OLDaily

Microcredentials: go further, faster
FutureLearn, 2020/01/28

If you want to see the sales pitch for microcredentials, here it is (quoted):

• They’re accessible... each microcredential takes place 100% online.
• They’re fast... you can earn academic credits with a microcredential in a matter of weeks.
• They’re prestigious... led by top academic institutions... or blue-chip employers.
• They’re specialised... to identify skills gaps in specific industries.
• They’re global... learning as part of a worldwide community.

And I have to say, all that's.... way over the top. It makes it soiund like you could have gotten your PhD in a few months from your living room if only it was taught using microcredentials. But microcredentials aren't - can't be - the equivalent of traditional credentials. Can they?

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Disruption’s legacy
Martin Weller, The Ed Techie, 2020/01/28

The core idea of 'disruption' is this: existing companies over time spend more and more time and money building features for and supporting a minority (and often premium) portion of their client base, thus creating an opportunity for a new company without this overhead to come along and build a streamlined product serving the majority who don't need these special features and services. Hence, say, discount airlines. Because these companies are focused on lowering costs, they often underpaid staff, undercut unions, and flouted regulations. But all that is a product of capitalism, not disruption. All that is why I think Martin Weller's criticism of Christensen is not only a poorly-timed attack, it is also wrong. Christensen didn't undermine labour, conservative governments did. Christensen didn't undermine experience, the intransigence of incumbent companies did. Christensen didn't create monopoly economics, capitalism did.

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A Legal Challenge for Inclusive Access
Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed, 2020/01/28

This lawsuit probably doesn't have much of a chance, but it does reflect the sad state of affairs that exists when students, under the blatently mis-named 'inclusive access' program, must go to extreme lengths in order to not buy a text from a major publisher. "The ‘opt-out’ process, when there is one at all, is opaque, confusing and difficult if not impossible to execute,” said the plaintiffs in the most recent lawsuit. They add that some students who have asked to opt out of inclusive access programs have been told that there 'is no opt-out available' or that they will be de-enrolled from a class if they opt out and seek substitute materials."

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Mental Representation
David Pitt, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2020/01/28

This is a substantive revision of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's entry on mental representation. I won't say a lot about it here, except to say that this is (by and large) a theory I believe to be incorrect. I am definitely in the minority here, though. The representational theory of mind (RTM) "takes as its starting point commonsense mental states, such as thoughts, beliefs, desires, perceptions and imagings. Such states are said to have “intentionality” – they are about or refer to things, and may be evaluated with respect to properties like consistency, truth, appropriateness and accuracy." Image: Udacity.

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Individual Learning Experience in Connectivist Environment: A Qualitative Sequence Analysis
Alaa AlDahdouh, International Journal of Research in Education and Science, 2020/01/28

This is a really good paper. It's a very fair treatment of connectivism, representing the theory accurately and well. Some comments:

- instead of  the three types of networks (neural, conceptual, and external) I tend to draw on three examples where entities actually *connect*: social networks, neural networks, and artificial neural networks. Also Watts's network of crickets, if pressed.

- The paper correctly applies connectivism to problem solving, as opposed to learning some specific content. However, it forces a degree of sameness on people, in the sense that they are trying to solve problems that are put to them, rather than tasks and challenges of their own choosing.

- finally, it's a lot to ask for students to go from zero to full-on connectivism (especially in a challenging setting like Palestine). I've discussed the skills needed to be successful (cf. 'critical literacies') but there doesn't seem to be any indication that students have these skills, or are even aware of them.

These are pretty minor comments, though, to what is overall an excellent paper.

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The Attack on Canada’s Schools
Grant Frost, frostededucation, 2020/01/28

Canada has had for many years one of the best school systems in the world. This is not just opinion; it's a statement that is proven in test after test. However, as Grant Frost notes, "from coast to coast, regardless of province or political affiliation, our public education system is in turmoil, driven by a strikingly similar  'Our schools are failing' rhetoric." Why? He argues, and I agree, that "our public education system, from coast to coast, is embroiled in a fight for its very life." I also think that collective bargaining itself is also under attack, as Doug Peterson suggests. And the motivation is money - the money that could be made by privatizing schools, the money that could be made by plundering teachers' pension plans. No matter what damage is done to Canadian society as a whole.

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