Email is Dead
Is this really the end or this this just yet another 'end of the internet' article? There is no denying that there is a problem. In my own email box, spam easily outnumbers useful email, and this is after filtering. Of course, it may just be that my email reader is broken - Outlook is, as I have commented on numerous occasions, the world's worst piece of software. According to this author RSS will replace email. More...

Building the Maricopa Learning eXchange(Using a Bit of Competition and Bribery)
It's no longer three dimensional (though it has nice pictures of the three dimensional original), but this web version of the Maricopa Learning eXchange poster delivered to the recent Merlot conference does something the original didn't really do: it explains all the parts of the Learning eXchange and lets me link to them. More...

A Full Stomach Leads to Better Learning, Schools Say
I think the headline says it all. Is there any reason, any reason at all, why a society that could afford it leaves its children unfed? I hear from all sides about morality in society. But before you begin to talk to me about the morality of this or that, let's begin with the basics. More...

Real Time, Real Young, Real Smart
Nice article describing the use of NetMeeting to provide 'direct instruction' (the methodology is described) to a group of distance education students aged 5 to 8 years who were unable to attend regular schools for various reasons. More...

A Subset of Tools for Collaboration
This short page contains a number (thirteen, to be precise) of tips for librarians on how to use the web to address specific educational needs. Each tip is linked to an example giving readers a model to work from. The tips are good, too. More...

ACE outcomes
The gist of this report is to encourage and suggest methods for the measurement of outcomes of ACE (Advanced and Continuing Education) in Australia. More...

The Quiet War Over Open-Source
In a quiet behind-the-scenes battle, U.S. government officials - prodded by Microsoft - squelched a proposed World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) meeting on open source. There is already a wide perception that these international bodies respond like puppies to the corporate sector, and WIPO's acquiescence on this issue doesn't improve that image. More...

Blackboard to Launch Learning Content Management and e-Portfolio System for Academic Market
Blackboard will be launching a set of content management applications later this fall, according to a press release. You have to read several paragraphs of absolute fluff (are people paid to write these press releases?) to get to it, but the core of the announcement is this: "four key areas: Learning Content Management – share and reuse individual content assets across courses, organizations and institutions... e-Portfolio Management – assemble, present and share information within online portfolios for student and/or faculty to use... Virtual Hard Drive Management – virtual storage needs... Library Digital Asset Management – create an interactive environment for faculty to search, access and incorporate digital library resources." Of course the cynics out there (including me) will say that this amounts to no more than giving Blackboard LCMS functionality. More...

'McEducation' an Inevitable Outcome of Air Travel, Internet
Could you survive - that is, not die of malnutrition - on a diet consisting of food served by McDonalds? I'll leave you to answer that question. Let me pose another: what would be the reaction were McDonalds the only source of nutrition in the developing world? People are pondering seriously these sorts of questions when it comes to global education. More...

Learning Molecules White Paper
The concept of the learning molecule is interesting, though not really revolutionary. The metaphor of the molecule, of course, has been used in many previous papers. An object-oriented approach, reusable templates - these also are in wide use around the world. More...