OLDaily

Highlights from JupyterCon in New York 2018
Mac Slocum, O'Reilly, 2018/08/27

I flagged all of these articles for inclusion, but in the end decided to wrap them up in this single link. O'Reilly summarizes a number of talks and presentations for the recent Jupyter Notebooks conference. There's a lot of overlap into ed tech, even though the notebooks are currently tools primarily for computer and data scientists. The idea of working software that can be edited and run inside a learning resource has far-reaching implications. Even if you don't read the dozen or so articles, watch "Sea change: What happens when Jupyter becomes pervasive at a university?"

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Before difficult conversations happen, create your one-pager
Ewan McIntosh, No Tosh, 2018/08/27

I don't know if this is a paid placement, but if it is, it's a very good one. Ewan McIntosh is referring to a tip offered by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield's course in MasterClass (note that this link will take you to a subscription wall). I recently heard this advertised on TWIT and looked at it myself; it's basically for-pay courses offered by celebrity spokespeople. The advice is good advice: "If you’re learning something new that can help you in an everyday aspect of your job... create an aide-memoire and then push yourself to revisit it frequently: these are one-pagers." I've done this a lot; I called them 'cheat sheets' and you'll find examples all over the internet. But the best are the ones you create for yourself. Anyhow: my post is not paid placement, and I hope the same is true of Ewan McIntosh

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Are MOOCs Fatally Flawed Concepts That Need Saving by Bots?
Matt Crosslin, EduGeek Journal, 2018/08/27

Matt Crosslin takes Derek Newton's recent article “Not Even Teacher-Bots Will Save Massive Open Online Courses” behind the woodshed and gives it a good thrashing. This take-down is placed in the context of the wider issue of a certain MOOC-narrative having been (mistakenly) created in the popular press. "You can’t evaluate research about a topic – whether MOOCs or bots or post-humanism or any topic – through a lens that fundamentally misunderstands what the researchers were examining in the first place."

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Dark Patterns: When Companies Use Design to Manipulate You
Justin Pot, How-To Geek, 2018/08/27

The concept of dark patterns is making a bit of a comback this summer as new regulations are inspiring companies to be at their sneakiest. A 'dark pattern' is a characteristic ploy used by websites in order to manipulate you into doing things you don't want to do. This article lists a few of them: confirm-shaming, bait-and-switch, won't-read, and more. There's a dark pattern Twitter Feed with an almost endless supply of examples.

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