Key Tensions in the Field of Learning Analytics
Bodong Chen, 2016/05/26

This is an interesting and useful post. Bodong Chen first distinguishes between learning analytics and academic analytics (the former being directly concerned with teaching and learning) and educational data mining (the latter being more focused on the exploration of data from academic settings). He then outlines some areas of interest: first, the emphasis on big data in learning analytics, and second the need for it to consider the more nuanced aspects of learning itself. This leads to a discssion of the 'tensions': first, divisions based on different accounts of learning; second, the tension between learning and algorithms; third, agency and control; and fourth, the ethics of learning analytics. It's also worth viewing his Learning Analytics course.

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“Learning on the go”
Contact North, 2016/05/26

This is a good but not especially imaginative article on what to expect from mobile learning in education. For example, what factors will impact the use of mobile technologies? Bandwidth, instructor use and proficiency, and student proficiency, we are told. Well - yeah. Anything else? Or, for example, what can we expect in the future? We are told: location-based learning, augmented reality, wearable learning, internet of things, and 'apps' for learning. The same stuff, in other words, that we've been reading about for a decade. And yes, we are told to ramp up instructor training, secure leadership buy-in, and measure project results. Yawn. 

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A Moodle Plug-in for Gamified, Individualized Learning
Leila Meyer, Campus Technology, 2016/05/26

Using a Moodle plugin, "instructors can turn their courses into a personalized game, where students complete course activities in the school's Moodle learning management system to gain skill points and advance their avatar through a series of objectives." Students take a pretest, receive an avatar, and then run through some 75 activities, working to earn 'skill points' which count toward getting their 'job' of choice. 

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Oculus Riles Users Over Piracy Block That Fails Anyway
David Jones, E-Commerce Times, 2016/05/26

Should games be hard-coded to run on specific hardware? Oculus is in a war against so-called hackers who are adapting their games to run on rival systems such as HTV Vive and Valve. Is this (as they claim) 'piracy'? Technically, yes, since the DRM must be broken. But using a legally purchased game on an alternative platform doesn't seem to be inheerently wrong. And even Oculus said it would be OK: "Last year, company founder Palmer Luckey posted on Reddit that he would not resist users' attempts to try out Oculus games on rival headsets." What does this whole episode tell us how Facebook - which owns Oculus - will operate in the future should it ever be able to lock users into its platform?

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