By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Derek Morrison: The Virtual Learning Environment Takes it Personally, Auricle December 16, 2005

Podcast interview and follow-up article of an interview with Oleg Liber, Professor of e-Learning at the University of Bolton and Director of CETIS about Personal Learning Environments. Worth quoting: "Oleg Liber makes a further valid point. Despite years of development, the current generation of VLEs provide tools primarily for teachers, administrators, and system lords, not students. That doesn't fit easily with our protestations of concern with the student experience and in being student centred". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Suzanne Robert: Millennial Learning: On Demand Strategies for Generation X and Beyond, LTi Newsline December 16, 2005

The proposition in a nutshell: "The good news is the technology and strategies are already in place to effectively train Generation X and Millennial workers; the secret to success lies in tailoring and blending these approaches to convince your workers that you understand their needs and are committed to their growth and success". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Deepa A: A Few Chapters Short, India Together December 16, 2005

Discussion of India's new proposed National Curriculum Framework, which while it lauds the fact that it "has put the child firmly at the centre of its proposals," points to problems in providing infrastructure and support to back such a program. "Historian Irfan Habib points out that "almost every proposal it (the NCF 2005) makes is only practical - if at all! - for elite schools". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. James Farmer: Structured Blogging - Magic or Just Another Wizard?, Blogsavvy December 16, 2005

james Farmer raises some good questions about structured blogging (aka microformats): "I'm not sure if it's that simple and something bugs me about form filling and the impact that might have on content & creativity. Naturally this is going to help all of you SEO [Search Engine Optimization] folks no end but does it work for your everyday blogger? I'm tempted to say 'no'". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Jeremy Price: Moving Forward with Open Eyes and an Open Mind, Smelly Knowledge December 16, 2005

Good discussion of some of the questions associated with social software and learning. Questions like, "What new challenges and barriers does the use of social software create?" And, "Does the use of social software the encourage the development of depth of thinking?" The best take-away is this citation from Ulises Mejias: "Ensuring that the benefits of social software reach all circles of society will require that we focus not on the virtuality of social interactions, but on their reality... the desire for connection and understanding, the nomad's learning as becoming". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Marjorie Heins and Tricia Beckles: Will Fair Use Survive?, Brennan Center for Justice December 16, 2005

Detailed report on the future of fail use under recent copyright law. The authors are explicit in their recognition that reliance on the 'four factors' commonly used to measure whether something is fair use is a "fairy tale" - fair use claims are much more complex than usually depicted. Moreover, they not that many 'take-down' orders are based on superficial and dubious claims (I've received a few of those), and yet, many people take the content down rather than get involved in a court battle. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Luigi Canali De Rossi: New Media Predictions 2006: What Will The Web Future Bring?, Robin Good December 16, 2005

Robin Good makes some predictions on media for 2006, most of which seem to be on the mark to me. The most interesting is his speculation (probably accurate) that 2006 will be the year of video. I also like his suggestion that presentation - long the domain of PowerPoint - is due for a shake-up (think about what would happen if someone really souped up S5). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Darren Kuropatwa: OLÉ! - My Tango ..., A Difference December 15, 2005

Nothing like using Blogger as a presentation tool. Today we see a two-parter from Darren Kuropatwa, both parts available from this link. Part 1 is called OLÉ! - Orchestrating a Learning Ecology (or Learning the Tango). It sketches the evolving view of learning as informal and instructured, more like a dance than a script. Part 2 is called Rip, Mix, Learn. It surveys the tools used to support the learning described in the first part. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. D'Arcy Norman: Structured Blogging: Semantic Web for the Rest of Us?, D'Arcy Norman dot Net December 15, 2005

The concept of structured blogging should be giving educators ideas about a similar approach to learning materials (I wonder what it would take to start something like that...). If it hasn't yet, this closer look at it, via the examples offered by the WordPress plug-in, should stimulate some thinking. A similar initiative is microformats.org, and I really do hope they all mesh well together. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Stephen Downes: PHP RSS Ticker, Stephen's Web December 15, 2005