Improving Asynchronous Discussions with Critical Thinking Strategies.

Strategies for Using Critical Thinking in Asynchronous Discussions - Greg Walker, Instructional Technology and Distance Learning. Asynchronous discussions can be improved with the use of critical thinking strategies. Information needs to be clearly stated for learners to critically reflect upon, and review, at their own pace. Pre-established guidelines are needed to shape the use of [Online Learning Update]

9:54:20 AM    

Definitions and disagreements.

From Scoble:

The podcasting vs videoblogging debate goes on....

Oh, great, Adam Curry called my video a podcast. Heh. Won't stop me. I call what I do a video blog.

Does he have knowledge of a video iPod? Hmmm.

On the other hand, Dave Winer says that podcasting is MP3 audio files only.

Yet another place these two gurus disagree. Will this argument ever go away?

9:36:45 AM    

iTunes traffic levels level servers.

Apple's influence on podcasting felt around the net.

Geek News Central is reporting that Apple's new iTunes is taking down servers due to the new traffic levels. Hmmm, did podcasting get too popular too fast without having a business model behind it to support a huge wave of new traffic?

[Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger]

UPDATE: Danny Ayers on the probable causes of the meltdown.

9:20:28 PM    

The Internet Sales Tax is here.

If you sell goods or services on the Web (products, e-Learning, whatever), pay attention to this article in The Washington Post. The eighteen states involved in the network are Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia, New Jersey, Arkansas, North Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming. You can bet that any other states that aren't already collecting sales taxes on internet sales originating within their borders will be joining the network soon. Currently the network states are "encouraging" online vendors to participate voluntarily but as soon as Congress authorizes online taxes participation will be mandatory.

I predict this will be a large problem for small entrepreneurs. I wonder how the states will collect taxes on sales made by companies outside the U.S., and whether this may not lead to one more business opportunity moving offshore.

States Move Forward on Internet Sales Tax . Tax officials, state lawmakers and industry representatives agreed Thursday to establish an 18-state network for collecting taxes on Internet sales, a compact they hope will encourage online retailers and Congress to endorse a mandatory national program. By Brian Krebs. [Technology - Industry News, Policy, and Reviews]

9:16:07 PM    

Happy Canada Day! Happy U.S. Independence Day!

See you all on Tuesday ... drive carefully, hear?

Bill

2:51:13 PM    

Building our understanding of learning in the age of technology.

"The effects of new teaching technologies in terms of a long–standing struggle between two views of knowledge: knowledge as performance and knowledge as thing."

Teaching as performance in the electronic classroom - Doug Brent, First Monday. [Online Learning Update]

11:59:21 AM    

Is distance education inferior?

Situating the Zone of Proximal Development - George E. Marsh II and John J. Ketterer, Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration. Social constructivist theory has advanced the notion that distance education is inferior, because effective learning is thought to require immersion in a cognitive apprenticeship under the guidance of a mentor. [Online Learning Update]

11:55:09 AM    

Weblogs being used for stealth advertising.

Another entry in the Really Bad Idea category. Some serious ethical issues are involved here, especially for webloggers who don't reveal that they are being paid for product placement mentions.

From The Boston Globe:

"With a growing number of businesses using blogs to help promote their products, sometimes in ways that are not very transparent, it is increasingly difficult to discern who or what is behind a blogger's pitch, be it for a museum exhibit or flower company." [Boston Globe]

11:47:45 AM    

Apple and podcasting.

Apple Takes Podcasts Mainstream with Million Signups. Apple said subscriptions from the new iTunes Podcast Directory surpassed the 1 million mark within two days of being offered as part of iTunes version 4.9, released Tuesday, according to TechWeb... [MarketingVOX - The Voice of Online Marketing]

Dave Winer had some comments about Apple's format, too. [Scripting News]

11:39:49 AM    

Advertisers and podcasting.

Entrepreneurs who want to use podcasts as a means of raising awareness and interest might pay attention to what the advertisers, and to which approaches work and which ones bomb. In general, I would guess that giving content away might work best for most entrepreneurs, but the advertisers are going to set the pace for "production values."

