Deceptive Publishing: Why We Need a Blacklist, and Some Suggestions on How to Do It Right
Rick Anderson, The Scholarly Kitchen, 2015/08/18

One of the weaknesses of Gold Open Access publishing (that's the model where open access is provided by a publisher) has been the rise of predatory publishing, where commercial enterprises set up fake journals with the idea of scamming authors or institutions into paying publication fees. Rick Anderson suggest that a blacklist is in order, and identifies four (or maybe five) types of predatory journals: phony journals, such as promotional sock-puppets; pseudo-scholarly journals, which don't do proper peer review and editing; false flag journals, which fool people into thinking they are submitting to legitimate journals; and Masqueraders, which pretend to have an association with a prestigious institution. The possible fifth category is constituted of legitimate journals who are abusing their position by charging predatory prices (Anderson is obviously far less concerned about them).

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Kohlberg's moralising and its revival - character education
Donald Clark, Donald Clark Plan B, 2015/08/18

Donald Clark uses Lawrence Kohlberg's account of education "as the development of moral judgement and behaviour" as a frame to introduce this commentary on the recent revival of character education (and I would include my least favourite word, 'grit'). Influenced by Piaget, Kohlberg describes six stages of moral development, cumulating in universal ethical principles. " Kohlberg was simply reinforcing stereotypical male character traits," responded Carol Gillighan, and research showed Kohlberg's stages were not in the least accurate. The 21st century equivalent is character education. "In the US the character education movement is often pushed by conservative and religious sources that see the creep of liberal values as equivalent to moral decline," writes Clark. According to the research, however, "school-based character education programs produce no measurable improvements in student behaviour or academic performance." Image: Sperreng Middle School.

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And So, Without Ed-Tech Criticism...
Audrey Watters, Hack Education, 2015/08/18

Drawing on Seymour Papert's 1987 essay 'Computer Criticism vs. Technocentric Thinking,' Audrey Watters offers a defense of ed tech criticism. She writes: "Without ed-tech criticism, we’ll still be stuck – stuck without these critical practices, stuck without critical making or coding or design in school, stuck without critical (digital) pedagogy. And likely we’ll be stuck with a technocentrism that masks rather than uncovers let alone challenges power."

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