Game Element: Balance
Karl Kapp, Kapp Notes, 2015/08/21

Brief post outlining the importance of balance in game design. Balance refers to the fairness of a game (especially among multiple players) and the fine line between being too easy and too difficult. "Balancing a game is not an algorithmic calculation," writes Kapp. "As a fascinating article on Gamasutra states: A game being 'balanced' is also always, at best, a rough approximation."

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Connection and Locus of Control
Frances Bell, Francesbell's Blog, 2015/08/21

Frances bell asks, "is ‘connection’ an unequivocal good in human learning? and in machine learning?" Not necessarily, she suggests. It depends on intentions. "The difference between Google and the ‘good teacher’ is that Google wants to sell ads and demonstrate its influence on my purchasing (so it can sell more ads), whereas the ‘good teacher’ wants us to learn more than they want to teach."

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Material matters for learning in virtual networks: A case study of a professional learning programme hosted in a Google+ online community.
Aileen Acklanda, Ann Swinney, Research in Learning Technology, 2015/08/21

The major impact of this article, for me, is that it offers proof that people are actually using Google+. OK, just kidding. But it does raise the question of why they would choose this environment over others. The article talks about the difficulties participants have accessing Google+ (including one case where a warning said "your activities have been logged") and in using the site (one comment says it would be difficult without a software background). Frankly, I don't see how the authors' appears to actor-network theory (ANT) help explain the comments and interactions described in the text. This is, to me, a classic example of over-theorizing.

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Ad Blockers and the Nuisance at the Heart of the Modern Web
Farhad Manjoo, New York Times, 2015/08/21

Interestingly, it would be very easy for me to insert ads into OLDaily that no ad blocker could block. Here's one: Drink Coke. The way ad blockers work is that they pick up on features that annoy, interrupt or violate your privacy. The blockers look for URLs that are different from the page, and for types of content associated with ads. That's why this article suggests that people using ad blockers might result in better ads in the long run. Facebook needs to tread lightly here.

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ASU wants to be a new sort of University and they're getting there
Donald Clark, Donald Clark Plan B, 2015/08/21

Note: Updated link. I will be visiting Arizona State University as this post appears in the newsletter and it will be interesting to see how my experiences match up with Clark's. He focuses on the changes described in Designing the New American University (2015), authored byMichael Crow, who has run ASU since 2002. "The next step is to match student expectations on the quality of online courses. They all have smartphones, good laptops and experience exemplary content on all of these devices. Education needs to meet those expectations. This is really hard."

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