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Tuesday, January 2, 2007 |
Google Earth - new version available, and details of GE's high resolution coverage. A new version of Google Earth is available for download - for Windows 2000/XP, MAC OS 10.3.9 +, and Linux - with an improved user interface (or so it seemed to me). The extent of Google Earth's high resolution coverage (you can see individual buildings and cars at high resolution) is gradually increasing, though there are wide variations, with Iraq, for example, rather better covered than much of Europe, as the thumbnails above indicate. Fortnightly Mailing, January 2, 2007. [Conversation]
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10:16:08 PM  Google It!.
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Gmail's Security Struggles Could Vex Colleges. A handful of colleges have outsourced their e-mail to Google's Gmail service, hoping to shrug off an administrative burden. Those colleges could not have been pleased to hear about a security flaw in Gmail that gives the owners of some Web sites access to a visitor's Gmail contact list.It appears that Google has fixed the problem. But that, along with a snafu in which the accounts of 60 Gmail users were suddenly, inexplicably cleaned out, has led writers at ZDNet and Wired to question the security of the mail service more generally.Security has been one of the main concerns of college officials who have questioned switching over to a private e-mail service like Gmail. But running one's own e-mail service certainly does not prevent problems and security holes. --Scott Carlson The Chronicle: Wired Campus Blog, January 3, 2007. [Conversation]
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10:13:43 PM Google It!.
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E-Learning for Free - Information Service. For many years I have promoted and encouraged the use of free tools, content and other resources for those involved in designing, developing and delivering workplace learning or post-16 education. I am now building an E-Learning for Free Information Service to create a one-stop place to access a variety of free resources not only to create different learning and performance solutions but to provide the best advice and best practice in doing so. The site is still growing, but here are some of the resources available to view: For creating learning and performance solutions Jane's Directory of Free E-Learning Tools is a growing list of free tools suitable for those involved in developing and delivering learning and performance solutions. The tools in this Directory are listed both by category and alphabetically. Now contains nearly 500 free tools Jane's Guide to Choosing and Using Free e-Learning Tools is an overview of the types of learning and performance solutions that can Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day, January 2, 2007. [Conversation]
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7:35:34 PM Google It!.
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Networking. The current issue of Harvard Business Review has a useful article entitled How Leaders Create and Use Networks by Herminia Ibarra and Mark Hunter. It's a no-brainer that to succeed in business, you've got to take advantage of your network. But not just any old network will do. To be a successful business leader, you must build and maintain three types of networks: Your Operational Network is made up of the people it takes to get your job done. Most of them are insiders. It's pretty evident who they are. Your goal is to foster deep working relationships with them. Your Personal Network are the people who help you develop personally and professionally. They also keep you informed. Most of them are outsiders. They can come from anywhere. Your goal is breadth, not depth, of these relationships Your Strategic Network becomes more important the higher you go in the organization. These people help you see what the future holds and how to line up stakeholder support. Some com Informal Learning Blog, January 2, 2007. [Conversation]
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6:49:46 PM Google It!.
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Designing spaces for doing knowledge based work. This book contains an extensive series of case studies of designing space for learning and doing knowledge work in schools and universities. If you accept the premise that much of the work that will take place in Enterprise 2.0 organizations will be knowledge work, then you may find these a source of ideas and insights. Learning Spaces Diana Oblinger (of Educating the Net Generation fame) has edited/released a new book: Learning Spaces (not sure how long it has been available, but it has been referenced by several edubloggers over the last week). I love this quote: "Spaces are themselves agents for change. Changed spaces will change practice". The bulk of the book consists of case studies of learning space design in different organizations. McGee's Musings, January 2, 2007. [Conversation]
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6:47:43 PM Google It!.
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MySQL Falcon Storage Engine Open Sourced. An anonymous reader writes "The code for the Falcon Storage Engine for MySQL has been released as open source. Jim Starkey, known as the father of Interbase, is behind its creation; previously he was involved with the Firebird SQL database project. Falcon looks to be the long-awaited open source storage engine that may become the primary choice for MySQL, and along the way offer some innovation and performance improvements over current alternatives." This is an alpha release for Windows (32-bit) and Linux (32- and 64-bit) only, and is available only in a specially forked release of MySQL 5.1.[Slashdot]
3:11:00 PM Google It!.
