March 2008
80 posts
Teenagers as “Teamagers”…What do You Think? →
Tom Austin, a researcher for Gartner, is interviewed in Fast Company this month and makes some interesting points about the value that businesses can find in implementing and using social tools in…
Reputation and Transparency →
I’ve referred to my blogging as a permanent presence on the Web and have encouraged would-be bloggers to first get a permanent domain name. My site is where anyone can find out most things about me,…
Tweaking Twitter →
I’m not following all that many people on Twitter, I know, but even with the ones I do follow there are upwards of 300 “Tweets” a day, far too many for me to get to in most cases. I like following…
Teachers Walking Out? Students Got it Covered. →
So what do you do if you are a student in Nashua, NH and along with your community, you’re staring a teacher walkout in the face?
Well, you put together a whole slew of Read/Write Web tools and…
Safer Children in a Digital World →
Growing concerns about how safe our children are online are increasingly reflected in discussion, policies, and politics. Last week, during a parent-teacher meeting, we received a booklet on…
Mobile Learning Presentation →
A few months ago, after seeing his Disruptive Mobile Learning presentation on slideshare, I asked Mike Sharples if he would be willing to deliver a similar presentation online. He agreed, so…
End of an era →
The debate on the elimination of early French immersion will continue, but the NB Liberal government has drawn a line in the sand and is moving ahead with its one-size-fits-all approach to fix its…
Designing with failure in mind →
Failure is a valuable experience. We learn more when things don’t go right than we learn when everything goes as planned. Unfortunately, the concept of failure has negative connotations. We find it…
“Social Filters” →
Great article in the New York Times that asserts the Clay Shirky idea I noted here earlier of a publish then filter world.
According to interviews and recent surveys, younger voters tend to be…
Starting Point for Schools: Articulation →
Yesterday I had the pleasure of spending four hours in Elluminate with Sheryl and a dozen or so of the schools that we’re working with from the Southeastern states for PLP holding a “work…
When information and interaction change →
I delivered a presentation today to the Canadian Defense Academy titled “When information and interaction change”. Slides are here…audio of the session is available here. My main emphasis in…
Why Everything in Medicine Is Connected →
Why Everything in Medicine Is Connected: “But social networking is about more than just friends reunited; it’s a framework for understanding even the most basic of biological processes…In its…
Protesting the Abolition of EFI →
I’m heading off to Fredericton tomorrow to protest against the abolition of early French immersion (EFI) at the Provincial Legislature. I’ll be joining hundreds of other concerned citizens to show…
Conference 2.0 →
What a lovely day. We have (yet) another 2.0 term: Conference 2.0. When we were working on our conference article for EDUCAUSE, I had one driving desire (well, I had several, primary of which…
The Authentic Enterprise →
Just read an article on The Authentic Enterprise (.pdf). Ignoring for a moment that the term “authentic” is no longer very authentic and is therefore largely meaningless, the report presents an…
The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It →
I had the great pleasure of listening to Jonathan Zittrain the two years that I attended I-Law at Harvard (an event that unfortunately is no longer being held.) Going back and reading this…
Costs of open source and proprietary LCMS/LMS →
David Bahn at Metropolitan State University of Minnesota asked me last week if I had any information about implementation and maintenance costs of open source versus proprietary learning systems. I…
Learning at Work →
Note: This is part of a blog carnival hosted at Dave’s Whiteboard
This post repeats some themes that regular readers have seen over the past few years, but I’m finding that there is still a…
The Digital Divide Continues →
The New York Times reports that Hopes for Wireless Cities Fade as Internet Providers Pull Out and that is not good news for the kids most affected. Basically, because of Earthlink’s problems,…
From cottage industry to international... →
It’s a few years from now and you’re sitting in your office in an old Victorian building in your new position of Dean of Students. You thought that this would be the perfect job in a small…
Universal Learning Care →
Take 53 seconds to watch this snippet from Stephen Heppel via Greg Whitby.
