OLDaily

The History of the Future
Audrey Watters, Hack Education, 2020/04/24

Audrey Watters is on point. "I don't agree at all with the famous saying by computer scientist Alan Kay that 'the best way to predict the future is to build it.' I've argued elsewhere that the best way to predict the future is to issue a press release. The best way to predict the future of education is to get Thomas Friedman to write an op-ed in The New York Times about your idea and then a bunch of college administrators will likely believe that it's inevitable."

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

How data privacy leader Apple found itself in a data ethics catastrophe
Daniel Wu, Mike Loukides, O'Reilly, 2020/04/24

This article looks at Apple's recent foray into credit cards, one that resulted in embarrassment after a man was given 20 times more credit than his wife, despite sharing all property and income. According to the author, "Ultimately, Apple learned a critical lesson from this experience. User buy-in cannot end with compliance with rules. It requires ethics, constantly asking how to protect, fight for, and empower users, regardless of what the law says. These strategies contribute to perceptions of trust." I have my doubts that Apple learned any lesson at all. But the story does underline the need today for companies to 'lead with ethics'. "In our more global, diverse, and rapidly-changing world, ethics may be embodied by the platinum rule: Do unto others as they would want done to them."

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Federal Court of Appeal Deals Access Copyright Huge Blow As It Overturns York University Copyright Decision
Michael Geist, 2020/04/24

The outcome of this lawsuit may receive mixed reviews, but the good part is that it "removes both the threat of mandated payments to Access Copyright as well as the possibility of a copyright infringement lawsuit by the copyright collective." To be clear, authors and publishers syill retain rights to their works and can demand compensation. But "users have choice in how they obtain the necessary rights for the works they use." Michael Geist also comments that " The decision represents a major validation for University of Toronto professor Ariel Katz, whose 2015 Spectre article made the convincing case that “the spectre of a ‘mandatory tariff’ lacks any basis in law."

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

What needs to be done to help the media industry?
Mathew Ingram, Columbia Journalism Review, 2020/04/24

Sobering. "It is now abundantly clear that there is no commercial solution for local journalism... Local journalism was in shambles even before the pandemic struck. But now the newspaper industry—which is still our major source for original local reporting in the US—is facing existential doom." It's worth arguing they should be saved, just like any other industry, but how? The problem is, any source of support - whether it's government, hedge funds, or local businesses - creates ethical dilemmas. A cooperative is a good idea, but as I found running one in Moncton, really hard to do. But we need local news, if only to keep Town Hall honest. The same problems an issues face schools, so there's a common problem there.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

The Suddenly Remote Playbook
Toptal, 2020/04/24

As its website claims, "for over a decade, Toptal has thrived as a fully distributed global company, with over 4,000 individuals working in a fully remote environment, in over 100 countries." And their guide does show that they've had some experience with this sort of thing. I'm not sure I'd follow everything in the guide - the "strict video-on rule for all our meetings" isn't really for me. But the advice is informed and useful, everything from how to set up your remote working office to using Sl;ack to get that casual chat feeling back.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Getting the next phase of remote learning right in higher education
Christine Heitz, Martha Laboissiere, Saurabh Sanghvi, Jimmy Sarakatsannis, McKinsey, 2020/04/24

These are some decent suggestions on how to prepare for next year. The difficulty, of course, is always in the details of how to implement them. Here are the suggestions (quoted):

• Focus on access and equity
• Support faculty
• Move the quad online, too
• Activate stakeholders
• Invest in cybersecurity to ensure the continuity of teaching and learning

There are some suggests about how to manage the details, but this article should of course be taken only as a starting point.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Comments on the US DoEd Proposed Rule – Open Textbook Pilot Program
David Wiley, iterating toward openness, 2020/04/24

David Wiley continues to drift further and further away from the idea of open learning. In this submission to the U.S. Department of Education’s proposed rule “Open Textbook Pilot Program” he argues against the idea of "requiring grant recipients to use only openly licensed or freely available tools to support the delivery, usage, maintenance, and support of open textbooks," and he argues against the requirement that "assessments designed to measure student learning to be released under the same open licensing terms as instructional content. His argument is that "if the Department does act on these comments, the parts of the work that are open will be more widely adopted." Maybe so, but who cares? It's like an airline saying "the flight is free, but we charge you for the take-off and landing."

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

The need for Presence not ‘Contact Hours’
David White, Digital – Learning – Culture, 2020/04/24

David White has a few thoughts worth noting in this course. He writes, "If you’d asked me what moving to 100% online over about three weeks would look like then I’d have predicted some kind of socio-tech disaster. Instead, it’s spectacular how quickly everyone has adapted and how well the tech has held up." So he observes, "It’s definitive that we don’t scrutinise that which we are normalised to. As such, we tend not to ask too many questions of face-to-face teaching around themes like engagement and participation." One such: contact hours. "Instead of thinking in terms of Contact Hours we should move to the concept of presence -the extent to which a member of teaching staff is present and in what mode." This could come in many forms, he adds, providing us with a list.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]