Habla Espanol?

U.S. Spanish Speakers Flocking Online. Some 79 percent of Spanish-speaking U.S. Hispanics have used the internet for five years or less - but are already highly active online, according to a study by Claria's Feedback Research, ">writes... [MarketingVOX - The Voice of Online Marketing]

3:46:18 PM    

 [Weblogg-ed News: The Read/Write Web in the Classroom]

3:42:31 PM    

Cheap PCs for the US Market.

Of course, for several years now you could buy one of these

GQ 5110

Celeron D 330 2.66

More» $299.99

from Fry's Electronics, and you weren't stuck with WinCE.

AMD's low cost PC headed for RadioShack. Blog: RadioShack plans to start selling a bare-bones $299 computer designed by chipmaker AMD, the San Jose Mercury News reported... [CNET News.com]

3:39:17 PM    

Defend your answers. [Weblogg-ed News: The Read/Write Web in the Classroom]

3:31:29 PM    

Uh-oh. Trouble in Paradise.

EU outlines future net governance. Big changes coming at the top [The Register]

Balkanization! That's the word I was looking for!

Power grab could split the Net. CNET News.com's Declan McCullagh says a spat over who rules the domains could lead to a Balkanized Internet. [CNET News]

3:27:49 PM    

Dept. of Getting Things Done

Choosing The Task to Fit The Time.

By Patrick Rhone

Not too long ago, I was asked by a client of mine how long it would take to complete a certain large project. After thinking about it for a while, I gave what I thought was a fair estimate given all of the parameters, possible hurdles and building in time for contingencies. The client then asked me if I could do it faster than that. They asked if I could do it in about a third of what I had estimated.

After some thought, I offered the client following response…

Time not spent on the front end of a project is usually spent on the back end. Sometimes, it is even multiplied. Therefore, it will take the same amount of time, if not more, no matter what.

3:00:53 PM    

Reflections on the tagging economy.

... or is it the economy of tagging? Categorization (to give tagging its more formal name) is a key cognitive process, and we may find that it will grow in importance as part of our theories of learning. Great article -- must read. Thanks to George for pointing to it.

A cognitive analysis of tagging.

A cognitive analysis of tagging: "The rapid growth of tagging(1)in the last year is testament to how easy and enjoyable people find the tagging process. The question is how to explain it at the cognitive level. In search for a cognitive explanation of tagging, I went back to my dusty cognitive psychology textbooks. This is what I learnt.(2)"

2:56:31 PM    

Collaborative intelligence vs. artificial intelligence.

Let's hope collaborative intelligence fares better than a.i. did!

Collaborative Intelligence.

Collaborative Intelligence: "New online social applications, specifically blogging, tagging, and social networks, are lining up to provide an astonishing improvement in how the Internet provides information to you and me."

2:51:56 PM    

George Siemens is podcasting!

Playing around with Podcasting.

I'm playing around with podcasting. I have much learning to do...but my first public attempt at the process is available: Learning and Knoweldge Management

2:49:58 PM    

OK, Web 2.0 items now have their own category here.

If you want to see what I thought was vital new information about Web 2.0, use the Navigation link out in the margin. This way I won't duplicate/clutter up across categories. But you have to remember to use that link!

2:16:03 PM    

Paradigm shifting in handhelds.

Michael Singer/ZDNet: Five reasons for Palm's slide.

Five reasons for Palm's slide … When Palm ruled the handheld-computing market, few thought it would ever have to partner with Microsoft.  —  But a series of missteps, from manufacturing gaffes to strategic blunders, eventually made Palm's partnering with its longtime rival seem like a possibility …

Source:   ZDNet
Author:   Michael Singer
Link:   http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-5884040.html

View discussion

12:02:06 PM    

More Wiki news today.

Wikibooks. Free, open source textbooks. My main question is, how do you keep the Evolution folks and the Intelligent Design folks from Wiki-bombing each other's version of the biology books over and over again, to the point that the books are useless? Same thing for history books, literature books, maybe even Latin books.  The article just mentions in passing, and at the end of the article, that there just might be problems with Wikibooks being defaced, edited by people with agendas, or being edited by people who don't know what they are talking about.

11:58:52 AM    

Cheap laptops for students in developing countries.

And for the developed nations too -- why not?

The $100 laptop moves closer to reality. MIT's Nicholas Negroponte lays out a design for a low-cost PC with a twist: Windup power and an innovative display. [CNET News.com]

11:50:12 AM    

Will Richardson reflects on posts by George Siemens and Barbara Ganley.

The whole post (Connecting for Life) is too long to repeat here, but it's a good piece on what George Siemens and Barbara Ganley are saying lately. Will concludes:

So the question becomes, what is the role of the teacher in all of this? Well, isn't it to facilitate those connections within the structure of, as George says, the competencies we seek to teach? Listen when Barbara talks about how her students take over their own learning in the course. Or how Clarence Fisher, Konrad Glogowski and Darren Kuropatwa write about what's happening in their blogging students. (All three Canadians, btw...hmmm.) Without going over the top, there is almost a sense of reverence for what's happening. These are truly transitional, transformative classrooms that are pushing us in interesting directions, leading us to ... a different learning space.