From MarketingVOX --

From Cars to Cat Food - Advertisers Giving Podcasts a Try. Car and pet-food marketers are kicking the podcast tires and beginning to scratch the surface of what the new medium might have to offer, write AdAge and ClickZ, reporting on new campaigns making use... [MarketingVOX - The Voice of Online Marketing]

11:38:04 AM    

Best practices rarely are.

Perhaps it's about time someone said this out loud and in public ...

The Worst Thing About Best Practices.

Here's a list of reasons to why you should not adopt 'best practices':

10:51:57 PM    

The Future of Work.

Future Tense explores how the modern work “place” is evolving and adapting to new trends, technologies, and economic factors.

2:14:44 PM    

San Jose State forbids staff member from podcasting to students.

This makes no sense. More when I find out more. [Ryan Sholin's J-School Blog]

1:57:35 PM    

What can software engineers teach eLearning developers?

Superficially, Color Modeling may look like using Post-It Notes (TM) on a whiteboard to do needs assessment. But it goes far beyond that. If you don't know what color modeling is, or simply want an online reference to all the best material, this article will give you what you need to get started. [AgileManagement]

1:48:12 PM    

Smart antennas and mLearning.

Dealing with one of the key constraints on growth in this area. [Computerworld]

1:37:20 PM    

How successful eLearners and entrepreneurs are alike.

Success in online learning is related to seeking out and capitalizing on opportunities, and on marshalling resources to achieve goals. This paper says entrepreneurial skills will become more and more important to the 21st century learner, cast adrift in a sea of information. [via Online Learning Update]

1:28:12 PM    

Virtual Collaboration Tools.

Chat, IM, Web and video conferencing tools and their use in eLearning. [via Online Learning Update]

1:21:45 PM    

Long term attrition and learning styles.

Do learning styles matter in eLearning? Maybe not, says the latest research.

"The overall comparison of graduation rate (38%) by learning style was not statistically significant ..." [via Online Learning Update]

1:15:59 PM    

Communities of Practice.

(Quoting George Siemens, quoting Stephen Downes.)

Interview - Etienne Wenger on Communities of Practice.

A really nice set of video interviews on the increased social nature of learning in contrast with the "industrial model": Interview - Etienne Wenger on Communities of Practice (via Stephen)

1:08:05 PM    

Case study: Moving from instructor-led to blended learning.

Great case study and lessons learned.

"There seems to be reluctance in transitioning instructor-led training (ILT) to a blended learning format. This may be due to resistance on the part of the organization or training department to change existing classroom session formats. Another reason I believe is more prevalent is not knowing how. The case study below is an example of how our training department made a very successful transition prior to knowing what blended learning meant. " [LTI Magazine] 

1:05:16 PM    

Personal digital libraries.

Relate these comments by George Siemens to my earlier post on Microsoft's desktop search APIs.

"Many issues arise from this more informal and increasingly empowered landscape of personal collection, dissemination, and digital memory, which will have major future impacts." [elearnspace]

1:00:31 PM    

Keeping an eye on Palm.

PalmSource may potentially be a critical player in mLearning, so I'm keeping track of developments there.

Late addition: Also see "As the Palm Turns."

12:43:38 PM    

Wall Street Journal reports on podcasting.

This technology is taking off fast, although many people either "don't get it" or get it wrong. Even Apple's implementation has some shortcomings.

"The premise behind podcasts is that they let consumers listen to audio programs when they want to, rather than when broadcasters schedule them. ... For now, podcasts are generating more grassroots excitement than profits. More than six million American adults say they have downloaded and listened to podcasts ... Still, few podcasters are selling advertisements, much less charging subscription fees for their content. The more commercial podcasts become, the more likelihood that they may come to resemble aspects of radio that turn off some consumers."

[WSJ]

12:33:05 PM    

Investing in "the online conversation."

