OLDaily

Do Better at Conference Diversity
Hopper, 2019/02/26

This is good advice not just for conference organizers but for educational facilitators generally. Suggestions range from the obvious (have women on your organizing committee) to the unexpected (consider alternatives to the conference t-shirt). I like that they recommend not just gender diversity but also "racial diversity, age diversity and other forms of diversity." I would add that you don't just want different colours and shapes, you want people offering diverse perspectives. The article also offers advice on bathrooms, childcare and food selection. 

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It’s about Trust, Stupid! Why Blockchain-based BlockCerts are the wrong solution to a false problem (2/3)
Serge Ravet, Learning Futures, 2019/02/26

Serge Ravet offers an extended and well-argued case against the use of blockcerts in education. The term 'blockcert' refers to a specific approach using blockchain to validate digital credentials. The question being posed asks what advantage they have over badges and (especially) the Verifiable Claims W3C specification. The problem, argues Ravet, is different from the solution offered by blockchain: "A credential is not fungible, i.e. its ownership can’t be transferred to someone else or transformed into something different, like exchanging a credential for a bowl of lentil stew." So there is no 'double-speding' problem, the one thing blockchain was invented to solve.

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Casualties of the future: college closures and queen sacrifices
Bryan Alexander, 2019/02/26

The primary value of this article is that it lists a welter of college closures and cutbacks, a list suitable for reference when encountering a person who says that the existing system is secure and unchanging. Bryan Alexander postulates that we are now in a boundary zone, "right in the midst of a switching period, a liminal space, marked by uncertainty and instability."

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