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Starbucks Responds In Kind To Oxfam YouTube Video. Kligmond writes "Last week, Starbucks placed a video on YouTube responding to a video posted by the Oxfam Charity. The Oxfam video was launched in conjunction with 'Starbucks Day of Action,' held December 16th, when activists visited Starbucks locations across the world in protest of the coffee retailer's alleged mistreatment of Ethiopian farmers. The Starbucks video calmly addresses the Oxfam allegations, citing an impasse over Ethiopian trademark legalities. Starbucks claims the refusal to sign a trademark agreement with Ethiopia is a stumbling block they hope to resolve on behalf of the farmers. The coffee chain's representative goes on to refute the contention that Starbucks refuses to pay a fair price for its coffee reserves and, in fact, routinely pays well above commodity price, and above fair trade price. Unlike many recent ineffectual corporate reactions to social journalism and networking eruptions, Starbucks' response is unique in that the corporation managed Oxfam's unconventional assault in a very unconventional way, via YouTube. Regardless of the outcome of this particular incident, the move on Starbucks' part comes off as unmistakably in touch with today's communication modes and methods."[Slashdot]
3:09:32 PM Google It!.
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Comparison of CMS, Course Materials Life Cycle, and Related Costs. http://web.mit.edu/emcc/www/
MIT-WCET-C-LMS-Final-Report-07-19-06.pdf
My colleagues Bruce Landon and Russ Poulin were commissioned last year by MIT to produce a report which compared the CMS practices and costs, as well as the life cycle of course materials, at 'peer' institutions in an effort to provide a benchmark for future decision making. I was just informed that MIT has generously made the report more widely available online at the above location. In addition to MIT itself, the peer institutions surveyed included Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, Columbia, Berkeley, Harvard (College of Arts and Sciences), University of Chicago, Middlebury, University of Texas at Austin, Princeton and Yale.
So while you might not consider your institution a "peer" (but hey, why not, in this global,online economy) I expect there will be something of interest to anyone involved with the management of institution-wide CMSes. It's a lengthy report (90 pages) but in it you'll find such things as costing and support information from a wide variety of scenarios, though one of the findings was that
most of the institutions did not have a better handle on cost data and that (for many of the respondents) costs were not a principle driver in decision-making.
It should also not be surprising to anyone having to deal with higher ed content management practices that the survey shows them to be all over the place and largely still a matter left up to the whims of the individual instructor. Which might seem fine to many except consider that "the annual costs of course materials can exceed the cost of the C/LMS by millions" and we all know at some point, something is going to give. - SWL [EdTechPost]
12:20:19 PM Google It!.
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Welcome, Developing Intelligence!. Chris Chatham's Developing Intelligence, one of my favorite CogSci blogs, is now a member of ScienceBlogs! Chris has a sharp mind, and he's always willing to offer thorough, readable accounts of peer-reviewed research. Now you'll be able to get his insights alongside the other great resources for cognitive and neuroscience we have here at ScienceBlogs. You can see all posts on Brain and Behavior using the Brain and Behavior Channel, or visit the blogs individually via the handy listing in the column over at left. But you'll probably want to start with Chris's latest, a great post on fMRI research on the Stroop Effect. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... Cognitive Daily, January 2, 2007. [Conversation]
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12:19:24 PM Google It!.
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Profile: Centre for Learning and Teaching Through Technology. From time to time I profile outstanding teaching and learning centers because I'm convinced that the awareness and use of online instructional resources in higher education can often best be furthered through such centers. CT3 at the University of Waterloo is a model for what such a center can accomplish. "The Centre for Learning and Teaching Through Technology works with instructors and staff at the University of Waterloo to encourage and support pedagogically-informed use of learning technologies. To this end, we research, develop, and assess best-practices for online learning environments and for other technologies that can enhance student learning." I've experienced setting up a teaching and learning center and I've also offered many workshops for instructors to encourage their use of online technologies and resources; it is not easy to achieve the level of web clarity and the level of participation that CT3 exhibits.
To explore CT3 look at their Concept/Site Map, Learning Objects and Repositories, and Resources sections--then just poke around to examine whatever seems interesting; there is much of value. ____JH[EduResources Weblog--Higher Education Resources Online]
9:36:25 AM Google It!.
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Flying To the US? Pay In Cash. pin_gween writes to point us to a report in the Telegraph that British travelers using a credit card to purchase their ticket may now have their credit card and email accounts inspected by US authorities. This has been true since October, when the US and the EU agreed about what information the US could demand from airlines and how this information would be handled. But details of the agreement only recently came to light following a Freedom of Information request. The US says it will "encourage" US carriers to reciprocate to any requests by European governments. From the article: "[T]he Americans are entitled to 34 separate pieces of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data... Initially, such material could be inspected for seven days but a reduced number of US officials could view it for three and a half years. Should any record be inspected during this period, the file could remain open for eight years...'It is pretty horrendous, particularly when you couple it with our one-sided extradition arrangements with the US,' said [a human rights activist]. 'It is making the act of buying a ticket a gateway to a host of personal email and financial information. While there are safeguards, it appears you would have to go to a US court to assert your rights.'"[Slashdot]
9:33:31 AM Google It!.
