Jim Groom (2008) threw out an interesting idea yesterday regarding the notion of digital identity and how it relates to student blogs, suggesting that a university might buy each student a one year domain license for a personal URL, rather than forcing student blogs under the umbrella of the institution’s domain.  I find this to be a fascinating idea and think it bears a great deal of merit.
Hosting a blog or website within a university domain typically means your URL references the institution – such as myschool.edu/community/people/~jdoe in Groom’s example.  …

Update: This wiki project has been discontinued due to a combination of lack of usage on my part, as well as an influx of spam.
I’ve been meaning to launch a wiki for quite some time and have finally got ’round to doing it. After going back and forth on a platform for ages I’ve finally settled on a fairly customised instance of Drupal that I’ve outfitted to feature many of the same sorts of wiki functionality people are accustomed to in MediaWiki. The wiki is now available at: …

I just discovered an interesting use of SecondLife that I thought was worth documenting and sharing. The Australian presence in SL contains a series of teleport destinations depicting 360 degree views of a particular aspect of Circular Quay in Sydney.
By selecting an option from the teleport menu you are transported to a room containing a series of seamlessly situated still images of the landmark. You’re then able to pan around and gain an appreciation of what it would look like if you were actually in that location in real life. …

This video is just brilliant. It uses the format made famous by the Common Craft Show (think “Wikis in Plain English“) to discuss networked learning and Connectivism. It’s 5 minutes long but really easy viewing.
URL: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=e7oFzmr9_M4
Description: “The Networked Student was inspired by CCK08, a Connectivism course offered by George Siemens and Stephen Downes during fall 2008. It depicts an actual project completed by Wendy Drexler’s high school students. The Networked Student concept map was inspired by Alec Couros’ Networked Teacher. I hope that teachers will use it to …

My experience with Connectivism and Connective Knowledge 2008 has been tantamount to climbing Mount Everest. The amount of sustained energy required to maintain an upward assent has been extraordinary – with many colleagues turning back or stopping along the way – but in this lay one of the key sources of its engagement, and one that tied students together into a unique, shared experience. It’s been absolutely incredible.
Every week yielded a fascinating new topic to be explored, and with it an even greater amount of tangential discussion. …