OLDaily

Can artificial intelligence transform higher education? What does research say?
Tony Bates, Online learning and distance education resources, 2020/06/18

Tony Bates looks at a special journal issue he recently edited and comments "only four of the submitted articles provided sound empirical evidence about the effect of AI applications on teaching and learning in higher education and one of these (Zawacki-Richter, et.al.) was a (thorough) review of the previous literature." Now I cited the Zawacki-Richter article in my own survey of this very topic, and I came up with rather more than four application areas. Bates and his colleagues came up with some reasonable explanations (eg., most AI-education research is not published in educational journals) and even more interestingly suggested that "it was naive to think that AI applications were being done to support the current system of teaching and learning, but were more likely in the future to focus on replacing or commercialising higher education learning and teaching." I also think more traditional definitions of 'evidence' and 'success' will have to be rethought. That's probably true. And I wouldn't sit around waiting for educational journals to tell you what's going on in AI and education.

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TikTok makes moves into education market
Osman Iqbal, BBC News, 2020/06/18

The story here is that "universities and charities are among those who will be paid to create bespoke content for the social media giant" and "the new focus could appeal to the trend for micro-learning, said one expert." While my first reaction might be to respond that nobody wants education on TikTok, when I think of it (I've been a regular viewer for about a year now) I've seen a lot of videos (on my 'For You' feed) promoting indigenous culture, offering Covid advice, and just generally promoting well-being. "TikTok is a safe space to explore stories that matter most to young people, so (for) things like black history, LGBTQ stories from some of our sites, women's history as well - it feels like a very safe, welcoming environment." By contrast, when I've looked at videos while not logged in, I've seen a lot of alt-right stuff, so there's that, too. So while there's probably a solid educational market there, there's probably a bigger one for advertising and propaganda. More on TikTok.

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Poll: Has The Meaning Of The Word “Blog” Changed?
Kathleen Morris, The Edublogger, 2020/06/18

You would make me happy if you went to this poll and voted to the proper meaning of the word 'blog' - which is to say, a series of posts organized in reverse chronological order (and, pointedly, not a simple post). I know that this is the right meaning because I was around when they were invented, and among the people inventing them. "Every time I hear someone say they’re 'writing a blog' or they 'published a blog' when they mean post I still bristle a little inside. It just doesn’t sound right."

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The lecture paradox
David White, 2020/06/18

This is an interesting take on the lecture: "I suspect we know that the lecture is not as much of a draw as live music or the big screen – the ‘live’ experience is perhaps too similar to the recorded version. This means that we need to work on our live presence (on-site and online), just as many bands have had to." What's interesting to me is the reason why the live performance is better (online or offline) has less to do with the quality, and much more to do with audience interaction.

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Teacher Tells Off Neil Armstrong for Faking the Moon Landing
Jason Kottke, 2020/06/18

This is a classic example of why personal testimony is no evidence at all. A woman writes to Neil Armstrong complaining that the Moon landing was faked. While most people would say, "well I ought to know, I was there," Armstrong responds that he is the last person she should write. "You shouldn't be asking me, because I am clearly suspect, believable." Instead, he offers her some people who conducted experiments that prove the Moon landing was real, including one where they bounced a laser off a mirror Armstrong put intoi place. There's evidenmce, and then there's evidence, and not all evidence is equal.

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