OLDaily

Moodle and Blackboard Cut Ties
Michael Feldstein, e-Literate, 2018/07/27

As reported in this article, "Moodle just announced that Blackboard 'will transition out of Moodle’s Certified Moodle Partner program in the coming months.'" The most immediate impact is that Blackboard's Moodle platforms will have to stop using the work 'Moodle' to describe themselves (though of course they can still use the open source Moodle platform). There's some analysis of the financial implications.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Genetics, big data science, and postgenomic education research
Ben Williamson, Code Acts in Education, 2018/07/27

Ben Williamson has put in the work and done the reserach and it shows in this excellent article on the nature and implications of the story circulating this week on the relation between some specific genetic properties and educational attainment. " Clearly the paper is a massive advance for genetics science, in education and beyond," he writes. Looking at the diagram - showing how the 75 genes are implicated specifically with the process of neurotransmission - it seems to me to be a significant advance in neuroscience as well. And that's the key - it's not some sort of deterministic phrenomogy and can't be treated that way. "It will link more closely with psychology and neuroscience as associations are further established between genes and neurons... New forms of genetic and genomic expertise in educational matters are already emerging, and challenging existing forms of social scientific and philosophical educational research."

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Introverts, collaboration, and creativity
Doug Belshaw, Thought Shrapnel, 2018/07/27

This is often how I feel. "Collaboration... generally 'reduced creativity due to the tendency to incrementally modify known successful designs rather than explore radically different and potentially superior ones.'” Working with a team on the personal learning environment I certainly felt we were trying to increment on previous designs rather than (as I wanted) build something fundamentally new. Of course, what I wanted might have been wildly impractical - creativity has its risks.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Calgary malls use facial recognition to track shoppers' age, gender without consent
Sarah Rieger, CBC News, 2018/07/27

This is just a quick update to note that facial recognition technology is becoming mainstream. In this case, it is being used by a shopping mall in Calgary. As it becomes more widely used, expect it to become prevalent in schools. "The use of facial recognition software in retail spaces is becoming commonplace to analyze shopper behaviour, sell targeted space to advertisers, or for security reasons like identifying shoplifters." The owners say they're not storing the images, but who knows whether we should believe them? CBC News doesn't link to the original thread and photo on Reddit (of course, because who needs original sources?) but here they are.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

What On Earth Is A MOOC-Based Degree Path?
Derek Newton, Forbes, 2018/07/27

I didn't appreciate the tone of this article as it uses phrases like "no more academic weight than the McDonald’s dollar menu" and "has the academic and employment standing of a dryer sheet" to describe MOOC credentials. Derek Newton is very sure. "There simply is no 'viable alternative' to a degree that does not include a degree. Much of the time, degree alternatives such as certificates and credentials are essentially worthless," he says, citing himself. The article as a whole is a hatchet job intended to take down Carolyn McIntyre, the founder and CEO of MOOCLab, which in turn offers MOOC resources and refers people to courses offered by Udacity, Coursera, and the rest. There's no reason for it, and no reason to believe the story being told in this article. (Readers' Note: Forbes blocks its articles with an adblock detector. I use uBlock Origin as a browser plugin to remove these and other malware on websites.)

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Research Reasons for Avoiding All Caps
Courtney Felton, Canvas LMS Community, 2018/07/27

This is one of the funniest threads I've read in a while and it nonetheless addresses a serious question: Courtney Felton writes, "I have a faculty member who puts all Assignment, Discussion, and Content Page titles in all caps. In terms of netiquette, this is discouraged. I find it personally distracting and more difficult to read (maybe trying to focus on too much at one time??), but I cannot find any adequately cited resources that provide convincing arguments regarding best practice. Can anyone help me out?" The answer, mostly, was "no" but there are some references, mostly to blogs, and one about 20 responses in points to this post which cites some real research.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Journalism programs struggle to adapt to changing times
Soraya Roberts, University Affairs, 2018/07/27

Journalism runs in my blood. At the age of 10 I started my first newspaper - The Eagle Report - and in university I was editor of the student newspaper. And as journalism has changed over the years, so have I. Hence my latest effort, this newsletter. I never went to j-school and this might have been a good thing, as journalism programs were slow to change and the people they trained are today among the third of journalism jobs in Canada that were lost between 2010 and 2017. This article chronicles that decline and how the schools are responding to the new digital era. I will say this: the best place to learn journalism is in a newsroom, doing journalism, and this remains as true today as in the days of cub reporters, and that's why we see the many collaborations between journalism schools and new media outlets reported in this article.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]