Ok I’m not exactly comparing like with like here but I am very interested in the potential of ebooks as an alternative way of structuring learning experiences – particularly where there is a large amount of reading involved. With the growing penetration of tablet devices (ownership in the US doubled to 19% over last Christmas) […]
I’ve been getting a bit obsessed recently about the importance of annotation functionality, as a number of my long-suffering colleagues will testify. Here’s my logic: iPads and other ebook readers will increasingly replace paper Some learners, particularly children, will make the transition away from paper now very quickly and be happy to study considerable amounts […]
OpenLearn’s external funding has all but dried up, but the Open University sees enough value in the initiative to keep it going. With funding from the Hewlett Foundation the initiative was able to convert 5,400 hours of current course materials and a lot more archived course content into open educational resources, available freely to anyone […]
Being able to teach and learn maths, science, engineering and even social science over the internet has been hampered by the difficulty of inputting and displaying mathematical notation. Things are set to improve though due to enhancements in our latest release of Moodle at the OU, demonstrated at a meeting today by Tim Lowe who’s […]
I’ve seen elearning projects fail many times over the years because they attempted to take static text designed for print, perhaps with a few graphics, put it on the web and expect students to engage in endless page-turning which they would have been better off doing from a book. It’s boring, the text takes longer […]
The Independent has an article entitled Something Wiki This Way Comes today about the increasing use of the Internet in higher education. I’m quoted as saying that “one of the most amazing technologies ever invented is reading from paper…It’s a key way to learn”. The journalist puts a “phew!” at the end of it as […]