Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:2064] Re: IFETS-DISCUSSION digest 268
From: Stephen Downes (stephen.downes@ualberta.ca)
Date: Sat 25 Aug 2001 - 10:53:47 MEST
From: "Stephen Downes" <stephen.downes@ualberta.ca> Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:2064] Re: IFETS-DISCUSSION digest 268 Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2001 20:53:47 +1200
OK, in what would otherwise be an ordinary paper describing the development of
an online learning site there is one extremely important paragraph:
"In recognition of the fact that all students have unique learning styles,
the University of Phoenix Online will soon begin the implementation of Csource,
an exciting new product and the new standard for delivery of student and faculty
materials. This product is a set of learning tools that are designed and presented
in a variety of modalities in order to meet the needs of all learners. These
materials will be delivered via the Student and Faculty Web on a course-by-course
basis. To facilitate this strategic initiative, the Company is partnering with a
variety of publishers to provide content and other ancillary services. UOP currently
has partnership arrangements with Thomson Learning, Pearson Publishing, McGraw Hill,
Course Technology, and John Wiley. Today, the University of Phoenix Online has 26,000
students enrolled in their classes and 2100 faculty members."
Before saying anything about eBooks, I want to ask: what is Csource and where does it
come from? Why is the logo (which is almost impossible to read) used throughout the
article? Why can't I find any reference to them on the internet? In what way will
they set the "new standard for delivery of student and faculty materials?" Who owns
Csource, and what is the relation between Csource and the publishers? Which entity
exactly - the UOP or Csource - is referred to as 'The Company' in the middle of the
paragraph? What is the real marketing purpose of this article?
I have been covering the rise of eBooks (and the considerable propaganda effort
deployed to get them accepted by universities) in my newsletter OLdaily. Readers
should have a look at some of the discussions by various authors surrounding this
topic. See <http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/website/find.cgi?matchstr=%20eBook|%20e-Book>
-- Stephen Downes ~ http://www.downes.ca ~ sdownes@ualberta.ca Information Architect, University of Alberta http://www.munimall.net Publisher, OLDaily <http://www.downes.ca/news/OLDaily.htm> CTO, NewsTrolls http://www.newstrolls.com downes@newstrolls.com Section Editor, The Technology Source http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/ Today I'm in: Edmonton, Canada --------------------------------------------------------- List address to send message to everyone: ifets-discussion@catfish.valdosta.edu Details of current discussion: http://ifets.ieee.org/discussions/discuss.html Forum website: http://ifets.ieee.org/ Forum's contact person: kinshuk@massey.ac.nz Info on Join/Leave List: http://ifets.ieee.org/maillist.html ---------------------------------------------------------
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