Services : David Davies' Weblog

The URL of this weblog category has changed to:

http://david.davies.name/weblog/categories/services/

The RSS feed is now:

http://david.davies.name/weblog/categories/services/rss.xml

Please update your bookmarks and aggregators.

10:14:43 AM : Permalink : Comments () : Trackback ()

An often overlooked trick that my assetManager tool has up its sleeve is a search interface to Radio UserLand's built-in RSS aggregator.

Back in the good ol' days when web services were trendy I created a web services interface to Radio's aggregator. Passing it a keyword returned a formatted list of all RSS items containing the keyword. This neat trick is invoked using a simple macro:

<%["xmlrpc://127.0.0.1:5335/RPC2"].assetManager.rssSearch ("keyword")%>

where "keyword" is what you want to search for. Add this macro to any weblog post or your weblog template to include a list of found items. You can even use this service to search other people's aggregators (if they allow it). All you need is the IP address of the remote Radio aggregator.

Try adding:

<%["xmlrpc://147.188.66.137:5335/RPC2"].assetManager.rssSearch ("rss")%>

to a new post in your weblog. You should get a list of RSS items from my aggregator matching "rss".

Here's a similar trick using Manila as a front-end to Radio's searchable aggregator.

1:25:58 AM : Permalink : Comments () : Trackback ()

I've updated the assetManager tool to v0.984. Use the Radio application menu Tools -> AssetManager -> Refresh Code... to get the latest version.

What's New

Added some new RPC handlers to give the tool some web service functionality

1. pictureGallery service. Use this to place a selected sub-set of the images in your picture gallery anywhere in your weblog. Pictures are selected by a keyword. If the keyword matches all or part of a picture's filename then it gets included into a mini-gallery. use the service like this:

<%["xmlrpc://127.0.0.1:5335/RPC2"].assetManager.pictureGallery ("keyword")%>

e.g. on my machine <%["xmlrpc://127.0.0.1:5335/RPC2"].assetManager.pictureGallery ("deganwy")%> yields

deganwy2.jpg
deganwy3.jpg
deganwy4.jpg

If you'd like to allow other people to use pictures from your weblog then replace 127.0.0.1 with the IP address of your machine. For example, to include the above pictures in your weblog use:

<%["xmlrpc://147.188.66.137:5335/RPC2"].assetManager.pictureGallery ("deganwy")%>

2. rssSearch service. I like this one. Do you ever feel swamped by all the RSS news items you have in your weblog? Then why not filer them. Or better still, have a list of all the items on the same topic on your weblog. The list updates every time you update your weblog post. This service looks through all your subscribed to news feeds and places those feed items that match a keyword you specify in your weblog.

<%["xmlrpc://127.0.0.1:5335/RPC2"].assetManager.rssSearch ("keyword")%>

On my machine, <%["xmlrpc://127.0.0.1:5335/RPC2"].assetManager.rssSearch ("education")%> yields

Serious Instructional Technology

rdhyee News

Notelets for 2004.01.14

Instructional Technology

Composition This Time

LTSN-01 events

LTSN-01 news

As with the picture gallery service you can allow other people to embed filtered items from your subscribed to news feeds in their weblog by publishing this web service with your IP address rather than the default local address 127.0.0.1. Why might you want to do this? OK, here's an idea. Say you've heard I subscribe to a lot of feeds on healthcare but you're only interested in smokers. You can use this web service to only list items on smoking. Try it now, copy/paste the following into a weblog post of your own:

<%["xmlrpc://147.188.66.137:5335/RPC2"].assetManager.rssSearch ("smokers")%>

12:47:19 AM : Permalink : Comments () : Trackback ()

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

ht://Dig Website Search Engine
We're in the midst of reworking the Learning Commons website, and one of the changes is dropping to static files for most of the site (rather than the dynamically generated site we use now). One major thing we change by doing this is the software to search the site. I've just installed ht://Dig on commons, and it seems to work quite well. I had to compile from source, which I couldn't do on commons itself for some reason (no dev. tools installed on MacOSX Server 10.3?) - I compiled on my TiBook and moved the binaries etc. to commons after...
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

Moving along
Well, this transition is proving to be quite hard work. It doesn't help that I don't have a computer yet! I have this one at home, but my papers and office are elsewhere. It's hard to keep my head wrapped around what I need to do. I'm also still working out what my work patterns are going to be.

