PubSub DE search begins to pay off

After a few false starts and lot of junk, my pubsub feed hit paydirt:

David Davies: Services -. Weblog: David Davies: Services
Source: http://radio.weblogs.com/0001161/categories/services/rss.xml
Link: http://radio.weblogs.com/0001161/categories/services/2002/05/31.html#a192
Subscription: "distance education"

Searchable RSS portal I'm building a list of medicine and educational RSS news feeds. Medical education is one of my fields of interest. I have a modest list at present and I'm looking for more. If you know of any more would you let me know? The feeds that I have are searchable so a potentially large amount of RSS data can be filtered. Click here to visit my searchable RSS feeds service. If anyone is interested in this as a web service you can embed a list of news items filtered according to your own interests by pasting the following web service macro into your weblog: <%["xmlrpc://147.188.66.137:5335/RPC2"].newsfeeds ("keyword")%> where 'keyword' is whatever you are interested in e.g. <%["xmlrpc://147.188.66.137:5335/RPC2"].newsfeeds ("learning")%> will give you the following:

D'Arcy Norman's Learning Commons Weblog

Learning Commons Server now updated

Almost done updating the Learning Commons webserver to MacOSX 10.3 Server. Process went ok. Not as smoothly as I'd hoped, but better than I'd feared. The installer wouldn't let me do an "Archive and Install" so all I had to choose from was "Erase and Install" and "Update" - 2 options I never use when installing MacOSX. I chose "Update". It kept all settings, accounts, etc... and the whole process was pretty painless. Dealing with MySQL was a different story. I took Alan's advice and installed the standard MySQL distro rather than using the built-in MySQL. It's working ok, but...

Serious Instructional Technology

Clark: What's next in the Media and Methods debate

Quote: "The debate about the learning benefits of media has extended over eighty years. While the arguments have evolved, the debate is still very much alive. An increasing number of universities with instructional technology degree programs are using the debate as a teaching tool. A number of faculty ask students to familiarize themselves with debate positions to better understand the process of using research to make design and development decisions (see examples in the web site addresses described in the Preface to this book). In some cases, the debate has become a question on “end of program” university examinations. In addition, the recently renewed enthusiasm for distance education has led yet another group of technology advocates to seek media comparison evidence. Thus, the goal of this final chapter is to bring the argument up to date as this book goes to press."

Comment: My contribution (written a while ago).
cogdogblog: Repository Folly...

Quote: "By rule, I usually avoid use of the "R-word" (repository, too close to the "S-word"), but wanted to launch, here just a few notches into a new calendar, my pessimism on the aspirations of those creating these magical collections of "learning objects." "

Comment: Frankly, I share some of Alan's pessimism. I mentally put the challenge into a category that Clay Shirky's writings might begin to address.

I wonder if something as simple as putting the author and institutional affiliation into the object lists (on the home page) might help (i.e. appealing to both individual and institutional vanity)? Is there a list of who has contributed most - both individually and institutionally?

Nevertheless, the pain in filling out metadata is absolutely part of the picture, as well as, I suspect, the mechanics of re-use.
CETIS-Reload releases SCORM e-learning content player

Quote: "Now that the open source Reload content package editor is maturing and in pretty widespread use and development, the team have added a content player to the toolkit. It plays SCORM 1.2 in a pretty straightforward fashion, but is mainly meant to help content developers understand and control what is going on behind the scenes."

Comment: via OLDaily - I'll admit to not really having played much with Reload and SCORM. It doesn't quite fit with where our eLearning efforts are right now (big LCMS). I suspect we will get to this point in the relatively near future however.
Workflow Learning
Quote: "Workflow learning is characterized by:
- A deep integration with enterprise applications assembled from Web Services into composite applications.
- Task and work support fused into the aggregated business processes that make up the real-time workflow.
- Contextual collaboration with people and systems.
- Design and modification achieved by modeling and simulation.
- Short, granular bursts of learning and workflow task support embedded at specific “nodes” of a business task.
- Bottom-up dynamic generation of on-the-fly tasks as work evolves.
- Continuous performance improvement and performance measurement.
- Workflow Learning Resource Arrays aggregated “around” workers based on job roles."
Comment: Sounds a little like EPSS to me.
Stolen Knowledge

Quote: "We find it quite difficult to address these questions-not because it is impossible to build technology to support learning, but because that is a different problem from building technology for teaching."

