Itamar Tzadok

6) http://googlesystem.blogspot.ca/2009/09/embeddable-google-document-viewer.html

This amounts to embedding in a content in the course (e.g. label, page etc.) something like:

<iframe src="http://docs.google.com/gview?url=url-of-doc-that-can-be-accessed-by-anyone&embedded=true" style="width:600px; height:500px;" frameborder="0"></iframe>

or

<iframe src="https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=url-of-doc-that-can-be-accessed-by-anyone&embedded=true" style="width:600px; height:500px;" frameborder="0"></iframe>

I've even drafted a Dataform field type for that, that is, you can upload a ppt into a Dataform entry, and open it in a viewer inline. The main thing to consider here is that the file must be publicly accessible, otherwise the viewer won't be able to open it. User content in a course typically requires login and so the viewer won't be able to open it. It might work if the course allows guests. Alternately the integration, such as the Dataform field, should provide a way to make these files available to the viewer.

hth

5) http://www.microsoft.com/web/solutions/powerpoint-embed.aspx.

Only if supported by the activity module. But standard modules do not support that, and it's not trivial to implement.

What if the activity shows the break down of the different grading categories in the activity, but sends to the gradebook one overall grade for the whole assignment (submissions and reviews)?

For example, a participant receives 12/15 for the submission and 4/5 for a review of another submission. The participant can see in the activity something like:

Evaluation
=========
Submission: 12/15
Review: 4/5

And assuming the overall is a simple sum, the participant will see in the gradebook 16/20.

Just a note that I've released Dataform 2.8.5 and Availability Dataform Content 2.8.1. Both releases together offer better support for using the availability condition. The condition can still be used only within a course. It should now be transferrable with a restricted activity via the sharing cart.

ILDs continue to miss the point. Imitation precedes creation. We imitate first and then repeat with variation. This is why labs, where the masters "instruct" by doing their job and the apprentices are trained by job, are far more effective learning environments than lecture halls and even seminar rooms.

If as the instructor you engage your students in ILD and remain an external observer the impact of the activity remains insignificant. Learners can learn from each other, to be sure. But if the learners are equally or similarly inexperienced, the learning is marginal or very slow.

The fact is that most instructors remain external, even in the so called 'blended' courses, because they cannot bring themselves to play the role of a learner, that is straggle and stumble in the effort to solve a problem, in front of their students in a standard course. The authoritative structure is too institutionalized.

Collaborative work is an entirely different issue and I'm inclined to agree with your general observation about it being unfocused. 

Print (digital), Image, Audio, in that order. And the order is from the most cost effective to the least. I take the delivery of information to be much less important than offering opportunities for practice and self-assessment and prefer to invest the limited resources in the latter.