OLDaily

Alex
2020/01/30

We lost Alex today. For the last thirteen years, my little buddy Alex has worked side by side with me, always present on my keyboard or helping me with my papers. We forged a special bond over the years. He has appeared on many of the videos I have produced. We'll miss him terribly.

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From access to digitalisation: the changing role of online learning
Tony Bates, Online learning and distance education resources, 2020/01/30

Tony Bates writes about his experience offering a talk and workshop at Aalborg University, which because of Denmark's free and progressive education system "has no great need to use online learning to increase access or for distance education." So "the arguments for increased access and flexibility did not apply at AAU so much. The justification for increasing the use of digital technologies in teaching was based on new skills development and more digital applications within a problem-based teaching approach." This makes sense. Digital skills are essential today, and the only way to develop them is to learn digitally. But, Bates says, "here is not much research, and even less theory, on how to make such decisions."

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Can Open Educational Resources Foster Equity In Higher Education?
Henry Kronk, LMS Pulse, 2020/01/30

My answer to the question in the title would be 'yes'. But what does Henry Kronk say? The article presents a research report by Amy Nusbaum, Carrie Cuttler, and Samantha Swindell. They "tested OER use against the textbook their department currently uses for their introductory course." So far as I can judge, that's probably the most limited and and uncreative use of OER imaginable. But we forge on. "Class-by-class, book-by-book, marginalized students are more vulnerable to financially-driven decisions that can negatively affect their academic progress and outlook, decisions their peers are less likely to encounter," write the three authors. So, yes, OER can help.

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The importance of studying at home for a degree: E-learning in Africa
DW, 2020/01/30

This article from the German DW (but here in English) profiles work to develop eLearning in Africa, drawing on the perspective of Rebecca Stromeyer, who organizes the eLearning Africa conference, and Tony Carr, from the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Beyond the well known technical challenges in Africa, "many employers still believe that online studies are worth less than degrees that require a physical presence." Via Helge Sherlund.

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Freedom in an Age of Algocracy
John Danaher, 2020/01/30

Today's word is 'algocracy'. As in, rule by the algorithm. This paper examines the concept, revisits the concept of 'freedom' in the light of it, and looks at how algocracy and freedom intertwine, presenting "five mechanisms through which algocratic systems can promote and undermine freedom." They can promote freedon through choice filtration.- "they can help to filter choices and reduce thefeeling of being overwhelmed" - and through cognitive slack - "by offloading some decision-making domainsto algocratic systems." Conversely, algorithms can threaten the rationality of decision-making, manipulate our choices, or "live within the constraints established by the system if you want to avoid interference" - what the author calls ' algocratic micro-domination'.

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