Comment: Nice little article, via eClippings.

rdhyee News

Notelets for 2004.01.14
Implementation Challenges Associated with Developing a Web-based E-notebook (JoDI): should be relevant to our work on ScholarsBox.
Experimental OAI Registry at UIUC -- a posting about an interesting OAI registry -- will look at once I play with the OpenArchivesInitiative protocol

Help Wanted: a Chief Knowledge Officer (Fast Company):
From MIT Technology Review comes the greatest hype I've ever read about any recent technology, not just MIT's OKI project:
UC System Inks Five Year Deal with Elsevier, Stops Price Inflation (Library Journal):
Letter to UC Faculty from UC librarians
First Written Impressions about the Vancouver Meeting

I got back from Vancouver late last night. Today, I was back at work, attending a meeting at the CDL and talking with my colleagues at the IU. A very good day, full of catching up, reflecting on the great amount of activity in which we have been awashed, and yes, doing a bit of gossiping (that is to say, engaging in communal learning).

My hope is to write a thoughtful essay on what I learned in Vancouver -- but sorry, I can't do that right now. I do have to say that my overall impression is that of a vibrant scene with lots of energy and much progress -- but one that gets very little attention in the U.S. Not surprising, I suppose, since that's really not that different from all things in how Canadians and Americans relate.

I've been particularly interested in eduSource, particularly the use of the eduSource Communications Language (ECL) in that project and how ECL might be fruitfully applied outside of Canada. No doubt, I'll have more to say on this topic when I sit down to do some concrete work in the area.

There is much more to say -- but I'll leave it at that given that I'm within 10 minutes of 11pm.
Here at the Pan Canadian e-learning workshop

Greetings from Vancouver! I'm here to attend the Pan Canadian E-learning Workshop I didn't think that there would be wireless access -- but there turns out to be a network. Hence, I'm now able to take notes on my wiki.

There's a lot that I want to learn about while I'm here, especially the eduSource project.
Notelets for 2003.11.18
I had been hearing for a while that MPEG-21 could be a viable alternative to METS for packaging digital content in the library world. Using MPEG-21 DIDL to Represent Complex Digital Objects in the Los Alamos National Laboratory Digital Library confirms not only the theory but practice of using MPEG-21. Will there be a split in the relatively small digital library community between the METS and MPEG-21?
*

Recently, there are a number of e-learning related tools written in Python from which we might learn and/or borrow:
- Schooltool
- eclass.net, being built at Tufts (?), a tool for creating learning content, page-based export, etc.
*

Time to look more at SHAME (Standardized Hyper Adaptable Metadata Editor) and SCAM (Standardised Content Archive Management) -- which I learned about from an article from Wilbert Kraan of CETIS: Using SHAME to fill your SCAM. What's interesting about these projects is their use of RDF.
Back in the office today
I'm back in my office now -- and it feels great. Last week, I was at Educause Annual Meeting last Tuesday to Friday, where David, Peter, and I spoke. On Monday and Tuesday, I attended the IMS Quarterly meeting. It's so nice not to be on the road and to have a bit of time to think more clearly. Since I learned a lot and talked to some really great people, it would be really helpful to reflect and write out what I've learned and resolved to do next out of this trip. Alas, there's not too much rest for the wicked this week. On Friday, FredBeshears organized a Learning Design Session where I'll be speaking (for a bit) -- just before the talk Peter Brantley and I will be giving a talk the Information Access (Friday afternoon seminar) run by Michael Buckland and Cliff Lynch at SIMS.
The blurb for our talk:
I'm talking at the eLearning Forum tomorrow

If you are interested in my talk, you can see the agenda and the slides that I will be using. Normally, I'm still editing my slides just before my talk (yes, it's terrible). But because the talks are being webcast, we were supposed to provide our slides beforehand, I complied and wrote them up. I must admit there was a lot of reuse of slides of previous talks (which is supposed to be good, right? -- isn't that what learning objects are all about?....hmmm, I wonder whether there is any software for easily repurposing Powerpoint slides....) But I'm glad because I feel quite relaxed today; if I did not have to turn my slides in, guess what I'd be doing today?
other projects looking at practical interop

From the CetisOrganization site (A recipe for interoperability in practice):

The aim of this interoperability demonstration was to show that interoperability has moved beyond the realm of theory and is now a reality - with tools and systems in use within the UK academic community. Whilst in the past, demonstrations of 'Content Packaging' have used artificial content, it was decided that for this showcase, a proper learning resource would be used. In addition, tools would be used to adapt the content before re-use.

