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Ett drag som tillsynes är lika märkligt som desperat från Microsoft. Man får verkligen hoppas att Massachusets valt Open Document formatet för att de har en genomtänkt strategi för hur man vill arbeta med öppna standarder och informationsstruktur (vilket sannolikt är fallet) och inte för att mjukvaran råkar vara gratis. Om så är fallet visar det att man inte alls har förstått vad detta handlar om på Microsoft. Det handlar inte om licenskostnader, utan om öppenhet, flexibilitet och beständighet över tid - det vill säga betydligt viktigare, strategiska egenskaper.

Vi har tidigare nämnt att delstaten Massachusets i USA tagit ett beslut att använda öppna format för informationslagring. Alla dokument skapade av delstatens anställda ska sparas i öppna format. Detta har uteslutit Microsoft office. Nu skriver Internetworld att Microsoft beslutat ge bort licenser till delstatens alla skolor. Det ska bli intressant att se om detta innebär att man ger upp kravet på öppna format eller inte.
(Från 24-timmarsbloggen )

Peter Vinnervik och Krister Lindwall på Institutionen för interaktiva medier och lärande vid Umeå universitet har skapat en mycket bra resurs för alla som vill lära sig mer om att använda Podsändningar (Podcast) i utbildning. Rekommenderas!

Poducation » Podsändningar i Lärarutbildningen vid Umeå universitet

The BB-patent application is causing a lot of (rightfully) strong reactions. Stephen Downes has made a small survey of some of the reactions in his comment to the BB-patent application . I general the reactions are everything else than positive… Stephens post is good reading if you are interested in the different reactions to the BB-patent application

However, Scott Wilson turns it around and says in a good and a bit incisive wording that:

“I hope we can use this as an opportunity…perhaps Tony Karrer is correct and that we are at the point of technology disruption, and we’ll see the LMS displaced by simpler technologies with different non-functional characteristics (following the typical technology pattern).”

I fully agree with him, but there is an impending risk that the BB-patent(s) also will cower some of those ”simpler” technologies. Besides, people have to learn to think differently and in a more modularized, systemic way if such modularized view on the VLE (which I am a strong believer in) will be more that just another LMS that is modularized. However, in a couple of years so…

Elliott Masie comment on the patent issue in his latest “Learning TRENDS” newsletter and says that:

“The MASIE Center is concerned about the patent award process for e-Learning and we have testified as unpaid witnesses in a recent suit, to counter the claims. We believe that there is substantial "prior art" in this arena, though the strategy is often to drive up the cost of litigation until the case is settled.”

The "blogsphere" is loaded with analysis and concern about the impact of these e-Learning patents. Here are a few resources that you might want to review:
Blackboard’s View: http://www.blackboard.com/patent

Analysis from Other Sources:
http://www.technorati.com/search/blackboard%20patent
http://mfeldstein.com/images/uploads/Blackboard_Patent_Claims.pdf

The Masie Center will be hosting a special set of sessions on Patents & Learning at Learning 2006 (Orlando, Florida on November 5 to 8th. http://www.learning2006.com/blog/ )

The best way to show our opinion about the BB-patent would probably be a massive boycott of Blackboard – if everybody just stopped using their products, but I guess that that will not happen… However, in a comment to my previous post (August 1st) Al Harris suggests that:

we all use our del.icio.us account to record any relevant prior art found online, using the tag ” vle/prior-art ” followed by ” 19** ” will allow anyone to search and find your finds.

This is a good idea that will make it easier for everyone to contribute in pointing out the absurdity of the BB-patent – as well as illustrating the absurdity of this kind of ”impossible” software patents in general!

Jag såg just att rapporten "E-learning Nordic 2006. Effekterna av IT i undervisningen " finns publicerad på elearningeuropa.info . Väl värd att läsa.

De nordiska länderna betraktas som världsledande på området IT i undervisningen. I Danmark, Finland, Norge och Sverige har man ända sedan 1990-talets början satsat både personella och ekonomiska resurser på att utveckla IT-användningen i skolan och i lärandeprocessen. Några jämförande studier som på ett övergripande plan visar vilka effekter IT-användningen har haft och har på undervisningen har dock inte genomförts förrän nu.

E-learning Nordic 2006 fyller här ett tomrum eftersom studiens syfte har varit att finna svar på de övergripande frågorna:

    * Lär sig elever mer och bättre med IT?
    * Har det uppstått nya undervisningsmetoder?
    * Har samarbetet mellan hem och skola förbättrats tack vare IT?

Jag har skrivit om rapporten tidigare , men det skadar aldrig att upprepa sig lite…

I have uploaded my article on "Establishing technical quality criteria for Learning Objects" that I will present at the eChallenges 2006 conference.

Read it here! Comments are welcome… 

Sean Mehan (who is the head of e-Frameworks) is blogging about Bb:s insane patent application , in which they are obviously trying to patent the whole concept of the virtual learning environment! This is a very disturbing development and it is very hard (impossible) to predict its implications. One thing is for certain however - this will not benefit e-learning or the level of innovation within e-learning and learning technology. In my opinion such patents (as well as the twisted minds of the EU patents office) are a threat to innovation and the evolution of learning technology. It is also a threat to all the Open Source VLE:s out there. OSS implementations of VLE:s such as Moodle, Sakai and others are in many respects in the front line and they are functioning as a driving force in the ongoing evolution of e-learning. So, where will this lead in the long run…?

Sean (and others that he refers to) presents many interesting thoughts; so, instead of doing my own analysis (which will be quite similar in many respects) I recommend a read through of his posts at:

• Bb has finally admitted that they inveted VLEs….and CMS, and ….
• Some people are calling for institutions to embrace change

… and the Bb patent application: "Software Patent: Internet-based education support system and methods"

This is a good example of why we wrote the petition agains software patents in Europe!