Anyway, there are two major projects in my mind. One is a kind of learning object thing (to use the technical term) - creating share-able courses for our system is the best way I can think to describe it. The challenge is getting a coherent vision and concrete production in terms of what that really means. Whilst the explicit context is the course and we've chosen the most popular courses to do this with, we still want to be able to extract modules from those courses. For most of the ones already in progress, our production environment is Blackboard 5.5. That works for faculty to create, but has lots of drawbacks in terms of visibility and reusability.

So somehow we/I have to corral these errant beasts and present them in a consistently usable form. My current thinking is to get them out of Blackboard into a regular content management system where they're more visible and more easily standardized.

I keep looking at Plone and I like it, but it's a little scary. Drupal seems good (see the next part of my post) as does EZPublish. You'll note that all are open source. We may well purchase something big further down the line, but right now, we just need something that works.

The other part of this is the other part of our brief, which is to energize and improve the inter-college communication in the system. I see having a coherent, well-organized, CMS-based presence as a critical part of this. There are other elements - there are currently hardly any inter-college listservs for faculty. Our particular group also needs to work well as a unit, despite being geographically distributed. We need groupware. We need to stop sharing files via e-mail for certain and we need a shared calendar. I'd also like weblogs. Plone has calendaring, etc. and is Section 508 compatible. It doesn't appear to have a solid weblog component though. Drupal does, and isn't Section 508 compatible (can it be made to be?), but it doesn't really have a calendar (as best I can tell). EZpublish does have a calendar, but isn't 508-conformant either (form labels seem to trip everyone up - they are a real pain).

Obviously all suggestions and comments are very welcome. This line of thinking will continue (when I'm less tired).
cogdogblog: The Elephant Flies, Soars (Pachyderm / Learning Object Dialogue Day)
Quote: "The energy was electric yesterday at our system's first introduction to "Pachyderm" at our Pachyderm: Building Meaningful Content with Learning Objects Dialogue Day. The reaction to the potential of Pachyderm and the level of participation in the afternoon activities were beyond our wildest expectations. "

Comment: Exciting indeed. A tool in the hands of faculty that makes building sophisticated learning objects easy.
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.

rdhyee News

Notelets for 2004.02.05
I'm wondering whether a proposal to work on OpenOfficeOrg bibliographics couldn't be pulled together to claim the Python bounties being offered to fund work.
PyXlwriter0: a PythonLanguage library for writing Excel files w/o using COM.

Gates Backs E-Mail Stamp in War on Spam: hmmm....can anyone come up with a system that preserves what I consider great about email: flat rate (zero extra costs to me, once I've paid for infrastructure) while giving me the easy ability to block spam. I guess this view misses the interests of ISPs, which do care about lots of junk flowing through their systems even if I as an end-user manages to filter them away.

The Next Wave: Liberation Technology by JohnUnsworth

I received email about The Partnership in Global Learning: Workshop On E-learning Objects and Systems:
VIPs: Virally Interactive Pixels:
Scott Leslie wrote about PORTOLE.

Any chance that Luke Hutteman will add Atom support to SharpReader? I'm more interested in that support now that Blogger is supporting Atom and my friend Krista's blog is on Blogger. There's a list of Atom enabled client software.
A few reasons why we are interested in OCW
Ever since the OpenCourseWare (OCW) project was announced, I've wanted to find a way to integrate the Scholar's Box with the increasingly rich materials from OCW. The materials are almost ideal for what we are trying to accomplish through SB:
- a non-commerical, bricolage-friendly license for the use of the materials (based on the work of the Creative Commons)
- the puatatively high-quality of the materials since they are from MIT!; the systematic institutional commitment and infrastructure that will make sure that OCW is around for a while
- projects like Open Learning Support that will provide some social support to undergird the community growing around OCW.
We think that there will be interest in a tool that will let users gather/organize the materials in OCW to create new learning materials that they will want to share with others. The Scholar's Box is a tool that we are building to do exactly those tasks. Hence, I've wondered about technical integration issues with OCW. Will there be an interface to OCW that allows for the aggregation and disaggregation of OCW materials? An XML interface that would return the materials in some appropriate XML format? I think that work along these lines are underway -- but it would be obviously very useful for tools like Scholar's Box.