CETIS: Standards in Education Technology

ADL releases new SCORM test suite

One of the strengths of ADL's Sharable Content Reference Model (SCORM) is that the set of integrated e-learning specifications comes with a do-it-yourself test suite. The new version of the suite fixes bugs in the previous versions, so that people can test their SCORM 1.2 e-learning content and tools with more confidence.
More Sakai details revealed and partner programme presented

The Sakai consortium of US universities and the OKI and JASIG standards bodies have revealed more detailed plans for the open source, standard compliant Managed Learning Environment (MLE) that they are building. Most notable is a partner programme by which organisations other than the founding members can join in, and get support- for a fee.
IntraLibrary slots into Australian interoperability research project

The Collaborative Online and Information Services (COLIS) interoperability demonstrator project, now continued as the Interaction of IT Systems and Repositories (IISR) project, is to swap out its existing learning object repository with Intrallect's IntraLibrary.

elearnspace blog

The Whole Picture of Elearning

I have redesigned the elearnspace website - according to the model presented in this short article: The Whole Picture of Elearning. Too often, elearning projects fail (or at minimum, suffer) due to a failure to understand how the pieces all fit together. By focusing on the wrong things (and ignoring others), projects are less effective than desired.

I've added about 20 additional resource pages (and will add more over the next several days) based on interest of readers (and hype in the industry). Inlcuding wikis, RSS, elearning adoption/promotion, semantic web, search, classification, LMS, etc. Look at the site map for more information.

I will be switching the site over to a new server in the next day or two. Unfortunately, some articles and links will be broken (especially from the elearnspace blog - but also to various resource pages).

As always, thoughts/opinions/feedback are welcomed. Please direct them to this post in the new blog.
Enemies of Learning
Enemies of Learning (.pdf) (via thought?horizon): Short paper - says a lot. A few "enemies":
- Our inability to admit that we don't know
- The desire for clarify all the time
- Inability to unlearn
- Lack of trust
Heuristics for Rich Media

Usability Heuristics for Rich Internet Applications
Quote: "Rich Internet Applications offer the benefits of distributed, server-based Internet applications with the rich interface and interaction capabilities of desktop applications..."
Comment: Extends Nielsen's Heuristics for Use to include rich media. Web development is ahead of elearning in design considerations...many lessons can be learned here (without the mistakes!).
Elearning Gains Momentum

Elearning Gains Momentum via TrainingWatch: "Like many sectors spawned from the emergence of the Internet, it has suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous forecasts, but all indications now point to a growing and vibrant sector"
Blogs and wikis

Blogs and Wikis (via EdTechPost). Great use of blogs and wikis for collaborative/personal learning. See this excellent comparison of the characteristics of blogs and wikis: "Blogs and wikis, because they are different spaces, manifest/take advantage of/engage different epistemic and rhetorical possibilities and serve different rhetorical and epistemic ends. They engage different rhetorics: one topical, carved from the inside out; the other chronological, staying on top of things."
Converging KM and elearning

Converging Knowledge Management, Training, and elearning (.pdf)
This paper looks at several obviously converging concepts. Learning is a multi-faceted process...and one aspect is not indicative of the whole. For example, structured, classroom learning does not account for the values of learning through experience...and vice versa. The contradictory characteristics of learning (structured but open, constructive but knowable, personal but communal etc.) are best represented in creating a "whole perspective" view. KM has a role...but so does elearning...and communities...and classroom learning. To assume that learning can be represented/produced by only one approach is to misjudge how learning really happens. This is why the view of an LMS as the center of elearning is so limiting. It's not about one thing...it's about a bricolage.
Adaptive Hypermedia

