eBlog by Tore Hoel » Læringsteknologi

Widget developing guide and workshops

admin — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:21:58 +0000

ICOPER exploring the capabilities of widgets to deliver units of learning. We are planning a widget workshop in Vienna on 5th of May, and hopefully we will be able to get a full update on the interesting developments going on in the UK, where the CETIS guys are working on a “Wookie server“. In the meantime, please have a look at this Widget Developer’s Guide that explains a little more what widgets are all about.

Technorati Tags: icoper, widgets, Web2.0

MERLOT Journal - special issue on LMS og other stuff

admin — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:53:31 +0000

MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching has just published a special issue on Learning Management Systems, life-long learning, identity, Web 2.0 and the other “framework” questions relevant for digital learning support. Read the abstracts page - and pick you PDFs for download or read online!

Deepening the Chasm: Web 2.0, Gaming, and Course Management Systems, Bryan Alexander caught my attention…

(Via, Øystein Johannessen’s blog - thnx)

Technorati Tags: LMS, Web2.0

The simple is the best?

admin — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 09:02:22 +0000

Thanks to Wayne Hodgins I stumbled across this funny and effective presentation on wikis - “Wikis in Plain English” by leelefever (YouTube user name) who has published a number of presentations of new web technologies in plain English.

Why don’t we do it simple?

OpenID - the last sales pitch

admin — Wed, 23 May 2007 09:27:54 +0000

I firmly believe that the modern learner needs more than one identity. So while we are waiting for the heavyweight systems to be developed (like the FEIDE system i Norway), we should implement lightweight OpenID in our non critical services and systems. Simon Willison is relentlessly advocating the solution - this time with 178 slides - read!

Moodle beats Blackboard and WebCT

admin — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 10:59:32 +0000

In the Learning Technology Satisfaction and Trends Report for February 2007 issued by IMS Global Learning Consortium a few days ago Moodle and two other systems are rated higher by US respondents than the market share leaders Blackboard and WebCT. 16% of the respondents appeared to be likely to switch course management systems in the coming 12 months.

It seems that the open source alternatives are picking up speed!

Another interesting finding is the following:

The significant usage and high ratings of products not necessarily targeted to the educational segment, such as Google, Wikipedia, and iPods, indicates that educators may be incorporating these technologies more rapidly than administrators or IT officials may be aware.

A challenge to teachers that just look inside their LMS to find tools for learning. And a challenge for the vendors to open up their systems to the rest of the world. And btw, the Norwegian vendors seem to be addressing this issue very persistently at the moment.

The summary of the report is available as PDF.

Lightweight it is nowadays

admin — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 10:06:40 +0000

I’ve just submitted a paper to the ICALT 2007 together with Paul Hollins of JISC CETIS. The preprint will go online when I have more ports open (sitting in Birmingham at a e-Framework Modelling workshop)

The conclusion of our paper is the following:

To discourage proposals for monolithic system architecture and to pursue vigorously the lightweight approach to the development of open e-Learning standards and lightweight well defined API’s and “plug and play” software that can be connected to existing environments. To encourage the creation of pedagogically adaptive software, engaging practitioners, in order to harness the potential of the emergent technologies for teaching, learning and training.

Put a blog in front of your LMS and you have a PLE!

admin — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 11:01:28 +0000

it is a positioning game - vendors need to be cool and label their products with the last trendy buzz words, hoping not to alienate their regular customers. So LMS is out, and the British equivalent VLE is also disputed. It is PLE now, Personal Learning Environment.

Blogging and ePortfolios! It’s learning now offer students and employee to integrate their ePortfolios with standard blogging functionality. This makes our VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) just as much a PLE (Personal Learning Environment. I might have to move my blog again…

So says John Arthur Berg of it’s learning. So put a blog and some ePortfolio tools in front of your LMS, and you have a PLE. John Arthur even gives a link to the Wikpedia definition of a PLE, being systems that

help learners take control of and manage their own learning. This includes providing support for learners to
* set their own learning goals
* manage their learning; managing both content and process
* communicate with others in the process of learning
and thereby achieve learning goals.

