OLDaily

IMS Global Learning Consortium Announces Final Release and Market Adoption of Next Generation Learning Tools Interoperability: LTI Advantage
IMS Global, 2019/05/16

IMS has announced "the availability of Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) version 1.3, a significant update to the core standard, and three new services that comprise LTI Advantage. The latter, LTI Advantage, is a package of services offered through LTI, specifically, "Names and Role Provisioning Services, Deep Linking, and Assignment and Grade Services." Providers need to be LTI Advantage Certified. IMS CEO Rob Abel is quoted as saying "Adoption of LTI Advantage by leading platform and learning tool suppliers is helping institutions accelerate the movement toward establishing a fully integrated and innovative digital ecosystem."

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Big Data Science: Establishing Data-Driven Institutions through Advanced Analytics
Cecilia Earls, EDUCAUSE Review, 2019/05/16

This article is dedicated to "establishing a common understanding of, and vocabulary around, the data-driven decision-making process." To that end, the author described for categories of data users, the "three Vs of big data descriptions", structured versus unstructured data, the data-driven decision-making process, types of machine-learning data analysis (prediction, estimation; supervised, unsupervised), and one short paragraph at the end about privacy.

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The art of noticing: five ways to experience a city differently
Rob Walker, The Guardian, 2019/05/16

I have often compared the learning of a new discipline to the exploration of a new city, and made the point that while you could take a guided tour (either in a class or in a tour bus) there are other, more independent, ways to explore that are of equal or greater value - on foot, via metro, with a friend, with a map. Your choice. This article makes some suggestions for alternative ways to explore a city, and it seems to me they are equally valuable as ways to explore a discipline: look for ghosts and ruins, get there the hard way, eat somewhere dubious, read the plaque, and follow the quiet. I do all of these things both when exploring a city and when studying something new, and yes, it's worth the effort.

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Everyone Wants to Measure the Value of College. Now the Gates Foundation Wants a Say.
Katherine Mangan, Chronicle of Higher Education, 2019/05/16

I'm not really sure what to make of this announcement. The story is that the Gates Foundation is convening today a research group called the Commission on the Value of Postsecondary Education to measure the value of a college credential. The membership is high quality, but their day jobs are demanding, so they won't be doing the actual research. At best they'll sit in a room and exchange opinions while a consultant writes it up. The data, meanwhile, has already been collected (without the input of the commission). Since it's all US-based, I'll leave it to others to discern the political leaning in the group. Most likely, as the designated critic says, "the panel is unlikely to bring down the price tag of a college education. Instead, it is focusing on whether programs are worth the price tag.”

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