Adaptive Hypermedia (.ppt) via Stephen Downes
Quote: ìIn Hypermedia every piece of information can be, at the same time, center and periphery, introduction and conclusion, important and unimportant according to the knowledge, interests and navigational choices operated by the user.î
Comment: Not that we've got the whole learning objects thing worked out...but this is a fascinating exploration of adaptive hypermedia (AH)...i.e. personalizing learning. I've stated previously that the greatest value of learning objects is not reusability...but rather the ability to personalize learning for the individual learner - "a qualified user can be provided with more detailed and deep info while a novice can receive additional explanation".
The presentation begins with a discussion of adaptive hypermedia...then explores what and how to adapt...and ends with a review of learning object standards. The concept of AH is still new (at least to me)...but it will be interesting to see if it gains momentum and begins to impact on elearning...or if it's turns into "it was a good idea".
When I think of the related fields of knowledge management, elearning, electronic performance support...the notion of adaptive intelligence fits in (and extends the fields) perfectly - it's a blending of many of the front lines of technology. A quick exploration of the author's homepage presents the field in context: networks, artificial intelligence, intelligent education systems, multimedia, integrated learning environment, collaborative authoring, etc.

LTSN-01 events

Improving Student Learning 2004: Diversity and inclusivity

Papers are invited which address the theme under any of the following headings: 1. Course and programme design 2. Learning and teaching methods 3. Assessment 4. Skills development and lifelong learning 5. Use of Communication and Information Technology (C&IT) 6. Learning environments 7. Supporting learners 8. Implementing and managing change and innovation 9. Institutional strategies 10. Departmental strategies 11. Staff development strategies The closing date for submissions is 31st January, 2004. For more information and a submission form visit the conference website.
11th ottawa world conference on medical education

The Ottawa Conference is a forum for the discussion of matters related to the assessment of clinical competence. In the last years it has enlarged to others aspects of medical education such as problem-based learning, the incorporation of new technologies and professional development among other topics. The 2004 Conference will be held in Barcelona and will begin with the pre-Conference workshops on 4th and 5th July. The International Conference on Medical Education will take place on 6th, 7th and 8th July in the new Congress Center of Catalonia located in one of the best areas of Barcelona. The conference will coincide with the UNESCO Universal Forum of Cultures in Barcelona. This forum has the spirit of the Olympic Games and the great international exhibitions but everything in it revolves around the world[pi]s cultures. Simultaneous translation of the plenary sessions from english into spanish and into french will be provided. The conference will be organised by the Catalan Association of Medical Education. This Association was founded in 1989 and is attached to the Academy of Medical Sciences of Catalonia and the Balearic islands, which has the support of the Institute of Health Studies, an agency of the Government of Catalonia
Online tutoring

