OLDaily

Feature Article
What Peace Means to Me
Stephen Downes, Half an Hour, 2018/05/16

Peace requires caring for and supporting each of the things that are taken from us in a time of war: a civil and social infrastructure we can trust to protect us, a respect for and celebration of each others' distinct identity, an ability for each of us to participate in governance and conflict resolution, and the right to the necessities of life and conditions enabling each of us to aspire toward achieving our goals.

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E-learning: Why employees expect a Netflix experience
Steve Wainwright, Personnel Today, 2018/05/16

I can see why this will resonate with readers, and certainly we want something much better than pre-arranged courses and expensive fees. And if learning and watching videos were the same then the Netflix analogy would work. But learning - especially informal learning - isn't about selecting something to view from a recommender. It's about solving problems, getting help, working together, and reflecting on experiences and lessons learned. It's as much about creation as consumption. So, sure, the Netflix experience may seem appealing, but more is required.

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The Gates Foundation And Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Want Your Ideas On The Future Of Education
Fast Company, Jim Shelton, 2018/05/16

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have opened a Request for Information (RFI) about work that can help increase student success in math, non-fiction writing, and "executive function (the skill set concerning memory, self-control, attention, and flexible thinking)" (I couldn't help but giggle a bit when I read the third one). "The RFI represents an invitation to researchers and practitioners to deepen public understanding of where the most important, ambitious, and innovative work is being done in a variety of disciplines." I found the submission process a bit off-putting. They note that "All responses generated by this RFI become the property of BMGF and CZI" and they ask for a lot of biographical information up front. all what a to be a closed online form.

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Stop Trying to Fix Students and Start Trying to Fix the University
Nicola Rivers, Dave Webster, Fruits of the Pedagogic Life, 2018/05/16

There are two telling quotes in this article, and I'll address them in reverse order: first, "the factor that seems most effective in determining young people’s earning power is not having done an internship, or a sandwich year, but privilege," and second, "if they (universities) want students to work out ways to improve the world, they’ll need to start providing a model of such a world." This might be very hard - maybe even impossible - for universities. Universities don't just foster knowledge and culture. Their value proposition hinges on connecting people to elite already-established networks of wealth and influence. Could they give this up and still remain viable? Would they?

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Six questions about openness in science
Richard Poynder, Open and Shut?, 2018/05/16

The questions cover a wide range of topics and insights. For example, why should science be open to the public, because after all, they neither understand nor are interested in the details? As Poynder says, "Transparency has become important if only because science appears to be facing a major credibility crisis right now." Also, "In providing public access to information about trials and studies the greater transparency that results should help reduce or eliminate unethical practices." Hard to disagree.

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The Good Life and Open Online Learning
Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed, 2018/05/16

As I commented to the author of this article: First, don't say "Those of us who are actually involved..." It's fine to speak for yourself, but you should not position yourself as representative of the people who build, developed or taught MOOCs. There's a wide range of opinion in the community, and a lot of it will disagree with yours. Second, I don't see how this can be true: "The real value comes in the active and experiential learning that can only occur at a small scale. This only happens when a professor has the opportunity to get to know her students as individuals." There are many cases where active and experiential learning happens at a massive scale, and there are many cases where this happens without the mediation of professors. Image: Washington Post

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What if JavaScript wins?
Anil Dash, 2018/05/16

I'm not really a fan of Javascript though I've been working with it for many years (long enough to see it become ECMAScript and JavaScript). Still, I can see why it would become so popular: it works in web broswers, integrates seamlessly with the document object model, and therefore is widely used. Add server-side Javascripe and Node.js and NPM and you have a winner. Thus Anil Dash writes "we’ve never seen one open language become a nearly-universal programming language for coders" and gushes "we just might be on the precipice of an era in coding that’s unprecedented, where we might actually see something new in the patterns of adoption and usage of an entire programming language." So is it time to rewrite gRSShopper for Node?

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Textbook Authors Sue over Cengage Unlimited Royalties
Michael Feldstein, e-Literate, 2018/05/16

Michael Feldstein writes, "the handwriting is on the wall. If textbook prices come down, then textbook royalties also have to come down." But by how much? And how will they be paid? "They either will get smaller royalty agreements or will be paid once on a fee-for-services basis so that the company can own the content outright. My guess is that there will be a lot more of the latter than the former." I'm inclined to agree. And the lawsuit? Who cares! As Feldstein says, "all of this is transitional."

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