Dave Winer says:

"John Palfrey, executive director at Berkman Center (where I used to work), announces a new venture capital fund that focuses on investments in "tagging, RSS, OPML, search, social software, and related next-gen standards." According to Jim Moore, another former colleague of mine and JP's partner, they have raised $20 million from Ritchey Capital, and plan to raise another $80 million."  [Scripting News]

12:25:45 PM    

Windows Desktop Search

Microsoft released APIs (in beta) to facilitate desktop search beyond the browser. As hard drives increase in size and drop in price, expect this to become significant in eLearning applications, especially in "workflow learning."

[CNET]

12:20:43 PM    

Using RSS to deliver malware.

Watch out when Longhorn arrives, according to this article. Comment spam may turn out to be the least of our worries.

"Richard Stiennon, director of threat research at anti-spyware company Webroot Software Inc., has long predicted that RSS will be used to serve up malicious code. 'It's not yet a big target, but once RSS usage becomes as widespread as e-mail or instant messaging, the hackers will find a way to use it to distribute malware,' Stiennon said in a recent interview with Ziff Davis Internet News."

[eWeek News]

Update: Microsoft ready to discuss RSS Security [ComputerWorld]

12:07:59 PM    

India as outsourcing destination: Not a sure bet.

How far will India's tech juggernaut go?. Having already built a huge successful business on outsourced services, India now has ambitions of becoming an international powerhouse in all forms of technology. Will it become a signficant threat to other technology leaders, such as China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and even the United States? [CNET News.com]

9:53:53 AM    

Formative evaluation: Midcourse feedback procedure.

Implementing a Midcourse Feedback Procedure in the Online Learning Environment - Kelly Bruning, Instructional Technology and Distance Learning. Research indicates that formative evaluation tools serve as a justifiable assessment tool that allows for honest student feedback and an opportunity for the instructor to redirect the class based upon that feedback while also nurturing the learning. [Online Learning Update]

9:50:17 AM    

Asynchronous Learning Network (ALN).

Asnyncrhronous Learning Network (ALN) WebCenter.

"Sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, this research program aims to increase the quality, quantity, and dissemination of results of research on the effectiveness of Asynchronous Learning Network (ALN)" 
          

9:47:21 AM    

Incoming college students are already blogging.

Gnomedex Does "Blogs in the Classroom". [T]he even bigger news was that there was a presentation on "Blogs in the Classroom" as well! Kathy Gill at the University of Washington gave it, and she gave some surprising stats about the blog knowledge of her incoming students: 89% had sipped the blog juice in one form or another, but only 7% had even heard of Flickr. Sheesh.

[Weblogg-ed News]

9:45:09 AM    

WebEx Automatic Record Retention.

WebEx unveils compliance package.

At the collaborative Technologies Conference last week, WebEx Communications introduced a Web conferencing application designed to record and archive all meeting content in accordance with compliance requirements for financial services companies.

WebEx Automatic Record Retention records presentation content, audio, video, and chat logs automatically and creates searchable indexes of meeting data. In addition, the stored content is automatically transferred to a company’s off-site storage system.

9:42:04 AM    

Microsoft giving a major boost to syndication.

Brent Simmons: "Will Microsoft's support of RSS help make syndication more and more popular? Yes indeed, and that's a good thing." [Scripting News]

9:40:15 AM    

State sales taxes coming to e-commerce.

Days of Tax-Free Online Sales May Be Numbered. A recent court decision, along with other efforts by state tax collectors to focus on Internet sales, could signal that the era of tax-free online sales is nearing an end. By BOB TEDESCHI. [NYT > Technology]

9:37:23 AM    

More reaction to Microsoft RSS announcement.

Microsoft's RSS announcements continue getting reactions.

My comments are down again. Sorry.

The reaction to MS's RSS announcements continue to roil the Internet:

Marc Canter (the guy who started Macromedia): "Incredible things happened!"

Marc, I agree, but the credit doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the RSS team who coded this stuff. I hate it when other people get credit for the work I did late at night. This team has been busting their behinds to get this done. They rock in my book.

Steve Rubel is asking "what default RSS feeds will IE7 and Longhorn carry?" Excellent question. Not mine for one. I'm not broad enough. I vote for the New York Times. They are the big journalism name that first supported RSS.

