January 2006 Archives

today marks the first day of the Chinese New Year?????, wishing all a very healthy and prosperous new year ahead!

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Podcasting news actively maintains a Podcast Directory List, and the latest addition is iVideoBlast, focusing specifically on video podcasts that are iTunes compliant. Good point of reference for those seeking podcast subscriptions.

The Handbook of Research on ePortfolios is the single source for comprehensive coverage of the major themes of ePortfolios, addressing all of the major issues, from concept to technology to implementation.

The book will be released only in May 06. Can take time to request for budget if you are into ePortfolios and intend to buy a copy. It's not cheap though, US$195.00 *wow*

[source: Elgg]

eSN Online reports:

Wikipedia and other reference sites that allow users to submit and edit content themselves are creating new challenges for educators. Experts say the rise of these kinds of web sites underscores the need for educators to teach students strong information-literacy skills.

this would surely signal a need for change in what and how teachers are going to teach in class:

Instead of pretending that Wikipedia and similar sites don't exist, experts say it's important to help students understand and practice good research habits....

here goes the full report. and a link to wikipedia's approximately 3.2 million articles :)

Podiobooks.com is offering 19 titles to listeners in serialised fashion. Best of all, it's free for all. Here's more information about the site taken from the FAQs:

What are "Podiobooks"?

Podiobooks is a term coined by Evo Terra of The Dragon Page and Slice of Scifi to describe serialized audio books which are made available in podcast format. Subscribers to the podcast feed for each book will receive a new chapter each and every week. Some listeners keep it on their computers, some transfer the book to CD, but most (hopefully) transfer the file on to their mp3 player so they can listen no matter where they are.

All the books you'll find on podiobooks.com are provided by the authors to you for free. Many authors do this to get exposure for their work, others do it in the hopes you'll buy their next work in development. Still others simply do it for the sheer joy of writing. And while it's not required, you have the option to donate money to the author of your choice. When you consider that audio books run usually 50% more than their hardcover counterparts... we hope you'll be generous. Authors receive one half of all the proceeds from the donations from listeners. The other half goes to the maintenance and upkeep of podiobooks.com.

Thanks for giving our site a try. We hope you find podiobooks as infectious as we have!

[source: podcasting news]

The WeblogProject is the first open source, FREE, grassroots movie to promote and evangelize bloggers, the blogosphere, and their potential.

If you are looking for a video clip(s) by bloggers to promote blogs to someone, this is one place you can go :)

The African Virtual Open Initiative and Resources (AVOIR) project at the University of the Western Cape has kicked off 2006 with an update to its KEWL.NextGen application.

KEWL.NextGen is a free software platform for e-learning developed by members of the project as well as other African developers.

[KEWl.NextGen] includes all the features that one would expect in a modern e-learning platform, including rich content tools, streaming media capability, SCORM compatibility, a large variety of rich assessment tools, presence and community building tools, weblogs, podcasting, wiki, online/offline surveys, Dublin Core Metadata, Creative Commons License integration, integration with LDAP etcetera.

[source: Tectonic]

Text can be crawled and mapped by search engines, but crawling sound files has yet to be seen. Until that day comes, you could use some service like this one to convert some of your voice into text for search engines to crawl? Or if you have some existing needs to convert your voices into text, this could really be useful. Great business idea indeed!

[source: podcasting news]

yesterday was the first lesson for mlt801 "foundations of learning and knowledge building" facilitated by a/p chee yam san. the lesson was most enlightening, and, mind-boggling. there are still a few ideas that still stuck to my head fresh until now (my seriously failing memory due to the lack of sleep has not had so much ideas stuck in it for a long long time). i cant catch the exact phrasing of each quote but here's wat i have:

on "the mind"
- it's hard to entertain the idea that a human living does not actually knows wat's going on up in his mind

on "human understanding themselves"
- if it takes a (n+1)th level being to understand a nth level being, does it mean that a human cannot really fully understand themselves?

on "philosophy"
- Rene Descartes, founder/father of modern philosophy, greatest proposition: "Cogito ergo sum" (translation: I think, therefore I am")

on "views"
- can there really be a 'view from nowhere'?

on "computation"
- rules ... 'if' .... 'then' .....

on "rules and representation"
- in 3x4=12, does the computer really _understand_ wat's 3? and wat's 4? it but shows a representation of '12' (after computation, based on in-built rules)

on "meaning"
- does dictionary really give/tell meaning? every page is but carbon on paper

after all these many ideas, wat do they actually mean to me as a teacher? perhaps it's important for us to keep on reminding ourselves about the assumptions (esp the way we (re)present our ideas to students) that we have while we go about our teaching, day after day, month after month, year after year. our students have each their own mind, and though we wont be able to understand each of them fully, if at all, we can help them find meaning and make them realise they are thinking beings. to learn to understand how the mind works (+neuroscience perspective) will enable us to better represent meaning to our students, in hope that they will be able to construct a (better) understanding for themselves. students are not computers, if we treat them with computers and feed them with only rules, ????????

looks like if every lesson is going to be like this, we'll being having an exciting time ahead, especially when we are adopting a FCL (Fostering Communities of Learners) apporach for our lessons. not sure if the practical aspect can really work out for the many part-time students like us coz it's almost impossible to find time to meet up, and to construct meaning together. even if we manage to get together, the mental states may not be ready. everyone is taking the module for different objectives/reasons, quite unlikely for everyone to be there for the (constrution of) knowledge/learning. in any case, be forward-looking and make the best within the constraints. and got to pray hard that i can manage to get at least a B- for all my 3 modules, else i wont be able to graduate :|

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??????????????(Creative Technology Ltd)?????MuVo mp3?????????????

darren has shared another URL that gives a quick review to the 3 learning theories: behaviourism, cognitivism & constructivism. has the gist of the theories, good reading :)

[updated 1630hr] darren has found yet another site Bridging Learning Theories in the Classroom which summarises of the 3 learning theories; pictures of Piaget, Vygotsky, Watson, Skinner and Bruner can be found too :)

[updated 1645hr] another site Theories of Learning:Introduction to add to the list for reference :)

CNET Asia reports that Creative has launched ZenCast.com and the ZenCast Organizer software to allow Zen Vision users to manage audio and video blog content for their players. This will surely be an important step for Creative to compete for the market share in the latest podcasting trend.

darren shared this website which links to a whole range of ID models, good reference :-)

Models, like myths and metaphors, help us to make sense of our world. Whether derived from whim or from serious research, a model offers its user a means of comprehending an otherwise incomprehensible problem. An instructional design model gives structure and meaning to an I.D. problem, enabling the would-be designer to negotiate her design task with a semblance of conscious understanding. Models help us to visualize the problem, to break it down into discrete, manageable units.

The value of a specific model is determined within the context of use. Like any other instrument, a model assumes a specific intention of its user. A model should be judged by how it mediates the designer's intention, how well it can share a work load, and how effectively it shifts focus away from itself toward the object of the design activity.

-Martin Ryder