In its annual report, GRECO reviews action taken by its 49 member states against corruption in 2018, notably in respect of MPs, judges and prosecutors, as well as its most recent evaluation round focusing on preventing corruption in central governments and law enforcement agencies. More...
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has decided that its members’ “rights to vote, to speak and to be represented in the Assembly and its bodies shall not be suspended or withdrawn in the context of a challenge to or reconsideration of credentials”. More...
The Venice Commission in its opinion published today welcomes “genuine efforts” of the Montenegrin authorities to replace the 1977 Law on legal position of religious communities with a new modern Law on freedom of religion and beliefs. More...
“As we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Council of Europe, we can measure the progress made since 1949 and the fact that this organisation is more essential than ever to promote our common values and foster economic and social progress on our continent,” said Amélie de Montchalin, French Secretary of State in charge of European Affairs, representing the French Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, addressing the Assembly today. More...
“The part-session which we are starting today is taking place in extraordinary circumstances. Our Organisation is going through a crisis which has serious implications for the European human rights protection system and for the stability and sustainability of our own institutions,” the PACE President stressed at the opening of the session. More...
A delegation from the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, led by Andrew Dawson (United Kingdom, CRE), Rapporteur and Head of the delegation, observed the re-run of the mayoral election in Istanbul on 23 June 2019. At the invitation of the Turkish authorities, 14 observers from 13 different European countries visited some 90 Ballot Box Committees in about 30 districts of Istanbul. More...
Les masters Métiers de l'enseignement, de l'éducation et de la formation (MEEF) préparent notamment aux métiers du professorat des 1er et 2nd degrés et de l'éducation. Le cadre national des formations dispensées au sein de ces masters sera modifié d'ici la rentrée 2020. Un nouveau référentiel relatif aux objectifs, axes et attendus de formation ainsi que les attendus à l'entrée en master MEEF 1er et 2nd degrés sont publiés. Plus...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Sarah Brittain, Pietrek Glowacki, Jared Van Ittersum and Lynn Johnson[Edit][Delete]: Podcasting Lectures, EDUCAUSE Quarterly [Edit][Delete] August 4, 2006
OK, I appreciate the scientific research process, I really do, though I am always leery of attempts to find the 'best' method for doing something (because any empiricist will have discovered long ago that what counts as 'best' varies dramatically according to circumstances). But this article really stretches my appreciation as the authors progress through not one but three separate pilot trials before discovering (ta da!) podcasting (specifically, using MP3 and RSS to syndicate audio). The 'Acquisitions Solutions' part was the (ahem) silliest, as the authors describe wiring the room's microphone system into the iPod to produce audio of "extremely poor quality and almost useless." It does not appear to have occurred to the experimenters to try other devices, such as an iRiver or even a cheap $29.95 MP3 recorder in an instructor's pocket (which might actually have done the job). What bothers me is that what this experimentation shows most of all is that the designers, committed though they were to empirical science, did not do any background reading on the subject, but rather relied on their own intuition and instinct (and on 'focus groups' of students that eventually led them to podcasting). More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Darren Kuropatwa[Edit][Delete]: Won't Be Fooled Again ..., A Difference [Edit][Delete] August 4, 2006
Worth noting about the South African curriculum wiki people have been citing: "After I finished explaining what a wiki is, every one of them expressed disbelief that the government of South Africa was actually behind such a thing. So, I did some digging ... The South African Curriculum is not on a wiki. Here is the wiki everyone has linked to." More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Albert Ip[Edit][Delete]: Why Most Off the Shelf Commerical Games Will Not Work in Education?, Random Walk in Learning [Edit][Delete] August 4, 2006
This paper is a draft, but I think it has significant issues to address. I have played both Sim City and flight simulators and would have to say that these are the most non-standard 'computer games' out there. They certainly do not resemble 'most off the shelf' commercial games, and they differ precisely in that they do not have any specific game objectives. To cit them, and to then leap directly to the other extreme, Thiagi's low-tech games, is to be misleading about the potential of games. More...
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