By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Revisiting Content Is Not King. Connectivity Is Priority.
I get what Leigh Blackall is saying in this post, but even with full connectivity content would not be 'king' - at least, not the sort of content that is ordinarily supposed hen we talk of things like learning objects (or newspaper articles). The point is, more learning happens through conversation and content creation than by mere passive receptivity. And what Illich (and Friere, and others, know) is that when you take control of the production of your own learning, you give yourself the power to learn, which is something no content provider can even give to you. Broadband connectivity helps, to be sure - but the important part of the broadband connection is the ploading part. After all, we've had broadband downloading for a very long time. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. OLPC As Constructivist Education Reform
The neat thing about OLPC is that it works, we can see it working, and the people who insist time after time "it doesn't work" really have nothing else to say. And what is key to this is, as this post says, it is the end of the 'colonial' educational system (OK, maybe not, not completely, and a lot of water has to pass under the bridge, but you get the idea). "We don't even know what would be suitable for free peoples. Not for lack of trying, but because those who have investigated the issues have been effectively marginalized and largely go unheard. Until now. Now their work is embodied in the OLPC XO-1 laptop". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Keeping Life Simple
The Zombu is a very interesting device - a computer preloaded with a Linux operating system that is 'locked in' - it will update, but you can't mess around with it or break it. It has 4 gigabytes of flash memory - no hard drive. You can store more online. The computer has 20 applications pre-installed. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. An Argument for Knols Over Wikipedia and Citizendium
When I posted by refutation of the Kirschner Sweller and Clark paper a few days ago it was not long before I received the anonymous hate mail. One thing is certain in all this: the opposition to constructivism and similar pedagogies seems to be more political than it is educational or scientific. A case in point: why would someone go out of his way to ensure that every article in Wikipedia that deals with constructivism and related themes included, as a highlight, a 'refutation' of constructivism and copious cites of the Kirschner Sweller and Clark paper? I don't agree that this is an argument in favour of 'Knols' or some other authority-driven system, though. The anti-egalitarian position advocated by the anti-constructivists tends to hold sway in authority-driven systems (which explains the persistence of 'colonial' educational systems despite decades of successful experience with their alternatives. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Democratizing Innovation
It was only five or six years ago I saw a prototype 3D printer in the National Research Council's offices in Ottawa. I wanted to create a bust of myself, but it wasn't in the cards. Now this type of technology seems ready to reach out to the home market. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Laptop Project Enlivens Peruvian Hamlet
The reviews from the field are coming in and it looks like the XO computer is a hit. "It's the best answer yet to 'a global crisis of education' in which curricula have no relevance, he said. 'If we make education pertinent, something the student enjoys, then it won't matter if the classroom's walls are straw or the students are sitting on fruit boxes.'" The most popular feature seems to be the video cameras; we should expect to see a flood of videos taken by children around the world. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Requiescat in Pace: Oscar Peterson, 1925-2007
"There's an extreme joy I get in playing that I've never been able to explain." I'll let the music speak for itself. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Economics in a DRM-Free World
After my previous post, Doug Johnson asked me to explain the economic model of a DRM-free world. This has been done by others on numerous occasions, so this link should only be thought of as a summary. Stephen Downes, Half an Hour December 25, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Digital Rights Management (DRM)]. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. EduCamp Colombia Bogota Video
Newly uploaded video of my talk in Bogota at Educamp Colombia. Stephen Downes, Google Video December 25, 2007 [Link] [Tags: Video]. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Me.Edu.Au
EdNA is launching a new social software service on December 15. "Everyone who is a current edna registered user will automatically have a myedna profile and space which will provide significant benefits for edna members." If you are an EdNA member you can go to the preview and try it out. It works well, though I miss the Facebook apps (especially Scrabble) and I don't really like the conflation of personal interests with communities. More...