The United States Patent and Trademark Office has announced that it has rejected all 44 claims that Blackboard has attempted to patent in a non-final determination on Patent 6,988,138, also known as the "Alcorn Patent". Though this is not the final decision, which is still likely months, or even years away, it is a significant move toward what most in the online learning industry have suggested from the beginning, that the patent should never have been issued. USPTO has accepted without modification the prior art submitted by the Software Freedom Law Centre (SFLC). This essentially ends ATutor's association with SFLC, though it does not end the association between SFLC and Blackboard, should Blackboard wish to challenge the ruling.

Posted: March 28th, 2008 under Education.
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I posted the following response to Andy Ramsden’s blog post on this topic:

I’ve been researching the use of 2D barcodes (and particularly QR Codes) in education for over two years now.  I’ve been very interested in their use in education as I immediately recognised their power for linking situated learning opportunities with instructional and interactive learning opportunities when I first read about them. I’ve since investigated alternatives such as RFID, and I still think that 2D barcodes have some big advantages, especially when it comes to things like cost and ease of (re)production - 2D barcodes can be printed for free, whereas RFID tags cost around $1 each in small quantities.

Where I see QR Codes becoming obsolete is through the rapidly improving processing capabilities of mobile devices, which are on the cusp of becoming capable of reading and interpreting printed text. Once phones become able to recognise a printed URL, for example, the use of a QR Code to “represent” a URL becomes superfluous… an unnecessary (and non-human-readable) duplication of information. Text-recognition will also be far more flexible than QR Codes; potentially, semantic constructs could be used to allow the recognition of an infinite variety of different types of data, the same way that OCR currently works on desktop computers.

In brief, I’m still very interested in QR Codes as being the current best and most cost effective technology for mobile data capture; but I’m already looking towards a future where QR Codes will be obsolete. I can think of some examples where QR Codes might still be preferable to unencoded text recognition; but in most cases, I believe the impending ability of cellphones to read printed (and hand-written) text will replace QR Codes for situated mobile learning approaches, even before such use becomes popular in education!

I guess my answer to Andy’s question must be “no” - I think QR Codes are a *current* strategy for mobile learning, for those educators interested enough to use them; but I definitely can’t imagine them being the *future*.

Tags: mlearning, m-learning, mobile learning, mobilelearning, mobile-learning, education, andyramsden, andy ramsden, qrcode, qr code, 2d barcode, 2dbarcode, qr-code, semacode, datamatrix, learning

Authored by Leonard Low. Hosted by Edublogs.

Posted: March 27th, 2008 under Education.
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This podcast is a recorded conversation about the online game Travian recorded thanks to Skype-out VOIP technology, Call Recorder software, iPhone conference calling, and a very tech-literate ten year old Oklahoman named Alexander. Alexander, Devin Henley, and Wesley Fryer recorded this conversation from their respective locations in Edmond, Oklahoma; Wichita, Kansas; and northbound on Interstate 35 between Edmond and Wichita on Saturday, March 22, 2008. This discussion built on the ideas shared in a mid-December 2007 podcast recording about Travian, which is linked in the podcast shownotes. In this recorded conversation, participants discussed the experiences of the US Speed Server 3 ending (as the “Wonder of the World” was built to level 100), the importance of communication and courtesy in Travian diplomacy, and many of the lessons learned relating to alliances. The importance of alliances for protection, the varying ways forums are used, and an incident which amounted to “Travian terrorism” or bullying was also discussed. The conversation touched on issues relating to the founding of new villages, resource fields and the benefits of multipliers as well as a trade office, the importance of sitters, and the benefits as well as pitfalls of using an iPhone to play Travian. A wealth of lessons as well as fun await Travian players, who are engaged in an ongoing, real-time war game with thousands of others located around the world. Welcome to a much-evolved game of “Risk” in the 21st century connected infoverse: Travian! Participants hope by listening to this podcast you’ll learn more about the game Travian. If you have feedback or comments about our discussion or ideas, PLEASE leave a comment!

Posted: March 23rd, 2008 under Education.
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This podcast features a recording of Dr. Richard Hersh's comments on March 10, 2008, at the COSN Conference in Washington D.C. in the opening keynote panel discussion. Dr. Hersh currently serves as the Co-Director of the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) the College and Work Readiness Assessment (CWRA.) He is focused on encouraging educators (as well as the legislators who write policy which dictates many of the roles and tasks of the 21st century U.S. classroom) to embrace assessments which move far beyond the lower levels of Bloom's Taxonomy, at the knowledge and comprehension level, and instead assess critical thinking skills. This is a challenging task, but an extremely important one. Of all the presenters I heard at COSN 2008 this year, Dr. Hersh stood out as the most thought provoking and challenging speaker. This recording also includes some commentary from Dr. Chris Dede of Harvard University, who was also on the opening keynote panel. The description of this session in the conference program was: There is a growing awareness that students need new skills to succeed in our global economy. In addition to traditional core subjects, students need critical thinking, creativity and collaboration skills. Yet how do we embed these new skills in student’s education? How can these new skills be assessed? What role might technology play to enable and support this new learning environment? Hear from a leading large scale global assessment expert and U.S. educational researcher and practitioner as they explore this critical issue.

