OLDaily

Media bias
Doug Peterson, 2020/07/07

The focus of this post is the latest version of the Interactive Media Bias Chart. You may have seen it before (or perhaps just a flat image). This resource is interesting not only because it demonstrates how an interactive chart can be a valuable learning tool but also because it demonstrates how such tools can manipulate or obscure one's perception of reality. As Doug Peterson notes, it's mostly based on U.S. sources, and therefore reflects a U.S. reality. The placement of hard-conservative sources like the Wall Street Journal, ABC News, and the Economist at the centre (ie., 'neutral or balanced biased') demonstrates a definite skew to the right. You can see this clearly if you drop everything with 'reliability issues' from the chart (34.00 and below) and redraw the 'centre' line. I've redrawn it as such and included some sources omitted in the chart; the image is here. The result shows a much more accurate picture with most of the news media (and especially corporate media) biased to the right, with a few alternative sources to the centre and left.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

3 Documentaries you must watch to understand the pain fueling the BLM movement
Kevin “NivekPro” Jackson, Medium, 2020/07/07

This article is interesting not only because it offers a glimpse of three stories underlining the need for the Black Lives Matter movement, but also because it points us to kweliTV, a video streaming service that is not Disney+, and which offers "400+ undiscovered, award-winning indie films, documentaries, web series & kids shows celebrating global black culture from anywhere in the world." The three stories, meanwhile, document the attacks on Black Wall Street, the massacre in Wilmington, and Bessie Coleman, the first black woman pilot. The need for such channels shows what a disservice the consolidation of online content into a few major players is, and why it's important to learn about the world from a diverse array of perspectives.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Digital learning environments, the science of learning and the relationship between the teacher and the learner
Jason M Lodge, Gregor Kennedy, L. Lockyer, ResearchGate, 2020/07/07

This is a pretty good paper (rendered almost unreadable by ResearchGate's spamwall but there's a 12 page PDF available and the direct link should work - if not, please send me an email). I'm less interested in their conclusions about the 'science of learning' than I am about they discussions about future learning environments. Students, the authors write, "will need to be self-directed in their learning. This includes making sound judgements about how much they know compared to how much they need to know, how they are progressing towards completing quality work and whether or not they need to shift strategies." Image: Educause.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

GO-GN Research Methods Handbook
Robert Farrow, Francisco Iniesto, Martin Weller, Rebecca Pitt, Open Education Research Hub, The Open University, 2020/07/07

I'm sure this will be a popular work (79 page PDF) describing research methods in education, but the philosopher of science in me wishes that it had been much tighter and academically informed; contrast, for example, this book's account of 'positivism' as some sort of realism (p. 14) with a proper treatment of the subject written by Herbert Feigl. The misunderstandings of positivism render the book's account of 'intepretivism' equally incoherent. But it's all for naught, anyhow, because we are presented with a relatively unsorted list of research methods (p.19) in a taxonomy that boils down to 'quantitative' and 'qualitative' methods (p. 21). And after a look at some processes and tools, a completely different taxonomy is presented anyway (p. 32). The reader is advised to just skip to page 33 and read the research method insights from the Global OER Graduate Network, which is where the real value in this volume lies. Or maybe better, read Research Methods in Psychology, an open text from BCcampus, or perhaps Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research, from Ohio State.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Practitioner Perspectives: OER and a Call for Equity
Robin DeRosa, New England Board of Higher Education, 2020/07/07

I have always thought of my work in online learning as work for social justice. That's what the whole vision thing for this site is about. Now maybe there's a wider recognition of that facet of education and technology. Here's Robin DeRosa writing in support of OER: "We have a chance to redistribute our resources away from surveillant educational technology and corporations that mine student data for profit and think more about the value of education in terms of how healthy and safe and sustainable it can make the publics outside the walls of the academy.... I am working on a vision for the future of higher education that is deeply responsive to the inequities that are threatening the heart of our country." Yes - but maybe focus on the world, not just one nation.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

The startup taking on Apple and Snapchat in a mini-app war
David Pierce, Protocol, 2020/07/07

The idea of a mini-App is that it is a small program that runs inside another program. To date, only WeChat has built a successful mini-App ecosystem. But in the last few weeks, Apple has announced 'App Clips' and Snap has launched 'Minis'. The appeal of a mini-App is that it is "a better version of a browser, where you're signed in and payment-enabled for every site you visit." This article describes  Koji, "a twist on the mini-app idea. Rather than make apps that work inside a messaging app, Shapiro wants to make apps that work everywhere. Imagine a dating app you could embed in a text thread and browse with your friend, or a Twitter clone just for you and your friends." It's easy to see the parallels with the Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) ecosystem. Of course, if we flip it, we could have learning tools run anywhere, and not just in an LMS. Which really is what we want.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]