OLDaily

Presentation
A Personal Learning Framework
Stephen Downes, Oct 18, 2017, ICDE2017 World Conference on Online Learning, Toronto, Canada

This presentation looks at the quantum mechanics of learning theory, drilling down from the idea of a subject or a piece of knowledge to the elements constituting a personal learning framework. Unfortunately the last 7 minutes of the video is clipped.

[Link] [Slides]

The University Is Not a Technology
Sam Fallon, Len Gutkin, Chronicle of Higher Education, 2017/10/19

Actually, the university is a technology, but thats periphrial to th main point. This article response to a critique of universities that has two major parts. Frst, "a small subset of elite universities are disproportionately represented in the most prestigious journals in the literary humanities." And second, it "isn’t simply that elite advantages in publication distribute prestige inequitably — it’s that they produce a damaged body of knowledge." The technology angle comes into play by metaphor: if you consider the university, then the flawed output can be predicted. Hence the objection: "the alleged need to replace the folk-knowledge of the discipline with a set of algorithms suggests a rather dim view of the basic competence of humanists to know what, in their own fields, matters." The problem with folk-knowledge - you know, like "Harvard has the best professors" - is that it is often demonstrably wrong.

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MIT Introduces Digital Diplomas
Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed, 2017/10/19

People have using blockchain for certification for a number of years now so it's no real surprise to see MIT's new digital diplomas. "Using a free, open-source app called Blockcerts Wallet, students can quickly access a digital diploma that can be shared on social media and verified by employers to ensure its authenticity. The digital credential is protected using block-chaintechnology. The block chain is a public ledger that offers a secure way of making and recording transactions, and is best known as the underlying technology of digital currency Bitcoin." More.

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You Probably Need a Public Portfolio Even If You're Not a Freelancer or a "Creative"
Nick Douglas, LifeHacker, 2017/10/19

The messaging for personal portfolios, as in this post, is that people with online portfolios will stand out when being considered for work, interviews, or any other thing related to their profession. As more and more people create portfolios, though, this advantage will slowly disappear (of course, if everyone stays on Facebook and Twitter, the advantage of having your own personal portfolio will never go away). I think what this author (and most authors) don't see yet is that these portfolios will be the basis for automated talent searching algorithms. The cheap and easy algorithms will focus on things like LinkedIn or resume searches on Monster. But the good systems will be looking through personal websites (or whatever we use for portfolios in 20 years). As I've said before, the credentials of the future won't be credentials. They'll be your own work, and you'll be recognized with job offers.

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Open Badges: A Low-Cost Toolkit for Measuring Team Communication and Dynamics
Oren Lederman, Dan Calacci, Angus MacMullen, Daniel C. Fehder, Fiona E.
Murray, Alex “Sandy” Pentland , arXiv, 2017/10/19

This article came to me via the Badge News newsletter, but it has nothing to do with what we think of as open badges. "The Open Badge system consists of three main components: (1) an electronic “badge” that is worn around the neck and is capable of continuously collecting social interaction data from teams in real-time, (2) a smart phone version of the system, and (3) a modular visualization platform that creates summary visual feedback from the data collected by the badges." So: post-apocalyptic surveillance from the MIT Media Lab. Though I doubt whether this system would distinguish between Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde interactions (which is really kind of relevant).

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Certified Membership (CMALT)
https://www.alt.ac.uk/certified-membership, Association for Learning Technology, 2017/10/19

This is a badge-based initiative from the Association for Learning Technology. "CMALT, our Certified Membership scheme,  is a peer-based professional accreditation scheme developed by ALT to enable people whose work involves learning technology to have their experience and capabilities certified by peers and demonstrate that they are taking a committed and serious approach to their professional development." There are some webinars and guides, including information about portfolio reviews. More guidelines. Though ALT is for people based in the UK, the CMALT registration includes special sections for Australasia and Hong Kong. Fees apply, of course. I like this as an experiment in portfolio-based badge-based assessment. 

[Link] [Comment]