The Wales-Wide Web

Doing a lot of thinking but not much posting at the moment. Want to try to get more substantial pieces on this blog - but when to find the time to write? So more half thought out ideas, notes etc.

Some stray (and perhaps connected thoughts)...

Was struck this comment on the Flosse Posse site "Even though the CC-concept is ideal for passing and sharing materials freely within ethical rights, the concept of transferring generations of knowledge via the form of cc-information seems still kinda ideal as saving the "legacy" at this point. This not so black and white issue relates also the to the pedagogical orientation of the teachers..."

Well I'm not so sure it is kinda ideal. It remains information. It is of little use without the ideas and 'feeling' of the creator plus something about its use in practice. We have failed to capture this so far. This is why I am so obsessed with the idea of distributed metadata - about being able to track to an object is used and add to that metadata trail through use.

On the subject of metadata (and connected I think) - read Jyri Engestrom's blog last week on "Why some social network services work and others don't — Or: the case for object-centered sociality". Interesting stuff - Jyri says:

"the term 'social networking' makes little sense if we leave out the objects that mediate the ties between people......social networks consist of people who are connected by a shared object."

Lets substitute the word e-learning for social networking. It gets us close to the true nature of e-learning. And it raises some interesting questions. Like - what is the object? Is the object the learning materials or or it the learning application. Me - I go for the second. I think learning materials are part of the subject of learning. Its the application which mediates the ties between people (and so in my book qualifies for the title of a learning object!).

It also starts explaining why some e-learning works and some doesn't. If we just have 'learning objects' as classically defined, there is nothing to mediate the learning.

OK - that was the second stray thought. And the third? Am a little puzzled by Stephen Downes' attack on tagging. Seems to me that while tagging is of some limitations it still has much potential - especially in allowing people to ascribe their own meaning to an object. Of course the object plays a role in mediation of different meanings - the meanings of the initial person who tags it and the person who uses it and of course the meanings will not be the same but there is meaning none the less.

Will return to all three of these issues at more length I hope.

Sage - Ye olde Rhondda and Pontypridd chronicles:
"Read an article in the paper earlier about the dangers of bing drinking and it frghtened the shits out of me so I've decided that's it - no more reading for me."

Something of as cult site in Pontypridd (well Pontypridd doesn't get s lot of cult choice). The journals of your Pontypridd taxi driver shows how humour is so good in blogs and the ability of the mundane and local to be vibrant and global. Visit the site and enjoy it!

This one is really getting up my nose. Why are hotels charging for the use of wireless networks. Last week in Finland I was forced to pay 15 Euros for 24 hours wireless connectivity. 15 Euros for 24 hours on the internet would not be so bad - but this was 24 hours from when you first logged on.

Its a rip off. It costs the hotels very little to provide a free service. Most people just want to be able to check their emails. Hotel prices in European cities are already quite high enough without imposing extra charges. its like booking a hotel room and then having to pay 15 euros for 24 hour s for a bed.

Lets start a campaign - at the very least we can swap names of hotels which provide free internet access. Here is my first - the Hotel Dedeman in Istanbul. Not the most beautiful hotel in the world and the beer is grossly overpriced but there is free ethernet access in every room. I did not have an ethernet cable with me and the hotel reception gave me one for free. Right on.

in an article in Auricle Derek Morrison has sparked off a controversy over the NZOSVLE decision to promote Moodle for universities and polytechnics in New Zealand. He warns of the danger of creating "a monoculture by consolidating/aggregating around a limited number of immature proprietary and perhaps even open source solutions"

.... the key constraints could arise from within the organisations or consortia who, having made the commitment, will adopt a strict 'Moodle policy' which will be the equally pernicious equivalent of say a 'WebCT policy' or a 'Blackboard policy' etc, and who perceive any deviation from this policy as dysfunctional."

I am also concerned at the implications of the increasing ascendency of Moodle as the no 1 Open Source VLE, but my concerns lie in a different direction.

Teaching Ideas & Resources - TES - The Times Educational Supplement 2:

The UK Times Educational Supplement (TES) ran this as their lead story this week. TES is the leading educational weekly publication in the UK. This story is going to run for some time to come. I always thought OSS would take off but never imagined we would see the venerable TES printing something like "Find out how much open source software could save your school in this week's TES".

It is clear OSS has mainstreamed in education. Now all we have to do is improve the software and get the pedagogy right!

Gates heads back to school in open source spat - silicon.com:

Gloves are off for FLOSS playground challenge...

Microsoft is ready to fight competitors entering the IT education market, it said on Monday, after a leaked government report highlighted the benefits of open source software for schools.

In an email to ZDNet UK, the software company said that competition was welcome but that it offered more supported applications than rival open source providers.

Stephen Uden, group manager of education relations for Microsoft, wrote: "Competition in the software market is good for customers because it ensures that they get a good deal as it drives choice and innovation.