WeBreakStuff joins the crew who think Microsoft messed up: Why Microsoft is wrong about RSS.

Brent Simmons (the guy who wrote the best Macintosh-based RSS aggregator): Fun at Gnomedex. "Will Microsoft’s support of RSS help make syndication more and more popular? Yes indeed, and that’s a good thing, and so I’m glad."

Rick Segal answers back the Head Lemur with a long post. "I'm either a disgruntled X employee or a kool-aid drinking shill depending on how you read this."

Bill de hÓra: Expect better.

9:36:14 AM    

Predicting success as an online undergraduate learner.

Individual Student Characteristics: Can Any Be Predictors Of Success In Online Classes? - Amy Wojciechowski, Online Journal of Distance Learning Admin. This study examined various student characteristics to determine their relationship to success in an online undergraduate business course at a community college. All students who had taken this online course during a three-year period of time were include [Online Learning Update]

4:52:44 PM    

Last post of the day on Microsoft and RSS and Gnomedex.

Adam Curry does 200th Daily Source Code as his keynote and rocks the house.

A note to Adam Curry: I'm honored to know you. I loved your keynote (the 200th Daily Source Code!) tonight. Can't wait to see what you do next, even if it is for Steve Jobs. :-)

His site might be a little slow. Everyone and their brother is trying to download right now.

Longhorn Team RSS Blog: Our welcome from (and to) the community.

Vic Gundotra: I'm a huge believer in RSS. Vic was involved in a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff (he's my boss's boss's boss and is a huge influencer on Microsoft's strategy).

Well, the red couch is back home (just got delivered). I'm back to Seattle. We're having a bar crawl, starting at the Zig Zag bar at about 10 p.m.

Note to Steve Gillmor: I'm paying attention. It took several years to bring RSS to Microsoft. Work is already underway on getting, um, other things into Microsoft.

4:51:20 PM    

Another view of the MS RSS announcement.

Attention? Let’s have it!. Steve Gillmor laments the negative reception being given attention.xml by the big players/loud voices: If the tree falls and no one’s listening. I’m not sure the place to look is the monoliths. They’re currently focussed on catching up with and monetizing 5-year-old innovations. I’ve various doubts about the kind of implementation that’s ... [Raw]

4:50:12 PM    

Wiki page for MS RSS extensions.

Community process place for new RSS extensions.

Yesterday someone asked something like "how can I give Microsoft feedback about the new RSS extensions?" I yelled out "Channel 9 has a wiki." And, sure enough, today, someone has created a wiki page for the extensions. Go to town, we're watching!

4:49:01 PM    

Reactions to MS RSS announcement (some repetition here).

More reactions on Microsoft's RSS announcements.

Here's a bunch more feedback about the RSS announcements made yesterday:

Phil Ringalda: MS Embraces RSS. "Simple List Extensions: ouch. That crunching sound you heard was me getting bit on the butt, hard."

Dave Winer: Quick postscript on Microsoft Announcement. "I think Microsoft ought to read the feedback carefully, in Phil's post and what shows up elsewhere, and come up with a simpler way to do what they want to do. I think it's quite possible to do that."

Danny Ayers: MS RSS. Danny has a LOT of reactions. Worth reading.

Dare Obasanjo, who was on stage at Gnomedex yesterday, has a good summary.

InfoWorld: Microsoft decision to ship Longhorn with RSS draws applause.

Doc Searls: A bump, a fork or a widening of the RSS road?

Between the Lines blog on ZDNet: Death knell to Atom? Birth of an 'open' era for Microsoft?

Tao of Mac: Sunny Saturday. "The general tone of technical news these past few months shows that hypocrisy is rampant regarding obvious ideas - if Linux does something it's good, if Apple does it it's übercool, but if Microsoft catches on then they're evil - plus, of course, some obscure idiot tries to patent it and sue everybody."

Sam Ruby: Simple List Questions.

