I enjoy this mail list called 'The Brilliant Report', but although it is interesting it is not necessarily all relevant. This particular post, though, is relevant to the work we do at CATL.
* A repeated theme from PebbleBash was that students should be doing their own feedback and assessment. This addresses many common issues: student don't appreciate the feedback they get (low SPOT scores re feedback); educators are told by 'management' to do more feedback (unsustainable) and educate students about the feedback they are getting (obviously not meeting students' needs if it has to be explained)
* Educators should be fostering "self-regulation"; educators always giving feedback tends to "foster dependency and place responsibility too far in the direction of teachers"
* "Of special importance is the practice of students in making judgements about their own work and that of others"
* May help with our staff being less dependent? Finding their own information? BUT "dependent on a learning environment that fosters continual improvement and creates opportunities for knowledge seeking and application"
Although it is a bit old, I found this article interesting because it gave a birds eye perspective of the instructional/educational designers role. I have never seen Bates study mentioned before - having evidence of the important role that educational/instructional designers play in the effectiveness of eLearning is worth investigating further.