Naturally, the use of Scholar's Box for this purpose would work best in the context of a social learning environment. Should we be working with Open Learning Support? Is OLS going to use one of David Wiley's Instructional Architect for that gathering/creating/sharing purpose?
Open Learning Support meeting today
I'm currently listening to the online meeting on the Open Learning Support project, headed by David Wiley today. The QuickTime stream started at 9am MST/8am PST. (I'll have to drop in and out throughout the day.)

Some of my running notes are on my wiki.
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.

CETIS: Standards in Education Technology

CopperCore to power Learning Design implementations
The Open University of the Netherlands (OUNL) has just released CopperCore: an IMS Learning Design engine, the first of its kind. Rather than provide a complete take-it-or-leave-it Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), the open source package is designed to be integrated into a range of existing e-learning infrastructures.
ADL to make a 'repository SCORM'
Having safely delivered the SCORM 2004 (aka SCORM 1.3) e-learning content format, ADL outlined its plans for the Content Object Repository Discovery and Resolution Architecture (CORDRA) at the first ADL international plugfest in Zürich, Switserland. Like SCORM, the lovely named CORDRA will not be a new specification, but a reference model that combines a number of existing standards and specifications.
Sakai formally announces partnership programme
The standards based, open source Managed Learning Environment (MLE) development project has started its Sakai Educational Partners Programme (SEPP). The programme is run by Jim Farmer of Ja-SIG fame.
W3C releases major Semantic Web building blocks
The ambitious, five year old vision of the Semantic Web is a major step closer following the release of the Resource Description Framework (RDF) and the Ontology Web Language (OWL) as full World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendations. We assess what it is and what it might mean for e-elearning.

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

ePortfolio 2004
While paper-based portfolios have already been used by millions of people across the world, the ePortfolio provides an opportunity to explore new territories that go far beyond 'paperless' portfolio. The ePortfolio has been described as the toolbox for the knowledge worker, the foundations of organisational learning, the interface to communities of practice. New concepts emerge such as the ePortfolio of a course (e.g. linking alumni and teachers ePortfolio) the organisational ePortfolio as well as regions and cities ePortfolios. Call for Papers The conference organisers invite all policy makers, teachers, trainers, education managers, human resource managers, school heads, school administrators, ICT providers, and members of organisations promoting the use of ePortfolio to submit their contribution to the conference.
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.
Optimal teaching and learning: achieving higher education excellence
Our conference theme this year, Optimal Teaching and Learning: Achieving Higher Education Excellence, reflects our common concern for working creatively and effectively with the challenges and constraints that confront educators and administrators in higher education. We hope to stimulate vigorous conversations that will produce practical solutions in relation to pedagogy, faculty training, and other aspects of university life.
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
Learning and teaching conference 2004
Excellence in learning and teaching is a problematic and contested concept, but one to which most would subscribe. Funding bodies, institutions and individuals all aim to provide excellent learning opportunities for students in a supportive and developmental environment. Initiatives like the establishment of Centres of Excellence and the expansion of the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme for England and Northern Ireland look to celebrate and reward excellence as well as providing opportunities for sharing approaches, materials and strategies that embody best practice.
Slice of Life conference on the use of multimedia and new technologies in health sciences education.
An annual conference at which medical and health science educators and developers gather from around the world to explore and share the uses of multimedia and information technology in medical education. The focus is on cutting edge developments, implementation of courseware, eLearning, web enhanced curricula, wireless mobile computing, graphic design, animation and digital video. Curricular integration, sharing and evaluation are central themes. Think of the many ways you can contribute and learn! View the complete conference program...coming soon!

