December 2006 Archives

If you work with elearning and course management systems, you are probably aware of the controversy around Blackboard being awarded a patent "e-learning systems." If not, Google it and you'll find lots of discussion. As incredulous as it sounds, Blackboard successfully was awarded a patent for "e-learning systems."

I was listening to a Science Friday podcast during a drive up to Phoenix last Saturday and heard something that I think explains how Blackboard got that patent. Did you know that patent office researchers get a bonus when a patent is approved? It seems like this could be the reason why we are seeing some outrageous patents awarded.

Listen to "Can Patents Prevent Scientific Progress?" on NPR's website for the full story. It's 14:41 minutes long and well worth listening to.

One of my LTC colleagues posted a message today alerting us to an article on ZD/Net that reports on remarks made by John Seely Brown at a conference held at MIT last week. Its title is "Futurist: To fix education, think Web 2.0," and is written by Martin LaMonica.

The article takes what many of us have been saying for the past 6-7 years about "student centered learning," or as I like to say "moving the sage on the stage, to the guide on the side." Only Seely Brown apparently wrapped his comments around the interactive and personalized nature of Web 2.0 [Wikipedia ]. Here's a quote: "Rather than treat pedagogy as the transfer of knowledge from teachers who are experts to students who are receptacles, educators should consider more hands-on and informal types of learning. These methods are closer to an apprenticeship, a farther-reaching, more multilayered approach than traditional formal education, he said." I hope he's not faced with making the same proposals when Web 3.0 is popular.

BTW, if you are not all that familiar with Web 2.0, I did a short talk about Social Computing [Wikipedia] last Wednesday at the UA's School of Information Resources & Library Science [PDF 2.8MB] that includes a section on Web 2.0. Be glad to discuss the topic with anyone who is interested.