first item looks at e-learning standards development in Japan via an interview with Kyoshi Nakabayashi from Japan's Advanced Learning Infrastructure Consortium (ALIC). More...
Lies! Lies! and Suckers
Hm. John C. Dvorak argues that "The Internet is not a bastion of truth and freedom, it's a pit of horror and lies. It's geared up to become a mechanism of tyranny and madness." Nice example, though, as he argues that "trying to determine the exact wording of the 'bumpy ride' quote said by Bette Davis in the movie All About Eve is another amusing Internet exercise... Go to Google and search for 'Betty Davis bumpy ride' or 'All About Eve quotes.'" Spelling the actor's name correctly produces better results, of course, but I have to ask, is this the fault of the internet. More...
E-Books and DRM
Would you pay hardcover prices for a book that will be throws away after one read? Of course not, and it is this that publishers do not understand. This article is a good introduction to some of the issues surrounding eBooks (though I would take issue with some of the statements expressed by Adobe spokesperson Shafath Syed). More...
There's No Such Thing as Free HBO
The lesson here isn't just another case of a company suing its customers, nor is it the new judicial system under which you are guilty if you could illegally access a file. No, while these cases show that the illogic of the music industry debate is spreading to other industries, that's not the story. In fact, the lesson is this: smart cards can be hacked. In fact, smart cards are so easy to hack that the defendants in this story, 22,000 in all (the number of people who didn't settle with Direct TV), are from all walks of life. More...
Selecting and Implementing an Open Source Software Digital Repository (FEDORA)
The title of this presentation (PowerPoint placed into PDF) is a bit misleading; the talk is mostly about the Fedora digital object repository system. Still, the content is first rate, and for those immersed in learning objects, a peek such as this into the wider world of digital objects in general would be well worth while. More...
Looking Into Practical & Productive Blogging, K8
Somebody asked me the other day whether I had respources on blogging specifically for K-12 instruction. Since I don't focus on specific sectors, I didn't. But I've kept an eye out, and here is the first hit: a weblog devoted specifically to the use of blogs in K-8 schools. More...
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