By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Agneta Hult, Ethel Dahlgren, David Hamilton and Tor Söderström: Teachers’ Invisible Presence in Net-based Distance Education, International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning November 4, 2005

The November issue of IRRODL is now available online. I highlight two papers, beginning with this look at the incluence of teachers in the directions taken by students in online discussion forums. I am most interested in the direction the paper takes at its conclusion: "The main ethical question, in both off- and online learning, is who does the drawing out [of purpose and value in learning]? Is it an external agent (a teacher)? Is it an internal agent (e.g., student’s own motivation or desire)? Or is it a disembodied agent – the invisible hand, for instance, that shaped the Website?". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Harold Jarche: Education's Three Conflicting Pillars, Jarche Consulting November 4, 2005

Reacting to yesterday's discussion, Harold Jarche draws out "three conflicting premises [of western education] which compete for dominance," specifically "education as socialization, education as a quest for truth (Plato) and education as the realization of individual potential (Rousseau)". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Lunga Madlala: Sakai software cooks up e-learning storm, tectonic November 4, 2005

Article describing the deployment of Sakai, an open source learning management system, in the South African educational system. "The Sakai Project has attracted the attention of the University of South Africa (UNISA), the University of Cape Town (UCT), the University of the North West (NWU) and the University of the Free State (UOVS)". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Edward Christian: A Vindication of the Right of the Universities of Great Britain to a Copy of Every New Publication, Google Print November 4, 2005

There is something just deliciously self-referential in the publication of this book - from 1807 - on Google Print. And as you have a look at it, have a thought about what the sudden opening of millenia of scholarship does for our capacity to know - and to learn - around the world. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Andy Carvin: Will WSIS Help Achieve a World of, Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth November 3, 2005

Presumably Canada will have representatives at the upcoming WSIS meetings in Tunis, but I have no idea who they are or what they will say (if anyone has a lead on this, please send me a note). Meanwhile, Andy Carvin, who will be attending WSIS from the United States, tackles some of the tougher issues in this longish post, issues like: "If the digital divide dissipates into a global wireless cloud, will democracy and freedom flourish?". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Press Release: alphaTXT, ClearTXT November 3, 2005

ClearTXT is an instant messaging and SMS system that allows schools and instructors to send messages to students. It operates as a Blackboard building block, which means you need to have the LMS to make it work. Nifty idea, and schools have started using it. In what doubles as a useful public service and a savvy marketing move, ClearTXT has launched a service called alphaTXT, which will be offered free to all schools, that allows them to broadcast emergency notifications. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Mark Stubbs: Teachers and Technologists: It's Good To Talk!, CETIS Pedagogy Forum and the CETIS Enterprise SIG November 3, 2005

This presentation (PowerPoint slides) actually had me laughing out loud in parts, which is good, because it means that its central message was hitting home. presented essentially as a case study of a module redesign for blended learning, the presentation reviews some concepts and routines stimulated by the pedagogical approach (not necessarily once I would agree with, but that's beside the point) and then translates it into tech talk (slides 9 and 10). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Jon Rowett: BeRT (Brockenhurst e-Registers Toolkit), CETIS Pedagogy Forum and the CETIS Enterprise SIG November 3, 2005

Presentations from the joint meeting of the CETIS Pedagogy Forum and the CETIS Enterprise SIG held October 19 are now online (thanks for the quick turnaround). Two presentations from the conference are worth special mention. In this first item, Jon Rowett discusses BERT, the Brockenhurst e-Registers Toolkit. This toolkit addresses problems that have plagued learning developers: how to work with monolithic and proprietary student information systems (SIS). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Amber Thomas and Andrew Rothery: Online Repositories for Learning Materials: The User Perspective, Ariadne November 3, 2005

OK, it's official. I am now siding against use cases, scenarios, and the other typical design methodologies, as instantiated in this post about learning resource repositories. Why? Because they freeze your perspective on design and development into a view of what is rather than what could be or ought to be. The use cases here, for example, limit the author's view to learning resources created by tutors or publishers, to uses consisting of 'put' and 'get', and to thinks like intellectual property rights being at the forefront of design principles. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Paul Miller: Web 2.0: Building the New Library, Ariadne November 3, 2005

It was only a matter of time, I suppose, before we saw Web 2.0 morph into Library 2.0 (and I suppose I'm the last person who should be critical, hm?) but this article could have benefitted from a wider reading of the work on web 2.0 and a more modest approach than "Paul's Principles" of web 2.0. More...