[Weblogg-ed News: The Read/Write Web in the Classroom]

10:09:10 AM    

WikiWatch: JotSpot Live.

I still don't know that Wikis are worth the trouble involved in maintaining them, but by golly the people who love them keep coming up with innovations to manage the social and technical issues.

Michael Arrington/TechCrunch: JotSpot Live - The Perfect Wiki?.

JotSpot Live - The Perfect Wiki?  —  JotSpot Live, a JotSpot company, launched today.  They've created an awesome wiki tool that solves at least two common wiki problems - the specialized markup language and multiple simultaneous users.  —  I love wikis.  We have one.  They are perfect for group collaboration.

Source:   TechCrunch
Author:   Michael Arrington
Link:   http://www.techcrunch.com/2005/09/27/jotspot-live-the-perfect-wiki/

View discussion

10:02:41 AM    

Tools for del.icio.us

Constantly updated list of tools for using del.icio.us, the social software/tagging service.

11:42:59 AM    

Getting ahead of the trends.

Don't get too excited by the "rising sharply" language in the headline below. The numbers are still in the single digit range for actual use of weblogs, social software, and newsreaders. But there is change, in the upward direction, and it pays to be up at the front of a movement.

Forrester: Consumer Use of Blogs, RSS, and Social Networks Rising Sharply.

11:38:57 AM    

Chasing our tails.

I saw this over on Elliott Masie's weblog today: Development Time Poll Results. This was simple quick survey of his readers about the amount of time they require to develop e-Learning and the level of satisfaction they feel with this time. While there are a number of problems with any "insta-poll" (like, are they all talking about the same thing?), it was interesting to see that 65% of the responders say they average more than three weeks to develop an e-Learning course, and 65% also say they need to be faster. Do you suppose that was coincidental?

[Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie]

11:33:57 AM    

What is connectivism?

George keeps trying to explain this to us. "It's not what it is, it's what it enables." [Connectivism Blog]

11:26:26 AM    

Cheap tricks with Google's Sidebar.

Watching for high-priority email without being distracted by Outlook's constant "ding"ing.

GTD and Google Desktop, Part 2.

By Bob Walsh

11:22:10 AM    

Podcasting is not an automatic winner for e-Learning.

Maybe this should go in the Dept. of Not News. The signal-to-noise ratio in many podcasts is ridiculous. Finding ones that generate more learning than noise is tough to do. Maybe we/someone needs to figure out best practices for educational podcasts vs. best practices for marketing podcasts vs. best practices for entertainment podcasts. Bet they aren't the same.

Podcasting for learning.

Podcasting for learning (.pdf) (via Portals and KM) - overview of podcasting benefits and "how to do it". I still wax and wane in my view of podcasting adoption. I think it has huge potential...but lacks the "survey-ability" of text (which means that learners have to select a few high-value podcasts, rather than broad-based approach - for example, I currently track 242 blogs daily (give or take 50)...at best, I could track 6 - 12 daily podcasts).

11:08:55 AM    

Dept. of Not News.

Well, at least it's documented in a study: We all know interaction is important, but we don't do it much because we'd have to change how we teach and how we learn.

"Results show that instructors perceive the learner-instructor and learner-learner interactions as key factors in high quality online programs. While online students generally perceive interaction as an effective means of learning, they vary with regard to having more interaction in online courses. Such variations seem to be associated with differences in personality or learning style. The present study also shows that instructors tend to use technologies and instructional activities that they are familiar with or have relied on in traditional classroom settings. When it comes to learning more sophisticated technologies or techniques, instructors vary significantly in their usage of new approaches."

The Importance of Interaction in Web-Based Education - Bude Su, Curtis J. Bonk, Richard J. Magjuka, Xiaojing Liu, and Seung-hee Lee; JIOL. Though interaction is often billed as a significant component of successful online learning, empirical evidence of its importance as well as practical guidance or specific interaction techniques continue to be lacking. In response, this study utilizes bot [Online Learning Update]

11:04:12 AM    

RSS and e-Mail.

Great series by Ros Hrastnik.

RSS and E-mail #1: How They Can Work Together

RSS and E-mail #2: Delivering Your E-zine via RSS [The RSS and Marketing Diary]

10:46:41 AM    

"Non-formal" learning.

People learn all the time. They can learn how to do something, how to avoid something, and they may also learn the wrong things. They can do this in a classroom (real or virtual) or not, with or without a teacher or an expert to guide them, and even in dreams. No wonder we're confused about our business.

Information or knowledge and the nature of non formal learning.

Interesting exploration (or definition) of learning - formal, non-formal, and informal - Information or knowledge and the nature of non formal learning: "Informal learning: learning resulting from daily life activities related to work, family or leisure. It is not structured (in terms of learning objectives, learning time or learning support) and typically does not lead to certification.

10:36:40 AM