Collaborative LearningCollaborative Learning news and updates by Martin Terre BlancheThe joy of beta- (Found June 19, 2008 ) I love the new excitement and energy that's been around the web lately. Of course at some level it is just another bubble, but there's a lot that seems fresh to me and that really is changing how we do stuff online. One of the things I enjoy about the current mood on the web is that people have become so willing to think of everything as a work in progress. If you're Microsoft and you launch something that isn't quite finished people will hate you for it, but just about anybody else can (and...http://www.criticalmethods.org/collab/2005/11/news.htm#1131522323910 Creative Commons comes to South Africa- (Found June 19, 2008 ) Well actually creative commons has been around these parts for some time, but this week Creative Commons South Africa (ccSA) was officially launched at a conference at Wits university. I unfortunately couldn't go, but from reports it looks like it has been a big success. Lawrence Lessig, one of the founders of the cc movement, is in South Africa for the occasion, as are many other international academics. Well known local figures such as Derek Keats of the University of the Western Cape (who...http://www.criticalmethods.org/collab/2005/5/news.htm#1117219945593 Building the Southern dialogue on intellectual property, media and culture- (Found June 19, 2008 ) I see one of the spin-offs from the Creative Commons South Africa (ccSA) launch last week is that the LINK Centre at Wits University in South Africa and the Centre for Technology and Society of Brazil have announced a collaborative project to boost production of local content in countries of the South. LINK helped to found Research ICT Africa! and ccSA. Lots of useful goodies at all these sites, but unfortunately only ccSA offers RSS feeds and Research ICT Africa! has one of those patently...http://www.criticalmethods.org/collab/2005/6/news.htm#1117601172718 Love songs for Nheti- (Found June 19, 2008 ) Thulacreative is great example (found via the ccSA site) of the sorts of material that is being fostered by Creative Commons in South Africa. It features short stories, plays, poems by Nokuthula Mazibuko - all available for free, non-commercial use. By Martin Terre Blanche 1 June 2005http://www.criticalmethods.org/collab/2005/6/news.htm#1117603003796 Secret evaluation- (Found June 19, 2008 ) There is a great article by Leonard Cassuto in The Chronicle against secrecy in evaluation: "Accountability does not just police the malicious and curb the corrupt. It also builds character. If I'm going to slam someone, I should have the probity -- and the guts -- to do it to that person's face." Cassuto says that for years now he has been "waging a private battle against the unexamined practice of confidentiality" - which has been my experience also. So I'm glad the battle is coming out into.http://www.criticalmethods.org/collab/2005/7/news.htm#1121856932650 Stephen Downes remixed- (Found June 19, 2008 ) From OLDaily: "Zach Chandler from Colby College has taken the slides and audio of the talk I gave in Utah las year and remixed it, creating a six minute video. Remix, feed forward. That's how it works." Great stuff. The .mov file is here. By Martin Terre Blanche 20 July 2005http://www.criticalmethods.org/collab/2005/7/news.htm#1121859292360 Why write- (Found June 19, 2008 ) Nice quote from Deleuze (Difference and Repetition, 1968) - How else can one write but of those things which one doesn't know, or knows badly It is precisely there that we imagine having something to say. We write only at the frontiers of our knowledge, at the border which seperates our knowledge from our ignorance and transforms the one into the other. Only in this manner are we resolved to write. To satisfy ignorance is to put off writing until tomorrow - or rather, to make it impossible. By.http://www.criticalmethods.org/collab/2005/7/news.htm#1122545696760 Online learning in Southern Africa- (Found June 19, 2008 ) The second issue of the International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT) has just appeared. The issue is about "ICT forEducation and Development in Southern Africa" and there are some fascinating papers, including Border crossings and multimodal composition in the arts by Andrew Morrison which tells about amazing mutimedia projects happening in Zimbabwe, such as a "hyperpottery" and "ballectro". By Martin Terre Blanche 3 Aug 2005http://www.criticalmethods.org/collab/2005/8/news.htm#1123062279660 Knowledge2Go blog- (Found June 19, 2008 ) I have started a blog, Knowledge2go, with Kevin Durrheim as part of the process of writing a new (hopefully very different) textbook on research methods in the social sciences. It's hosted at James Farmer's wonderful edublogs site. By Martin Terre Blanche 3 Aug 2005http://www.criticalmethods.org/collab/2005/8/news.htm#1123063111670 Designing ecosystems- (Found June 19, 2008 ) George Siemens is definitely onto something with his ideas about networked learning. His latest contribution is a piece arguing that learning design should be about designing ecosystems rather than about designing courses: "We should be focusing on designing ecologies in which learners can forage for knowledge, information, and derive meaning. What's the difference between a course and an ecology A course, as mentioned is static - a frozen representation of knowledge at a certain time. An...http://www.criticalmethods.org/collab/2005/9/news.htm#1125729002671 |