Eric Freeman, on O'Reilly: Longhorn loves RSS. "If you're scratching your hand thinking "so what? I can do all this on my Mac now," you'd be in sync with most of the audience. That said, there is a bit more to the story: what Microsoft has done is essentially build an RSS aggregator into the OS and expose API's that any application can make use of to produce or consume RSS. That's a little more interesting (and perhaps would have made for a more interesting talk and discussion)."

Richard MacManus: Microsoft Embraces and Extends RSS. "My initial impression is that this is indeed very big - possibly even Microsoft acknowledging that RSS is to Web 2.0 what HTML was to the Web in the 90's."

Paul Colligan: Don't delete or ignore podcasting, Microsoft.

David Coursey, in eWeek: RSS: It's Not Just for Bloggers Anymore. "To understand the significance of Microsoft's announcement, it's helpful to forget what you think you know about RSS."

Duncan Riley: Microsoft and RSS: who cares?

Kim Peterson, in Seattle Times: RSS delivery system wins over Microsoft.

Jay Greene in BusinessWeek: Microsoft Crashes the RSS Party.

Shelley Powers: Microsoft, RSS, and CC. In all the excitement, I’ve noticed that not many people have talked about whether IE 7.x will also detect Atom or RSS 1.0. My reply? Yes, the aggregators Microsoft builds will read in all formats.

Stephen O'Grady: Microsoft and the ... Creative Commons? "The announcement itself did include one interesting provision - the use of the Creative Commons license. This is an excellent decision by Microsoft."

PC World's Techlog, by Harry McCracken: RSS will be big in Longhorn. "The technology has the potential to be a powerful, universal means of automated communication between applications (both Web- and desktop-based) of all sorts. This news from Microsoft could help make that happen."

The Unofficial Microsoft Weblog: Cool!

Jo Twist, BBC News: Microsoft makes web feeds easier.

Steve Rubel: the Day RSS Turned Pro. Nice shoes Dean!

Rick Klau: Thoughts on Day 1 from Gnomedex. "As for Microsoft’s announcement, it’s not quite the “Bill Gates is coming to Gnomedex to announce they’ve bought the Internet” kind of announcement that was rumored… but quite significant nonetheless."

Head Lemur: the funny smell.

Rick Segal: Day One Observations. "Microsoft is is doing what they do best which is plumbing. Ignore the anti/pro Microsoft debates, waste of your time."

4:48:11 PM    

Gnomedex 2005: Technorati tag, other posts.

Tagging brings lots of Gnomedex goodness.

I'll repeat the Technorati Gnomedex tag again. There's a LOT of stuff on that page to check out.

4:46:36 PM    

Winer: Microsoft revising spec irt Phil Ringnalda.

I just spoke with Amar Gandhi and Sean Lyndersay of Microsoft at Gnomedex. They'll revise their spec in response to concerns reported by Phil Ringnalda. This turns yesterday's home run into a grand slam. [Scripting News]

4:43:22 PM    

Gnomedex attendees respond to RSS announcement.

Dan Farber: Gnomedexers gather around RSS. [Scripting News]

4:42:11 PM    

Microsoft Simple List Extensions Specification.

Microsoft: Simple List Extensions Specification. [Scripting News]

4:40:57 PM    

Microsoft Extensions to RSS 2.0

Quick postscript on the Microsoft extensions to RSS 2.0. [Scripting News]

4:39:56 PM    

Microsoft RSS Announcement - Ringnalda review.

Phil Ringnalda reviews Microsoft's embrace of RSS. [Scripting News]

4:39:05 PM    

Microsoft RSS Announcement - Business Week.

Business Week: Microsoft Crashes the RSS Party. [Scripting News]

4:37:14 PM    

Link Uploads Coming.

I am about to add a bunch of links relating to the Microsoft RSS announcement yesterday.  I don't have anything to add to these right now in the way of comments. This weblog is in the process of being converted to a linkblog, so I may place my observations and commentary on my TypePad weblogs in a day or two. In the meantime, I'm stashing this information here. Maybe this is a New Big Thing, and maybe it isn't, but this is the baseline datum.

4:35:25 PM    

MIT Weblog Survey.

Enter your email address here and the researchers will send you a key that allows you, a weblog author, to participate in the survey.

4:26:53 PM