A four-week intensive introduction to supporting student learning in online environments Aims This short course aims to: Support the development of your pedagogical and social skills needed to tutor online Help you to exploit the potential of the Internet and particularly, of virtual learning environments, in designing your teaching, learning and assessment Help you reflect on and continue to monitor and develop your teaching practicet Learning outcomes By the end of this course you should be able to: Explain the characteristics of online communication and use strategies for communicating effectively in the online environment Be receptive to the social cues from individuals and groups in the online environment Discuss the application of key educational concepts to designing online learning environments Explain the benefits of using online groups for learning, and use strategies for building and moderating online discussions Access and use a repertoire of online activities including generating online activities from familiar offline tasks Course participants The online tutoring course has been designed for teachers and trainers who are just starting to use technologies in their teaching. Weíve called the course online tutoring to reflect its emphasis on the skills of facilitating communication, interaction and learning in individuals and groups of learners. Here are some examples of the kinds of experiences and needs we expect our course participants to come with: John has been lecturing in further education for 15 years and has always tried to arrange his courses such that they will be appropriate for a range of learners with differing needs. His institution now commonly makes use of the internet as an additional resource for teaching and he now wants to develop other types of learning activities which allow students to follow their own preferred paths. Deenaís institution has a long history of running a small number of specialised courses at a distance. Up until now these have been paper-based and Deena has the job of updating the courses to make effective use of new technologies. Ali has been successfully using email and an email distribution list to keep in touch with the professionals who periodically come to the training centre to take his courses. He has found this a valuable way of maintaining his accessibility to these flexible learners and is now looking for ideas on how to use the distribution list to build knowledge through interaction with tutors and students. Janet is a higher education lecturer who has been using her institutionís virtual learning environment to provide course information for students following her module. Next year she plans to change the module timetable to allow for more online work and fewer face to face large group sessions and wants to practice her skills in moderating online tasks before going live with her students. Learning and teaching activities There is really no other way to learn the skills required of the online tutor than in the online environment. Therefore the course has been designed around notions of experiential learning ñ learning by doing. This means that as a participant, you are expected to play an active part in the course. The course is structured around four main learning activities, each taking about a week. Week 1: Introductions A series of short tasks which guide you through the technical and social skills you will need to participate effectively in the course. We will introduce ourselves in a variety of different ways and reflect on how these tasks help to establish our online identities. As with all the activities, weíll take some time at the end of the week to make explicit the learning processes weíve been through. What did it take to get to know each other online and what are the implications for your own tutoring? Week 2: Working in online groups The second week moves the focus from the individual to the group. Now the cohort is divided into smaller groups to complete a collaborative task. Participants will have the opportunity to take on different roles as the groups research key topics in online group learning and generate guidelines for good practice. Week 3: Designing online learning activities This section of the course gives time for the discussion of how educational concepts can influence the design of online learning environments and activities. With a focus on reviewing and critiquing a set of course resources, participants will design at least one learning activity and receive feedback on their design from the course team. Week 4: Tutoring and moderating Building on our experiences throughout this course, we finish by examining the roles of the online tutor and the strategies tutors might use for dealing with a variety of different, and perhaps difficult, situations which occur in online courses. During the online activities you will be expected to work through some guided readings, record your thoughts, share your work with others in your group, discuss your work and that of other members of your group, analyse and summarise your findings. Each week your role will change a little, some weeks you might be asked to just share your own experiences, in another you could put forward a proposal on behalf of your group, and in another you might take on the role of the group facilitator. This course is highly participative and is designed around frequent opportunities for participants to practice and receive feedback on their developing skills as an online tutor. You will be supported through these scheduled activities by selected key readings, specially developed course resources, a personal tutor and guest experts. The course tutors are all experienced professional developers and skilled online tutors, bringing with them experience from both the education and commercial sectors. The course uses WebCT and you will require access to the Internet for 4-6 hours per week in order to participate. Assessment Currently, the course is not formally assessed or accredited, however we do offer a Certificate of Attendance which confirms that you have participated in each of the courseís main learning activities. Registration The course costs £195
Teaching medical undergraduates to teach

Tomorrowís Doctors recommends that the undergraduate medical curriculum includes opportunities for students to learn about educational principles and to develop a range of teaching and learning techniques. This workshop will bring together individuals who can present their experiences and describe the techniques they have used to help medical undergraduates acquire teaching skills and allow a discussion of how to construct an appropriate curriculum for all students. This workshop will create a curriculum component that fulfills the recommendations of the GMC for students to learn about educational principles and to develop a range of teaching and learning techniques.
'Going public'--- traditional and non-traditional approaches to the scholarship of teaching and learning

This is the first call for proposal abstracts for the 4th International Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL). Conference Theme: 'Going Public'--- traditional and non-traditional approaches to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning The theme for this year's conference stems from Lee Shulman's (1998) ideas. 'A scholarship of teaching will entail a public account of some or all of the full act of teaching --- vision, design, enactment, outcomes, and analysis --- in a manner susceptible to critical review by the teacher's professional peers and amenable to productive employment in future work by members of that same community.' This year's conference will embrace the full range of debates surrounding 'going public.' The theme will feature in the plenary panel sessions and the new author meets reader sessions. We encourage all participants to address the theme whenever possible throughout the conference. Distinctive features of the conference: * Opportunity to disseminate outcomes of works in progress, project reports and learning and teaching grants * Teaching Journal Editors speaking on traditional approaches to 'going public' * Teaching Scholars from Australia, Canada, Europe, South Africa, UK, and US speaking on non-traditional approaches to 'going public' * Authors of new and recent books on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning * Papers, works in progress, project reports, seminars and workshops demonstrating the scholarship of teaching and learning All forms of scholarship are encouraged to be submitted for presentation.
Bridging the gap between new standards and initiatives in elearning

