Future of SCORM 1.x Guide Published, Services Top of The Menu
Two interesting things pop out of this article. First is that there is no 'official' plan for SCORM beyond 1.3 (quite the opposite of what I had heard previously, in which we were told that the longer term development of SCORM is well mapped out). Second, that insofar as SCORM has a future, it will likely be in the area of web services, in order to support (the previously overlooked) distributed training environments. More...

The Potential of Personal Publishing in Education II: How’s It Going & What’s Working?
This look at the use of weblogs in learning takes a close, critical look and the results aren't all peaches and cream. The most telling link is to the list of updated schoolblogs, showing (as of my reading) that out of the 2,400 or so listed, the most recent update was back in July. More...

Software Offers TiVo-like Recording At Lower Price
The price - and especially the subscription fees - have slowed the adoption of personal video recorders (PVRs), devices you can use to record and play back your favorite TV program on your computer. More...

Whither Education: Human Rights Versus Trade Law
This can get complex in a hurry, but essentially, the argument here is that under the WTO, "Liberalization increasingly converts education into a tradable commodity, which directly undermines rights-based education, namely as a 'public good' with governments assuming the primary regulatory role. It threatens to undermine progressive realization of the right to education, which requires the enforcement of governmental obligations, as required by international human rights law." Now of course the WTO specifically excludes services provided "in the exercise of governmental authority," which one would assume covers education, but this exclusion is very narrow: once fees are charged, the government is deemed to be 'in competition' with private providers. More...