Well, I have to be fair; it is not about bashing the LMS vendors. They have to adjust to the market. If their customers become aware of the growing criticism against the management nature of the LMS, they have to use other words for their product. VLE sounds then better, for the time being. And the the PLE is rising on the horizon.

However, I think it will be increasingly more difficult to lump all LMS together and criticise them as a whole. We see that at least the Norwegian LMS are adjusting to the needs of the teachers and learners, and are growing into very different tools compared to their international competitors… So let us just encourage their ability to be open to the new buzz words - as long as they are grounded in good pedagogy. And I think PLE is.

Technorati Tags: blogs, emergent technologies , LMS, PLE

More 2.0s

admin — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 07:58:50 +0000

We have Web 2.0, and now we seem to have 2.0s of every species we can think of. As SOA 2.0. UK JISC Technology and Standards Watch (JISC TSW) is now commissioning a peer-reviewed report on Service-Oriented Architecture, its relevance to HE/FE, and its likely future direction. And guess what they want to hear more of:

Informed speculation as to the future of SOA development in five or so years’ time, for example, use of event-driven SOA (so-called ‘SOA 2.0′).

ePortfolio - sentralt grep i Norge - hvilket grep?

admin — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 13:35:23 +0000

Tengel Sandtrø har vært på ePortfolio-konferanse i Sverige og har gitt et utmerket referat i sin blogg. Tengel skriver at “Danmark og Norge ble trukket fram som eksempler på at portefølje ble satt på dagsorden sentralt”. Ja, jeg har også hevdet dette i presentasjoner, f.eks. på en konferanse i regi av Det europeiske skolenettet for et par år siden.

Nå er det en stund siden jeg oppdaterte meg om mappestå i Norge, og jeg lurer på hvor det er vi står. Er det fortsatt slik at vi på den ene siden har overordnede nasjonale målsettinger som sier at mapper er en bra måte å evaluere folk på, og at det er sunt å reflektere over det man gjør. Og på den andre siden har LMS med “mappeverktøy” som lar deg velge ut hva du vil vise fram av det som ligger inne i LMSet. Og det er den korte historien om ePortfolio, norsk versjon?

Eller har man begynt å tenke videre rundt eierskap; desentralisert lagring; livslang lagring; organisering, navigasjon og gjenfinning; ulike læringsidentiteter - og alle de andre aspektene ved ePortfolios? Og har man noen signaler om at andre myndigheter enn utdanningsmyndighetene har begynt å interessere seg i Norge?

- LMSene er ikke innovative lenger

admin — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 07:52:32 +0000

James Dalziel, skaperen av LAMS, har holdt nylig en presentasjon om e-læringsplattformer, innovasjon, opphavsrett og åpen kildekode. Presentasjonen er en god forberedelse til LMS-seminaret til Høyvis, Utdanningsdirektoratet og Høykom holder i neste uke, og til de to seminarene som vil bli avholdt senere i måneden på HiO om sosial programvare og et nytt senter som skal sette fokus på bruk av fri programvare i utdanningssektoren.

Dalziel er professor i læringsteknologi ved Macquaire Univerity i Australia og kjent verden over for sin entusiastiske utvikling av LAMS som er et “Learning Design-inspirert” verktøy for designe og iscenesette læringsopplevelser.

I foredraget sitt satte han søkelys på hvor de nye tanker rundt pedagogisk bruk av IT nå kommer fra, og han konstaterte: Det meste av pedagogisk innovasjon for tiden skjer nå utenfor LMSene! På 90-tallet bød LMSene på nye tanker, så ikke på 2000-tallet. Han berørte også spørsmålet om patenter og åpen kildekode. Blackboard sin patent på LMS har skapt bekymring og gjort oss ytterligere oppmerksom på at åpen kildekode er den mest farbare vei for å utvikle læringsteknologi. En hvilken som helst utviklign av nyskapende læringsteknologi i dag er nødt til å støte mot hundrevis av patenter, hevdet Dalziel. Den eneste løsningen er at man får patentholderne til å gå inn på en slags “åpen patentlisensiering”, dvs. at de forplikter seg til ikke å saksøke de som benytter patentene deres på en fellesskapsfremmende måte.