OLDaily

Design of Multimedia Teaching Platform for Chinese Folk Art Performance Based on Virtual Reality Technology
Hong Li, International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 2017/09/28

This is a detailed article (13 page PDF) describing the theory, development and testing of a virtual reality system for the teaching of Chinese folk dancing. The system was required because traditional methods of teaching, which depended on instruction followed by practice, were not inspiring people nor encouraging them to engage in the art. "There is still a large space for progress, which is because that the independent learning ability of the students who had received traditional 'duck-stuffing' teaching mode for a long time has not been fully developed." Good case study with a lot to offer people developing similar systems.

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Why Venture Capitalists Aren’t Funding The Businesses We Need
Ben Schiller, Fast Company, 2017/09/28

I've expressed the view in the past that venture capitalists (VCs) don't fund ideas, they fund people, and specifically, people like themselves. This view is becoming more current, as evidenced by this article. "If you’re looking for money to start a new business, it helps to be white, male, attractive-looking, and living in a place like Boston or San Francisco. Better still, you want to have gone to a top-ranked university. People with these sorts of profiles win the lion’s share of funding from VC firms." This - and not our lack of drive, innovatioon or application - is why it's difficult to get startup and growth funding in Canada. It's a network, and it extends beyond just VC (you can find the same ties and connections in media and government, for example). I would love in my lifetime to see this advantage rendered obsolete.

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Social Media and the Training of Our Minds
Samir Chopra, 3 Quarks Daily, 2017/09/28

We are being trained by scial media, writes Samir Chopra. "The folks at Facebook and Twitter have achieved something remarkable: they have made their users regard the world as staging ground for inputs to their products. The world and its events and relations are, so to speak, so much raw material to be submitted to the formulation and framing of Facebook statuses and tweets. The world is not the world tout court, it is the provisioner of ‘content’ for our social media reports." They have created an incentive scheme: we write in the format they require, and they provide us with social approval when we publish the post. What's key here is that we actually begin to think that way; we internalize the construction of tweets and posts, check-ins and photo ops. Interesting article that says a lot about both the nature of social media and the nature of training.

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Accessibility: Ensuring that Edtech Systems Work Together to Serve All Students
Rick Johnson, EDUCAUSE Review, 2017/09/28

This article is mostly a recap for those familiar with accessibility issues, but offers a good overview for those learning how to address them. The twist is that it addresses accessibility in combinations of online systems. "The real-world test is not how each of the parts conform to a standard, but how all of the parts work together to provide a highly functional system for users." It's a good article, just don't fall for the sales pitch. The article is also marketing for Benetgech's global certified accessible program (EDUCAUSE Review should flag such posts as 'marketing' or 'Advertising Content').

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The Rural Higher-Education Crisis
Jon Marcus, Matt Krupnick, The Atlantic, 2017/09/28

This article describes the disinclination of people in rural communities to continue on to higher education. It also notes the disdain toward rural people on campus. Going to school in Calgary, I didn't feel that, though it might have been different in Toronto or New York. When I lived there all of Calgary felt rural (in a sense it still does, which for me is one of its most attractive features). I grew up in a rural community, and I ive in one now, though I commute to the city. And I've always been happiest when living where I can see the land. Rural communities once were prosperous, and with advanced tehnology, they will be again. Either way, it's where I choose to live.

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