Old Cognitive Dissonance

RSS files are intended to be read by computers, not people. It’s like the HTML file behind this page. The file itself is intended to be read by a computer and painted onto the screen for humans to read. Layout and formatting are coded into the page to tell your browser how to do the painting. So, just as HTML is supposed to be read and interpreted by a browser, RSS should be read by a “feed reader” or “aggregator.” (See the Wikipedia for a list)

The beauty of these pieces of software is that they save you time.
(more…)

Don and I were talking today about how we want to explain RSS next month in Orlando.

Being the geek that I am, I started dissecting the RSS protocol and explaining what it does in the computer.

Don, being the human, asked the critical question, “So what?”

“Duh!” on me.
(more…)

I’ve been thinking a lot about learners and the context in which learning happens. Some things occurred to me about what happens when we start considering learning from a learner perspective.

(more…)

I’m a learner, what do I need?

The question seems so simple, but I’m not sure it’s the right place to start.

Why am I a “learner”? What does being a “learner” mean?

I think the problem is school. If I need to learn something, school is the last place I’d want to go because:

1. I’m probably going to have to wait until school is ready to teach me.
2. I’m going to have to work through a whole lot of other stuff that’s only tangentially related to what I want to know.
3. I’ll have to pay for all of it regardless of how much I want.
4. I’ll have to fill out a lot of paperwork, get permissions, satisfy the administrivia requirements that I’m who I say I am and that I’m allowed to attend that particular class for that particular school at that particular time.
5. In the end, I may not actually learn what I need.

(more…)

Scott Adams pointed me to this post by Steve Sloan, SJSU Tech on a mission

The question is, as the voice of the institutions shift will the universities of the world accept loosing control of the message?

I think the real questions is what will replace the institutions that still think controlling the message is possible — or even necessary.

I went to a presentation here a few weeks ago. A group of faculty were discussing teaching online. Next to the time it takes to prep a class for online presentation, you know what seemed to be the biggest problem?

The email load.
(more…)

Rob Wall has a nice recap of his presentation at AMTEC 2005 on his blog StigmergicWeb » Weblog Communities - AMTEC 2005 presentation. The MP3 that goes along with the powerpoint is there and it’s interesting to hear what he had to say during the presentation.
(more…)