LTSN-01 news

HEFCE publishes response to consultation on CETLs

The Higher Education Funding Council has published the report on consultation responses to Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
Win a £50 book token in the LTSN-01 prize draw

Nominate 5 learning and teaching colleagues to join the LTSN-01 JISCmail list and you will be entered into our prize draw for a £50 book token. Send names and email addresses to enquiries@ltsn-01.ac.uk.
National teaching fellowship scheme 2004

The National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) is part of an overall programme to raise the status of learning and teaching in Higher Education. The Scheme has been revised and expanded for 2004 in conjunction with the HEFCE to incorporate the expansion proposed in the recent White Paper on education. The all new guidelines for nominations can be downloaded from the NTFS website. Closing dates for applications are: 5th March 2004 (experienced staff) and 16th April 2004 ('rising stars' and learning support staff)

Learning Circuits Blog

New news from an old hand

I received a note from a friend at Cisco earlier this week; they've just released two papers based on the latest incarnation of their learning objects strategy: the strategy document
Outsourcing Learning?

I'm interested in hearing opinions from other LC bloggers/readers on the concept of outsourcing learning. Is it an indication of learning/training developing its own identity? Training has typically been the
Neurolearning

elearningpost points to an article on the neural bases of learning which argues that you need emotional connection to learning and serious practice, as opposed to our current verbal approach
The Brave New World of Learning

"Workflow trumps courseware in an emergent new world where the terms and tools are changing--and you need to aborb Web services, super-stack environments, zero latency, and a slew of acronyms.
Certification

A coach of coaches in Australia who had just read my article on informal learning emailed me, inquiring about the role of informal learning in certification. In particular, he asked,

National electronic Library for Health

Book Now for Latest Free Phone-In Learning Session

Professor Paul Glasziou will be speaking on "Applying the results of systematic reviews and trials to individuals" on 15th January. All you need to participate is a telephone and an internet connection.

Object Learning

Good news, and weird news...

After a few days off the net due to some manner of server meltdown, Abject Learning is back, and ready to do some serious damage to our collective intelligence. The weird part is that my previous postings seem to have...
Open-Source Learning Content Management System based on Learning Design Spec

Where's Scott Leslie when you need him? While making random Google passes, Michelle discovered this open source LCMS built in java: PhiTone.LCMS is a Java-based Open-Source Learning Content Management System (LCMS). It is an implementation of the Learning Design Specification....
Why you shouldn't use learning objects, and why you should

I try to submit a monthly piece for a newsletter here at UBC. It's a useful exercise for me to write through my work with a broader audience in mind, and I'm grateful for the forum -- but man, it...
It's slowly coming together...

As I've previously noted in this space, it finally seems as if a substantial quantity of learning objects are now available to instructors. And though the existing collections have never looked so good, I am still not able to point...

autounfocus

OLS/EduCommons Meeting

We've been talking for months about having a meeting to get people with vested interests in Open Learning Support and EduCommons together to talk requirements. We're now ready to hold these meetings and want to do it during the last week of January. However, we want to hear from people before the specific dates are fixed. Would those interested in coming prefer M-W or W-F? Please let me know in the comments below if you intend on coming and what days you prefer. We'll be sending out an agenda and preliminary documents for your plane reading pleasure the week before the meetings. (I wouldn't mind at all if this turned into an Instructional Tech bloggers meeting.)
The snake oil is us

Had to point to this great post over on Learning Circuits: "We are the Problem: We are selling Snake Oil":http://www.internettime.com/lcmt/archives/001014.html. To quote briefly:
We now have ample data to show that: -- Training does not work. -- eLearning does not work. -- Blending Learning does not work. -- Knowledge Management does not work.
Although it will seem uncharacteristic, I'm not sure how I feel about the piece. Some of it must certainly be true... the question is, how much?
Singapore, Faces, Names

Without knowing it was going to happen, I met Maish from "Elearningpost":http://www.elearningpost.com/ at the Learning Objects conference in Singapore yesterday. A very welcome surprise... Who would we hang out with when we travel around the globe if it weren't for people from the blogosphere? Maish wrote a "complimentary summary of my sessions":http://www.elearningpost.com/archives/2003_11.asp#002220 yesterday for those who missed last week's thread on the topic.

[PubSub: "distance education"]