LTSN-01 news

Tutoring Online (National Extension College)
If you want to develop your skills as a tutor/teacher to support your students by being able to teach online, the National Extension College's (NEC) popular Tutoring Online course can help you! Tutoring Online supports the transfer of your skills from a traditional to an online environment in just 13 weeks, and leads to a City & Guilds On-line Tutoring Certificate (7516) upon successful completion of the course. Study the Tutoring Online course using the NEC Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) by submitting assignments and talking to other students - experience and learn how to work with a VLE. Enrolments are now closing for the next course of Tutoring Online, which starts in February. So hurry and book a place, and don't miss out on this excellent opportunity to become a fully qualified online tutor. Brian Starling, recently completed Tutoring Online. He calls it, "...the most stimulating course I've undertaken" "I would have no worries about recommending this course to anyone: teacher, tutor, lecturer, or trainer. The course materials are excellent and the value for money offered by the course is amazing...... it encourages you to revisit and review old skills and bring them bang up-to-date."
The Higher Education Academy appoints its first Chief Executive
The Higher Education Academy is delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Paul Ramsden as its first Chief Executive. Professor Ramsden is currently Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) at the University of Sydney, Australia. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Education, University of London. He will be taking up his new post in York in August.
Eduserv research fellow in collaborative eLearning
The Universities' Collaboration in eLearning (UCeL) is seeking to appoint an Eduserv Research Fellow in Collaborative eLearning. Based in Cambridge, this will be a three-year, fixed-term appointment at Research Associate grade commencing in April 2004 or as soon as possible thereafter. It is funded by the Eduserv Foundation as part of its commitment to the successful application of IT in education. Closing date: 20 February 2004.
Call for CETL proposals (HEFCE)
The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) is inviting universities and colleges in England to bid for funding to set up Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETLs). The CETLs will reward and invest in excellent teaching practice to benefit students and staff. Around £315 million will be available between 2004-05 and 2008-09 including £140 million for capital. HEFCE expects that more than 70 CETLs will be established, some at single institutions, and some based on collaborations between two or more universities or colleges. Bids are invited from all HEFCE-funded higher education institutions, and further education colleges with more than 500 full-time equivalent HEFCE-funded students. Each CETL will have a distinct focus reflecting its track record of successful student learning. This may be subject-based, involve learning in the workplace, learning at a distance, or enabling students to learn effectively in their first, final or postgraduate years. CETLs will bestow recognition and distinction on their teachers, help to enthuse learners, provide high quality learning facilities, and stimulate development and change in teaching and learning. Dr Liz Beaty, HEFCE Director for Learning and Teaching, said: 'We believe that universities and colleges will draw on their wide knowledge and experience to design creative and diverse proposals for CETLs. These will help to ensure that innovative and exciting centres have a lasting impact on teaching and learning to the benefit of staff and students.' Role of the HE Academy The new HE Academy will be a key factor in ensuring the success of the CETL initiative. The Academy will support the development and activities of CETLs through workshops and advice during the bidding process, and by promoting collaboration and dissemination of good practice after the CETLs have been set up. For more information on how to apply go to our funding opportunities page..
Interactive educational programmes for healthcare professionals and those allied to healthcare
The London Deanery has been involved in the development of several e-line learning programmes, mainly around generic professional skills. The packages are largely aimed at an interprofessional healthcare audience, although there is a heavy medical focus. These packages are now available from Healthcare Skills website.
NHSU announces results of call for academic partnerships
The NHSU has announced the result of its national call for collaboration in August 2003 to which 80 universities responded. The University of Warwick will be its principal national academic partner, together with 11 further regional academic partners, working mainly in consortia. These partners will assist with and contribute to NHSUís aim of transforming learning within health and social care. The other lead partners are Kingís College London; University of Leeds; Liverpool John Moores University; Sheffield Hallam University; University of Birmingham; University of Central Lancashire; Higher Education Regional Development Association (HERDA) in the South West; University of Hull and University of York; Middlesex University; Northumbria University and the University of Warwick.

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
Prof Trish Greenhalgh will be speaking on "How to spread good ideas for service improvement: results of a systematic literature review" on 11th March. All you need to participate is a telephone and an internet connection.
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

