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Saturday, February 05, 2005

Old Dogs and New Tricks

Seems like you're not out of luck with those old dogs just yet....

This week a study out of McMaster University in Hamilton, ON has been making the rounds. It's the one that found that older subjects are better able to apprehend the "bigger picture" when it comes to a given situation.

While researching, I also happened across this article about moving images, perception and age.

Both of these articles have relevance to the design and development decisions one makes when producing web-based content.

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Open Source

Here're a couple of link to articles I happened across earlier today.

Seems that "open source" in general, and Linux in particular, has gotten to the point where it's attracting more and more attention.

This time from the UN and Microsoft.

Monday, January 31, 2005

scaffold

scaffold
scaffold,
originally uploaded by dougsymington.
We've been talking a lot lately about "scaffolds" in our class. Scaffolds, as we're using the term, are intended to help us build knowledge in threaded discussions.

Couldn't resist posting a picture of the scaffold being used in the building next door.

Week 5 Reflections1608

I'm back with this week's question, and my response, to the Week 5 Reflection question for CTL 1608 @ OISE/UT:

This week's questions are metacognitive in nature!! I want you to think about how you approach the reading and resources and use them to make sense of the questions and discussion. For example, do you respond to questions early on and then use the discussion as a stimulus for doing the readings?, or, do you plan your discussion entry(ies) as you read? Or do you read to get a gist of the main ideas then formulate entries based on where the discussion is at that point? or do you have a different strategy? Please describe the strategies that have worked/not worked for you.

I think currency with the online discussion is paramount to my success as an online learner. Ideally I'll have completed readings for the week and have the time available to read posts daily. If pressed for time, I know it's better for me to maintain currency with posts, even if it means I fall behind on the readings.

Unless a reading is particularly good (or bad ;-) I don't usually approach posts with an agenda. I'm much more likely to "wait and see" what direction the mediators are interested in taking the discussion and respond accordingly. I don't have any problem starting discussions (i.e., being the first one to post) but I do prefer to respond to the posts of others.

I really depend on the give and take of a discussion thread or threads to help me with my understanding. I mentioned some of the things I'd learned about my reactions in online environments last week in a post to this forum. I'm certainly one that needs to be involved in order to be effective. (There's that limited attention span rearing its head again ;-)

For me it keeps coming back to the social side of the equation. Unless or until you have a social connection with someone, what's the point of putting up with the inevitable "technical difficulties" that will present and require "work arounds" along the way?