Peter Thiel and the Future (and Funding) of Education Technology
Audrey Watters, Hack Education, 2016/10/20

Audrey Watters on Peter Thiel: "At the core of the companies that Thiel has founded and funded is surveillance. Palantir. Facebook. AltSchool. The regime of data collection and analysis is framed as 'personalization.' But that’s a cover for compliance and control."

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Use of Technologies at #IWMW16
Brian Kelly, UK Web Focus, 2016/10/20

If you haven't been watching it must seem like the entire world has changed. Here's the list of technologies used as described by Brian Kelly: Slack, Lanyard, Whova. The last is completely new to me. Whova (which sponsored the event) "allows your event to go mobile, and supercharges your attendee engagement and networking experience." It provides things like agendas, check-in, maps and links.

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Why is Twitter no longer No 1 on the Top Tools for Learning list?
Jane Hart, Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies, 2016/10/20

I was watching a item on the news this morning tracking Twitter reaction to some televised events and I thought to myself, "why track this if all the traffic is bots?" And that's part of the answer to the question in the title of this article. And as Jane Hart writes, "over the years the dark side of Twitter has emerged – in the form of the trolls – and this is something that has put off new users signing up to Twitter.  In fact, now that Twitter is up for sale, we can see that this is one of the things that is deterring potential buyers."

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Rangatiratanga: How Tapping Into New Zealand’s Indigenous Concepts Sparked New Educational Gains
Patrick Snedden, EdSurge, 2016/10/20

Rangatiratanga is a Maori concept for taking personal and collective control over your own future. It formed the basis for the treaty creating New Zealand's unique society. According to this article, it's also the basis for a school district renewal project restoring Maori education. I wish the article had focused more on how Rangatiratanga was practiced by the district, but the author talks mostly about paying for their educational costs and passing tests.

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