Posted: March 20th, 2008 under Education.
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This podcast (introduced by my wife, Shelly) is a recording of a session I shared at the 2008 Oklahoma Technology Association (OTA) conference in Oklahoma City on February 5, 2008, titled "K-12 Online Conference - Free Professional Development on Web 2.0 Technologies." The conference program description for this session was: The K-12 Online Conference offers a fantastic, free opportunity for educators around the world to learn together about innovative and effective ways web 2.0 (read/write web) technologies are and can be used to engage students as well as improve opportunities for learning. Each October, over 40 free presentations created by teachers around the world are posted on the k12onlineconference.org website. Over 50,000 educators from around the world participated in the conference in 2007. A series of live events as well as asynchronous interaction options are available during and after the conference. Learn how you can participate, AND earn professional development credit. Learn more on www.k12onlineconference.org.

Posted: March 19th, 2008 under Education.
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This podcast is a recording of a session at the COSN 2008 conference in Washington D.C. on March 10, 2008, titled "Unleashing the Transformational Power of One-to-One Computing in K-12." Members of the panel included the moderator: Leslie Wilson, President, One-to-One Institute; Chris Lehman, Principal, Science Leadership Academy, School District of Philadelphia; Dr. Rae Niles, former Director of Curriculum and Technology, Sedgwick Public Schools, USD 439, KS (Rae now works for Apple Computer); and Elaine Wrenn, Technology Coordinator, Echo Horizon School, CA. The official program description of this session was: The number of one-to-one computing initiatives around the nation continues to grow, and best practices keep improving and evolving. This panel session will explore research-based best practices for beginning and sustaining a one-to-one laptop computer initiative. Panelists will discuss successes, challenges and rewards of teaching and learning in a one-to-one laptop learning environment. Attendees will also hear specific examples of how teachers’ and students’ use of laptops and inquiry-based learning evolved, the impact of one-to-one initiatives on digital—as well as traditional and literacy—skills, how to sustain and build on the progress and lessons learned about leadership.

Posted: March 16th, 2008 under Education.
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This podcast is a recording of a presentation I shared with Oklahoma superintendents on March 5, 2008, in Oklahoma City at an Apple Leadership Institute. If the world is flat for those with connectivity, what are we going to do to change our learning environments in schools to support the development of 21st century skills alongside traditional literacy skills and content knowledge? I propose, as school leaders, we get creative, work together, and (in the words of Dr. Alan Kay) “invent the future” together. The Celebrate Oklahoma Voices project is one way Oklahoma students, teachers, and administrators are preserving the oral history of our state and promoting the development of digital literacy skills for teachers as well as students. (For learners of all ages.) Good leadership matters. Let’s step up to the challenges before us in education and provide the leadership the students, teachers, and families of our state and nation desperately need.

Posted: March 7th, 2008 under Education.
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This podcast is a recording of a presentation I shared at the NCCE 2008 conference in Seattle, Washington, on February 29, 2008. Intellectual property law, Creative Commons licensed media, and the guidelines under which students can legally publish their ideas in a variety of multimedia formats on the OPEN WEB (accessible by anyone) are important issues for ALL teachers. Gone are the days when teachers could reasonably pass off questions about copyright issues to the district technology director: All teachers and instructors, as well as students from middle-elementary grades through college need to have an accurate and functional knowledge of intellectual property issues as they apply to legal media publishing. Fortunately, homegrown media as well as Creative Commons licensed media offer ways to go "around the mountain" of traditional copyright and intellectual property law which previously may have seemed to be an insurmountable obstacle for educators.

Posted: March 3rd, 2008 under Education.
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This podcast is a recorded interview from a presentation I shared at the NCCE 2008 conference in Seattle, Washington, on February 29, 2008. The official program description for this session was: School administrators need to understand the implications changes in information and digital communication modalities should have for teachers and students in schools. This all-day workshop for administrators focuses on understanding the implications of these changes for learning, and empower campus principals to be constructive change agents for appropriate and constructive digital learning.

Posted: March 3rd, 2008 under Education.
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This podcast is a recorded interview with Julia Fallon at the NCCE 2008 conference in Seattle, Washington, on February 27, 2008. Instead of sponsoring separate technology leadership summits for IT and instructional administrators this year, NCCE conveners (including Julia) coordinated a joint leadership summit. This provided an excellent opportunity, through panel discussion and small group breakout sessions, to build bridges for conversations between educational leaders in these different areas. In this interview, Julie discsussed the formative results of the 2008 NCCE leadership summit as well as the outstanding work being supported through educational technology grant initiatives in the state of Washington. Educational leaders in other parts of the United States should follow the lead of NCCE and Washington department of education leaders in fostering these critical conversations between different educational leadership groups. Our educational system has many goals, and to insure groups within it are not working at cross-purposes regular commuincation is vital. Julia and others in Washington are working to capture video vignettes of innovative educational technology projects in their state which will be showcased online later this year. Kudos to these educational leaders in the state of Washington for their leadership in fostering these conversations between IT and instructional administrators, and making plans to follow-up on those conversations in the months ahead!

Posted: March 3rd, 2008 under Education.
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