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A New Years' Reflection: Commitments not Resolutions. This is the time of year for making 'resolutions' for the new year. The word resolve originally meant to dissolve or untie, to free from chains (the word solve originally meant to loosen -- apparently to the inventors of our civilized languages, lack of freedom was the only real 'problem'). While we do need to free ourselves, what we need more today, I think, is something stronger: We need commitments. The word commitment means 'to send oneself over', a permanent, one-way trip to Let-Self-Change. By this definition, a commitment unkept is an oxymoron, a mere failed resolution.For me, this has been a year of momentous personal change: I got sick, and cured myself, changed careers and lifestyle and got myself into the best condition since my 20s; I learned some important lessons about indigenous cultures and the Great Depression; and I concluded that what we need to do to save the world is more about Let-Self-Change and about creating 'working models' of better ways to live, th How to Save the World, January 1, 2007. [Conversation]
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9:31:17 AM Google It!.
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The Expert on Experts and Expertise. Ericsson's essential point is that expertise is a function of practice not talent. One key point he makes is that: "Successful people spontaneously do things differently from those individuals who stagnate. They have different practice histories. Elite performers engage in what we call "deliberate practice"--an effortful activity designed to improve individual target performance. There has to be some way they're innovating in the way they do things." [Fast Company] There's more wisdom in that old joke on how to get to Carnegie Hall than we care to acknowledge. Ericsson's handbook is $130 at Amazon which feels a bit rich. He has also published what appears to be a more accessible version of the same material in The Road to Excellence. It's still $50 for the paperback version, but that puts it into my range. The Expert on Experts "Successful people spontaneously do things differently." -K. Anders Ericsso McGee's Musings, January 2, 2007. [Conversation]
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9:02:13 AM Google It!.
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Google... Please Create a To-Do List!. As most of you know[sigma] I love Google. I love almost everything about them. I have at least tried all of their products I can, and use G-mail, Google Calendar, Picasa Web Albums, Google Video, Google Reader, Google Notebook, Google Docs and Spreadsheets, and Google Maps at least a dozen times each day. This year for Christmas several members of my family bought me Google shirts and other Google Store paraphernalia. I think I am safe in saying I am the biggest Google fan I know. Self-proclaimed as such, I have only one request for Google for 2007. It[base ']s not huge[sigma]. in fact, I don[base ']t even think it would be that hard. I want a to-do list. Now I know this is on the radar. Back when I started using Google Calendar, as the responsible Google user that I am, I went to their suggestion site and tried to suggest a to-do list. They give you a list of categories to give to your suggestion and the very first one was a To-do list. I just added mine on there, but that was over 1 EDUCAUSE CONNECT - Technology In Academia -- Connect @ EDUCAUSE, January 2, 2007. [Conversation]
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8:48:24 AM Google It!.
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Big Fat Second Life As A Training Tool / World etc Response. Newly found: Millions of Us weighs in on the debate here and here. Satchmo Prototype of the Electric Sheep Company also comes on in here. Oh heck...even Gwyneth Llewelyn fires a post into the middle of the debate. *As I look through these other posts and the ones running in the learning field, I'm struck by a definite feeling of membranes becoming thinned out (tip 'o the hat to Clay Shirky). These discussions are moving more freely back and forth across communities than around any other topic I can think of. I get the distinct impression that veils are about to come down and then we'll all be looking at each other going..."what you guys care about this stuff too?" You know there has been this âo[ogonek]5 Things You Donâo[dot accent]t Know About Meâo� meme going around. I started trying to do a mindmap of who tagged who and had to stop after about 2 levels. This discussion about Second Life and Teaching/Learning has been about as far ranging and as hard to keep track of. This is my best e-Clippings (Learning As Art), January 2, 2007. [Conversation]
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8:45:07 AM Google It!.
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Personalised learning. My frequent associate (and all-round good egg) Seb Schmoller has been polling views of e-learning practitioners on 'personalised learning', including what the term conjures up for you. He asked me for my thoughts. I wasn't sure I had any, but I find that, if I imagine myself in the role of a jaded old cynic (it's a challenge, but I rise to it), the opinions just come flooding out. So I posted them in the comments on Seb's blog entry. Apart from mine, Seb's already got contributions from several leading lights in e-learning, and I think he's open to further input, if you feel so inclined. All comments will feed into a presentation Seb is making in a couple of weeks' time, and he will post the notes he collates from everyone on his site. Today the BBC has one of those predictions for the coming year features, which includes some rather vague references to personalisation, such as "all the companies are talking reputation management and melding it with personalisation so when you get reco DJ Alchemi, January 2, 2007. [Conversation]
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8:43:27 AM Google It!.
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© Copyright 2007 Bruce Landon.
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