By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Allan Carrington and Cynthia Golden: Getting the Most Out of the Conference Experience ...., Educause October 10, 2005

I haven't had the chance to listen to this yet, but it has been bookmarked in my Bloglines for the last week or so (so I'm going to). That said, it seems like it would be a good link in view of the next two (conference-based) items. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Paula J. Hane: Update on ERIC, ITI NewsLink October 10, 2005

Seeing how ERIC has basically dropped off the radar, this update on the fate of the resource library is welcome. According to this article, "ERIC announced the release of citation management functionality. Searchers can now mark records for placement in a temporary work space called 'My Clipboard.'" Of course, what I'd much rather do is pluck them from my RSS feed and blog them. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Lanny Arvan: More on Open Content, Lanny on Learning Technology October 10, 2005

Lanny Arvan takes Merlot to task, arguing that its content review process doesn't serve downstream users. I like the way he sketches an alternative: "So go to Bloglines.com, do a search on your favorite topic (I chose edtech) and then for some of the blogs that come up, click on “Subscribers” and you should see the list of those subscribers who made their subscription public. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Albert Ip: Melbourne Declaration, Random Walk in E-Learning October 10, 2005

I was waiting for an update, but it never came so I'll run with what I have. It appears from this report that ADL is planning to set up a "stewardship" for SCORM. "It is clear in the discussion that it is NOT the intention of the US Department of Defence funded ADL Initiative to give up SCORM and its related technologies. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. John Norton: Why Do Professional Learning Communities Fail to Develop?, TLN Teacher Voices October 10, 2005

Good question, eh? And the answer is pretty simple - when they're imposed from the top (usually in a slap-dash duct-tape manner), they fail. And they poison any attempt that may follow. "That's the key. It has to belong to the teachers who are part of the community. If the community belongs to 'the administration' and teachers are merely invited to attend, things fall apart." Now the thing is - what is true for teachers, is also true for students. More...