Pages

Saturday, November 16, 2002


Another post from Detroit.

Yesterday I had the good fortune to present a SMART Master's Train-the-trainer session to administration staff of the Detroit Public Schools.

I really enjoy working with educators. SMART Board(TM) interactive whiteboards are extremely effective teaching tools and educators "get it."

The sessions I deliver to teachers and educational administrators present fantastic opportunities to workshop and dialogue while exploring implementation strategies for the classroom and I always learn as much, if not more, than my "students" -- as was the case with yesterday's session.

Thursday, November 14, 2002


A post from Detroit, MI.

I arrived this afternoon to deliver more SMART Master's On-site and Event sessions to SMART Board(TM) interactive whiteboard customers. On my way to the Motor City, I spent time reviewing the Building Educational Metadata Application Profiles whitepaper I referenced yesterday.

I liked the "Interoperability and Pragmatism" section of the paper and hope to be able to apply these concepts to the SMART Education Object. I'm also looking forward to learning more about the learning object and metadata work being done in Australia.

I'm especially intrigued by how standards (The Le@rning Federation Metadata Application Profile, CANCORE, Learning Object Metadata) are converging and how pragmatism will ultimately define the usefulness of object-based education and learning for all stakeholders.

Wednesday, November 13, 2002


Today's link comes to us compliments of Damian Bolton, friend and cube-mate at SMART Technologies Inc.

Damian asked me if I'd seen the Distance Education Clearing House page at the University of Wisconsin -- I hadn't and I thank him for sending it along.

Today's revisiting of the work of "object theorists" I respect led to Norm Friesen at CANCORE. While in looking at what the CANCORE gang had been doing since my last visit I discovered the Building Educational Metadata Application Profiles paper by Friesen, Nigel Ward and Jon Mason.

The paper addresses "interoperability" as it relates to the distribution of objects -- a huge issue for developers -- and is the result of an Australian-Canadian collaboration:

In particular, it provides an overview of metadata implementations for managing and distributing Learning Objects and the practical issues that have emerged so far in this domain. The discussion is informed by examples from two national education and training communities – Australia and Canada

The fact that Damian joined us from Australia in May means that today's post is another example of an Australian-Canadian collaboration. Thanks mate, eh ;-)

Tuesday, November 12, 2002


I continue to revisit some of the sites I've been to over the past year to see what's "the latest" from those that have shaped my notion of "objects" as they relate to education and learning.

Those familiar with the model I've produced for the SMART Education Object will know that the work of David Wiley -- specifically "online self-organizing social systems (OSOSS)" -- forms the basis of the model.

I visited Dr. Wiley's site again today and found that he's posted several presentations related to his ongoing work on objects.

Use the "Page Down" key to scroll through the *.PPT presentations at the link above.

Monday, November 11, 2002


I made my way to the Cenotaph in Calgary today to pay my respects and remember those who gave their lives in service of Canada.

I think it is important -- perhaps now more than ever -- that we take the time to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, "lest we forget."

Sunday, November 10, 2002


Today I spent some time working with SMART Ideas(R) to refine the model of the SMART Education Object (SMARTEO).

SMART Ideas allows users to save content in two different html-based formats. You can see the SVG version of the SMARTEO at this link.

NOTE: Some of the internal links within the model won't be active -- these links still point to files on my local hard drive.

I'll work on these and posts updates in the coming days.