OLDaily

Recent Work in Connectivism
Stephen Downes, European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning, 2019/09/27

This is my most recent publication. "This article surveys recent literature on the topic, grouping it into themes, and developing an understanding of current perspectives in connectivism. It surveys current perspectives and criticisms of connectivism, views of connectivism as a pedagogy and as a theory of learning, recent evidence supporting connectivism, and a wider understanding of connectivism as it is developing today."

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Open pedagogy
Tony Bates, Online learning and distance education resources, 2019/09/27

Another new and relevant addition to Tony Bates's revision of his textbooks (I wonder how he's choosing what subjects to include). This section might not be without controversy as it credits David Wiley with originating both the term 'open educational resources' and also 'open pedagogy'. While I would be the last to diminish Wiley's significant contributions, I think that other people have been at work in this field. I would refer, for example, back to Jim Taylor's OERU Logic Model. Our word for the day, also to be found in the article, is "divine efflatus", a reference that probably alludes to the celebrated H.L. Mencken. At least, that's how I'll read it.

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Use of Twitter across educational settings: a review of the literature
Aqdas Malik, Cassandra Heyman-Schrum, Aditya Johri, International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 2019/09/27

This paper contains what its title promises. The authors find "Twitter strongly supports professional following and networking that ultimately resulted in improved teaching, learning, and collaboration. In both contexts, Twitter provides affordances for strongly connecting and bonding with others and forming a community." But they caution, "there is a lack of diversity within the studies conducted, as most of them are case studies and oriented towards few disciplines. This has left us with data that cannot be comfortably generalized."

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Is there space for institutions in the global education revolution?
Gary Gates, Wonkhe, 2019/09/27

What we need to understand is that this question is being asked by a senior vice president at Pearson and follows the release of their first Global Learner Survey last week. Here's what we are told: "In addition to enrolling in traditional educational institutions, they are turning to a self-service approach, stitching together a range of education experiences based on what they can afford and what works for their lifestyle." There is a role for institutions, we are told, as outlined in a new higher education white paper. But, it argues, it will need more flexibility, a differeent cost model, and to be outcomes based. I can see the reasoning here, and I've said similar things myself, but not in such a way that places private companies like Pearson so close to the centre.

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An interview with former Peruvian Minister of Education Jaime Saavedra
Li-Kai Chen, Felipe Child, Emma Dorn, Raimundo Morales, McKinsey, 2019/09/27

I spent some time this afternoon reading about Peruvian politics and Jaime Saavedra in particular. I thought it odd that he'd go from the World Bank to being Peruvian education minister, then being sacked for corruption, and now being touted by McKinsey. But I absolutely don't know enough about him or his politics to comment. But I will say this: it is wrong to credit someone for PISA results that changed one year into your term as education minister. Or even three years in. Education scores aren't like the stock market; they don't shift on a dime. So why is he being touted by McKinsey and others? Is that he's back with the World Bank? Or is it his policies? Anyhow, here are his papers and blog posts.

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Being a philosopher from a working-class background
Adriel M. Trott, The Philosophers' Cocoon, 2019/09/27

I think I could quibble with this based on whether or not the author was really working class, but that would  be to miss the point. I could also ask how much the Age Effect in Stanford Encyclopedia citations is also a working class effect. I don't know. I think though that there is a real difference in being an academic from the working class (or something like the working class, for those of us who eschew Marxist analysis) and an academic from the privileged class. It has less to do with skills and abilities, and more to do with background assumptions, vocabulary, and mannerisms, and everything to do with whether you get cited after you're dead or not. History, after all, is written by the rich.

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