Yahoo! now serves up an RSS Directory
Yahoo! has ditched Google as its search engine for one of its own, and it has a promising new feature. This search for “Object Learning”… … turns up a “View as XML” link to this site’s RSS feed. Via the The Shifted Librarian....
Open source in education - wiki on wikis
Alan turned me on to an intriguing event hosted by the Open Space Institute (US): We are building an interactive database on Open Space applications in education. While the wiki space is already open and waiting for your stories, the weekend of February 14-15, 2004 is intended to be another focused time for our real time interaction. Will you help the Community create an archive of case studies/ stories/experiences involving Open Space and education? Our objectives are twofold: Improve our practice as facilitators by learning from the experience of others who have used OST in education. Create a rich resource for future sponsors to visit and understand the benefits of using Open Space in education. Our dedicated wiki can be accessed by directing your web browser to: OpenSpaceinEducation :: (More information) I hope I can get it together to throw some verbiage onto the site over the next couple days, as I won’t be able to take part in the event this weekend. I’ll be busy para-sailing, racing my top-fuel funny car, and launching the spring collection of my personal line of golf shirts, Lamb on the Links — all proceeds to my favorite charity, the name of which I cannot disclose at this time due to pending litigation. I’ll also have to make time for at least one full-on red-faced foot-stomping shrill-shrieking temper tantrum, and then stare off into space in full-blown catatonia for hours and hours....
An anonymous post found on the the UBC wiki
I stumbled on this meditation on wikis and instruction with the random page link: To me the Wiki makes teaching and learning collaborative not only as a process but as the product as well. It makes teachers out of the students and conversely students out of the teachers. It creates a shift toward project based learning and process oriented pedagogies. It allows for the teaching of writing rules, style and voice through the production of the project and not in some isolated unrelated way. Finally it promotes distributed intelligence such that each author/contributor to the wiki adds or creates his or her particular strengths to the writing. Once again this is a case where the technology will force educators to reinvent how they can best incorporate the wiki into their program and evaluate students’ use of this technology in a meaningful way. The possibilites lying within the idea of the wiki makes me think that in fact this form of collaboration is a very core traditional experience for many groups. It seems to me that the way a family might work together in a household or, for example, on a farm is similar to the way a group might co-construct a wiki; each person working somewhat independently but very much towards one particular goal or outcome (ie. a farming family’s harvest.) Just as with a wiki the members of the family might build onto the work that another member has completed. And in that spirit, I went in and corrected a few typos… I gather by the data this is someone posting from a computer hosted by UBC’s Faculty of Education. This person obviously grooves on the anonymity of the form, noting “It’s not just that wikis are writing without having student’s name neatly at the top of the paper, it’s that they seem to be about exploding the world in which we each sit at our desk (at school or at work) and express what we know for someone to evaluate or learn from.”...
User-selectable RSS Feeds
Auricle, the weblog of the eLearning@bath team, has a nifty layout that allows readers to select what RSS feed they would like displayed in the right-hand column. As Derek Morrison suggests, "there are some exciting possibilities, e.g. selecting what information about a bank of learning objects should be displayed."...
Finding and reusing digital learning resources...
I just finished a faculty workshop on finding and reusing digital learning resources, as part of a seminar series held by UBC's Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth. For this workshop I tried to dispense with learning object talk, and concentrated on the collections of resources out there... I wanted to get some sense of whether these collections have indeed matured to the point where they are of use to the typical university instructor. I am still buzzing a bit, and haven't combed through the participants' wiki pages yet for feedback, but the evaluation forms I received back look OK... and most people said they had found at least one or two useful resources. (There also seemed to be genuine interest in RSS, weblogs, and wikis.) The next time I do this workshop it will be much better, the first time is always a bit of a struggle. But I offer thanks to the participants -- they were great!...
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 melted into a shapeless mass of text. I suspect it's because the Textile plug-in that had been in use has disappeared. I kind of like the new amorphous layout of words. It resists the tyrannies of structure and readability -- which is in keeping with the philosophy and conceptual work that lies beneath this site. In any event I'm far too lazy to go through all my postings and rework them unless absolutely required. So apologies for the mess, hopefully it's a passing fad....

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.)

5:09:18 PM : Permalink : Comments () : Trackback ()

Hmm, what do you make of this? Paste the following into a weblog post:

<%["xmlrpc://medweb3.bham.ac.uk/RPC2"].mcq.service.get ("1")%>

12:46:56 AM : Permalink : Comments () : Trackback ()

There's a toy for anyone to play with in my instant outline (subscribe via the big OPML coffee mug at left). Right-click on anything in Radio such as a name in your Buddies list or an outline heading in your instant outline and you can choose to search for the selected text using Google. The results pop-up as an RSS file in a new outline in your copy of Radio.

Google to RSS in Radio. A picture speaks a thousand words...

12:59:10 AM : Permalink : Comments () : Trackback ()

This Manila web site:

http://medweb5.bham.ac.uk/radiodiscuss/

is linked to my Radio instant outline. I can right-click to add any text in anyone's instant outline to the Manila site's home page and readers of my outline can post new discussion messages via Radio.

I think that's pretty neat. The simple scripts that do this are yours for the taking in my outline.

11:59:44 PM : Permalink : Comments () : Trackback ()

		A. increases from the trachea to the alveoli as total surface area increases.
		B. increases from the trachea to the alveoli as total surface area decreases
		C. decreases from the trachea to the alveoli as total surface area increases
		D. decreases from the trachea to the alveoli as total surface area decreases