"There are some 5,000 third party applications available to run on Microsoft Windows operating system but only a handful of applications supported by the open source community. We offer free support and training materials to help teachers and students make the most of their technology."

Ominous little bit on page 99 of the UK Labour Party election manifesto. Didn't hear anything about it in the election campaign - but then again its not exactly a bedtime read. Presented on their web site in a horrible Flash electronic book format. I have a nasty fear this means the UK government is going to try to revive the long contested EU copyright proposal during their EU presidency. (For a quick summary of Labour Party manifesto ICT policy commitments see Catherine Howell's excellent and niftily named blog "Ida takes tea".)

"We will modernise copyright and other forms of protection of intellectual property rights so that they are appropriate for the digital age.We will use our presidency of the EU to look at how to ensure content creators can protect their innovations in a digital age. Piracy is a growing threat and we will work with industry to protect against it.

JISC e-Learning Focus - Choosing Open Source Solutions:

Short and well written introduction to Open Source in education from Christina Smart from the UK JISC e-Learning programme. Nothing particularly new here - although good interview with Stuart Yates from the OSS watch project. I like his answer to the question "what are the main drawbacks to OSS?". Stuart replies:

"The main drawback is that open source software is usually free at the point of acquisition.

While that might sound like it ought to be a benefit, it can be very confusing for institutions accustomed to paying an annual licence fee for software. It is, however, the real difference between open source and proprietary options."

Interesting that so many 'semi official' bodies and programmes are publishing short guides like this.

The article concludes:

"There are a number of reasons why some institutions are turning to open source learning environments, but scalability and flexibility are particularly important. Scalability because these open source environments allow institutions to have as many users as they like without incurring bigger license fees; and flexibility because institutions can choose to develop the open source environment to meet their particular needs. If you are interested in pursuing this approach at your institution the advice is to find out more about what open source learning environments are available and have a go at using them."

The Observer | Business | The Networker: John Naughton:

Interesting reactions to the long awaited release of the British Education Technology Association (BECTA) report on Open Source software in schools. In their press release BECATA say:

"This report indicates that open source software can provide a cost-effective and efficient solution in schools if effectively deployed. Becta believes that software used in schools should be of a high quality and adhere to open standards, enabling compatibility and interoperability between products".

Got the expected thumbs up from the OSS community and the predictable broadside from the big software corporations led as usual by Microsoft - see this commentary for example.

The UK government seems conspicuous by its silence on the issue. I can't see Labour endorsing anything like this - its too much in bed with the big companies.

the major plus of the report is that it has widened the debate. Open Source is no longer a subject just for nerds. It is certainly being discussed by school based ICt coordinators. To get a flavour of the debate see the TES discussion list - wittily called the staffroom (ho,ho).

One prevalent issue in these discussions is whether or not schools have sufficient technical support - or technical staff with adequate skills to run Open Source networks.

Am on my way to Tallin for a meeting of the European funded Workplace Learning Partnership project.

The project focuses on organising and recognising the learning which takes place in the workplace - particularly through apprenticeship programmes. One central idea is that many workplaces - particularly small enterprises cannot by themselves provide a sufficient range or breadth of learning opportunities for all the different tasks and skills an apprentice has to learn. If different enterprises were to work together they could provide a much wider range of learning opportunities. one of my roles in the project is to design and develop software tools to help that process.

" Portfolio's can play an important part in developing the use of ICT for informal learning or learning outside formal institutional settings. " We have spent the first six months scoping the work and prototyping the tools. A few things have become clear. first is that most enterprises are very reluctant to share in this way. There is no tradition of close collaboration, enterprises are reluctant to cooperate with potential competitors and there is a significant barrier to shared provision in the form of funding mechanisms.

From my side of the work, I made a false start in trying to adapt Open Source VLEs to support work-based learning. I should have known better. VLEs - even the good ones - are developed around a formal institutional course based model.

For both reasons I have turned back to social software. Social software can be sued to encourage collaboration and build on those aspects of sharing about which trainers are happy - and in some cases even eager. Anecdotal reports suggest access to learning materials is one such area. Our original idea was to develop tools for teachers and trainers to identify workplace learning opportunities. This may not be the best way. one of the problems is that workl-plave learning opportunities are so heavily dependent on human support. A set up which provides rich learning in one work-place may offer little in another dependent on the (informal) support available in the workplace. Learners themselves who are in the best position to describe the opportunities for learning in the workplace. Of course this means they have to think about what they have learned - to reflect on their personal learning. But isn't that just the pedagogic process which we want to encourage? And portfolios would seem the natural application to support that process.

Portfolio's can play an important part in developing the use of ICT for informal learning or learning outside formal institutional settings. However, this needs a bit more thinking through about what a portfolio is and how it might be used. More on this later in the week..............

As promised more on work based learning. Here is my presentation on work based learning and social software from the Workbased Learning Partnerships meeting in Tallin.

(NB I have given up bullet points- this is my first bullet free presentation).

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