A Hippocratic Oath for Ed-Tech
Audrey Watters, Hack Education, 2015/01/22

I think this is a good idea. That's why I proposed it in 2008 and revisited it in 2010. "Drawing from the Hippocratic Oath, perhaps it would insist that students be recognized as humans, not as data points. It would demand a respect for student privacy. It would recognize that “the tools” are less important than compassion. It would privilege humility over techno-solutionism. It could call for more professional transparency perhaps – open doors in classrooms, open collaboration with peers, and open disclosure about relationships with industry." I don't know whether it would demand those these, particularly. But what it should demand is that rules and principles designed to apply generally should be examined in individual cases so they do not cause harm personally. As any good doctor would do.

[Link] [Comment]

The Mirage of Measurable Success
Matt Crosslin, EduGeek Journal, 2015/01/22

Interesting article that despite the title is more concerned with the evaluation of dalmooc, which I think was intended to be an instance of a dual-MOOC (ie., both cMOOC and xMOOC). The inevitable result was that some people thought it was more cMOOC than they expected, while others thought it was more xMOOC than they expected. But in assessing the MOOC, Matt Crosslin notes, "The most important questions that were asked had to deal with 'why even offer dalmooc if you don’t know what measurable success would look like?'" And he ponders that in this context and eventually says: "Most of what we call 'measurable success' in education is really just a mirage of numbers games... there is a problem with the system and the culture that drives that system that needs to be addressed before 'measurable success' becomes a trustworthy idea." Related: Terry Anderson on whether blogging is worth it for aspiring academics.

[Link] [Comment]