Hard to pack more thinkable ideas into that short a time. But the one I love is the idea that we…
Here Comes Everybody →
Finished Clay Shirky’s “Here Comes Everybody” yesterday and it’s now on the top of my list in terms of books that explain the state of the world in a cogent, balanced, even-tempered way. It’s…
Information growth →
In case you were not aware, I will provide you with an important insight: there is a lot of information out there. And it’s growing. Faster. It is difficult to get a clear grasp of the amount of…
Future directions of learning management systems →
Elliot Masie interviews CEOs from numerous learning systems corporation (the term “management” appears to be missing). The interviews provide insight into how corporate leaders see learning…
Twitter, Twitter, Twitter →
I didn’t understand Twitter at first. It seemed, at best, to be a colossal waste of time. I already had several blogs, social networking profiles, flickr account, etc. What more did I need? And,…
Pan Canadian Research Agenda →
Terry Anderson has posted information on a Pan Canadian Research Agenda. It’s an important document in order to reclaim the ground Canada has lost to other countries in elearning. We’re trying to…
BigViz →
So it only costs about 6K to register for the TED conference. But the event gives much back for free - like the oft cited TED Talks. Well, here’s a new approach to conference summaries:…
Ridiculously easy group-forming →
The title of this post comes from a quote by Seb Paquet in the book Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky. This book is situated somewhere between the simplicity of Wikinomics and the complexity…
On curriculum →
Gilbert asked how I defined curriculum in my last post. There are many definitions, but I specifically meant curriculum as the pre-determined set of subjects, objectives, tests and lessons that…
A trip down memory lane... →
Some neat videos/images/discussion on the history of learning technologies and the internet: Scanned images of a 1962 text on how technology might influence learning Newsweek in 1995: The…
Dispatches From the Front Lines #324 →
“So, are you the principal here?”
“Yep.”
“How many kids?”
“About 1,300 K-12.”
“Wow. That’s a mix.”
She smiles.
“So how much technology do you have?”
“Quite a bit actually, but it’s been…
An Education President →
Like him or not, what Barack Obama did yesterday, in my opinion at least, epitomizes what we need our next president to be, namely a teacher. Agree with him or not, can there be any doubt that…
The bully of curriculum raises its head once again →
As I listen to comments on the Liberal government’s decision to axe early French immersion (EFI) in New Brunswick, I’m reminded once again that we have become so accustomed to the ground of…
Toward minimally cohesive utterances →
The quality of French by anglophones in this province will quickly slide to “minimally cohesive utterances” if the Minister of Education, Kelly Lamrock, has his way and abolishes Early French…
Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight →
Amazing.
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On “Infovores” and “Infofighters” →
My aggregator is piling up and I’m in one of those “no-time-to-read-my-feeds” stretches, especially when I get a new book in my hands that really makes me think. Clay Shirky’s “Here Comes…
Business social networks →
Social networks are everywhere and the “monetization” word is becoming part of the discussion, as this recent RWW post shows. I’ve used several of these networks, such as Spoke which I haven’t…
Emerging Technologies →
Technology Review provides its list of emerging technologies. Many are outside of my scope of interest - i.e. hard to define use for in academic roles. A few do stick out, however: modeling…
7 sins of memory →
Memory is fallible. We all know that. Conversations with friends/family often yield dramatically different results. And yet, somehow, we still manage to communicate. PsyBlog has compiled a list…
On 130+ Comments →
I’m not sure exactly what it means, if anything, but I just want to reflect for a second or two on my post about 21st Century Skills for Teachers and the 130 comments and trackbacks that…
Learning from others →
While the Minister of Education in New Brunswick tinkers with the school system and abolishes Early French Immersion, the Finns are quietly ensuring a high quality education system for all. Via …
“Monetization is an ugly word” →
At EdgeGeneration, Umair says that “monetization is an ugly word”:
Let’s put that a little more formally. Monetization is ugly because it blinds us to the truth that value must flow in many…
Downes Presentations →
I’m a bit behind in listening to Stephen Downes’ presentations - here are a few recent sessions: Learning 2050 (audio) - good discussion of the importance of everyone contributing to the…
Peer Review via Blogs? →
I’ve posted before on the unfortunately narrow view some (Latin for “most”) educators have of peer review (and the accompanying angst of non-traditional peer review). While expert, blind peer…
So what do they do at school? →
This afternoon the router wasn’t working and both boys (Grade 8 and 10) had a short-lived panic episode, as they needed to get on the Net to do some schoolwork; assigned today and due tomorrow. Of…
More than 100 Free Places to Learn Online - and... →
Great resource, providing a sampling of how much learning material is available for informal and formal learning: More than 100 Free Places to Learn Online - and Counting
New technology: speaking without, well, speaking →
Techchrunch linked to this interesting innovation on speaking without voice. My first reaction - that can’t be real. But, it comes from a fairly reputable source, we’re a few weeks away from…
Conferences Connections: Rewiring the Circuit →
Conferences are changing rapidly…a few years ago I was struggling to get wireless access at a conference, and now Twitter, Second Life, blogs, wikis, and podcasts abound. The keynote is not king….
More Higher Ed Myths →
Daniel Lemire, researcher and someone who knows more math than I can imagine, debunks the common knowledge view that you need to go to a quality university to get a quality education:
More…
Students Pay a Price (Literally) for Cell Phone... →
Yesterday, I had the real pleasure of spending some time in a 9th English classroom again, this time with a group of students from an under achieving, 3,000 pupil high school in midtown…
