elgg.net :: the learning landscape

ELGG is cited in so many blogs, papers, and presentations, there has to be something to it. I tried to use it a little last year (soon after it's release), but I just didn't have the time. I would love to hear about your experiences with it if you'd like to try it out.

My understanding is that it does blogging and so much more. And, it was created as a learning space, not just a generic blog site.

Take a look around and let me know what you see.

Why Minimally Guided Instruction Does Not Work

One of the greatest things about following blogs is that these wise sages of the virtual space often point me in the direction of interesting publications (or pre-publications). This is an example.

This article really seems to go along with our discussion this week of learner autonomy. The authors are real players in the field and I like reading their work. You may recognize the name Richard Clark from previous optional readings on the media vs. method debate.

Enjoy

elearnspace: Online Video

And here's another posting by George Siemens. This is a commentary on a business-focused article by the Wharton School of Business. However, you should remember that business drives the technology that we later incorporate into our teaching.

I also thought that this might be interesting in relationship to the experience that Erin and others in the class have had with video projects. The technology and services are changing so much it is difficult to keep up with them. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Google Video provided a script that Erin could use to show her video (stored on Google Video) embedded within her Web page.

It's through discoveries like that that I am as much of a student as anyone in this class. Reciprocal learning is a wonderful thing :)

elearnspace: The Next Step in Brain Evolution

This is from one of the blogs that I follow, elearnspace. George Siemens is an insightful thinker on the cutting edge of educational theory. In this posting he provides a brief editorial based on the Times Online article, "The Next Step in Brain Evolution."

Both the editorial and the article are very interesting. Referring to possible differences in cognition between digital natives (possibly our kids) and digital immigrants (all of us--nobody in our class is young enough to be a digital native).