Posted 5:25 PM by George Siemens
Effective Online Assessment Strategies for Today's Colleges & Universities via Online Learning Update
Quote: "It is important for teachers to have a clear vision of their roles and responsibilities to provide the best teaching strategies for their students. The instructor’s role is a dynamic one that requires having individuals who are able to create a virtual climate that encourages meaningful individual and collaborative learning. Assessment is an important element in the teaching and learning process that challenges instructors to consider evaluation techniques that meet the learning needs of today’s adult learners."
Comment: Assessment is different online...or at least it should be (actually, assessment should also be different in the classroom - tests are ineffective for most assessments). Plagiarism is a hot topic in education (read Steve's recent post...especially in relation to online learning. How can we improve the effectiveness/authenticity of online assessment. The answer lies in authentic assessments...and this article does a nice job detailing student-centered and authentic assessment.

Posted 5:12 PM by George Siemens
Web Ontology Language (OWL) Guide Version 1.0
Quote: "The World Wide Web as it is currently constituted resembles a poorly mapped geography. Our insight into the documents and capabilities available are based on keyword searches, abetted by clever use of document connectivity and usage patterns. The sheer mass of this data is unmanageable without powerful tool support. In order to map this terrain more precisely, computational agents require machine-readable descriptions of the content and capabilities of web accessible resources. These descriptions must be in addition to the human-readable versions of that information.
The Web Ontology Language (OWL) is intended to provide a language that can be used to describe the classes and relations between them that are inherent in Web documents and applications."
Comment: A significant document...addressing the realization that current greatest weakness of the web is "findability". OWL is an attempt to address this...

Posted 5:00 PM by George Siemens
Innovation Interrupted
Quote: "Maybe it will take a new generation of technologists to view the world differently, or a hard-core innovation to create entire new categories of automation we have yet to imagine. But as things stand today, even the visionaries lack vision. Everyone is focused on the pragmatic, day-to-day realities of trying to hobble from one quarter to the next, holding onto as much of their cash and their head count as possible."
Comment: Good overview of what is happening in the world of technology - in terms of priorities, investment, trends (wireless, linux, portals, hosted applications). Number one concern for Chief Information Officers? Integration.

Posted 4:47 PM by George Siemens
Handbook of User-Centred Design via Column Two
Quote: "This handbook on user-centred design is intended for those responsible for commissioning or carrying out usability work during the development of interactive systems. It consists of 5 chapters..."