OLDaily

What It Means to Care
Mike Rose, Mike Rose's Blog, 2020/07/23

This blog post is presented as a story, which is my absolute least favourite way to either teach or learn about something. I recognize that a lot of people are fine with stories, though. Still, I'm going to do my analytical best to extract an account of 'what it means to care' from this story, and you can rely on my version or the original, whichever you prefer. Here it is (all quoted):

• absolute regard for children... unfaltering belief in their potential;
• this affirmation of potential (is) deeply egalitarian;
• (validation of their) intellectual worth;
• few ready explanations for their failure;
• rigorous self-assessment.

Maybe this is care, maybe it's a caricature, but this is what I got out of the article. Image: Literary Hub.

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As We May Code
Mattt Thompson, NSHipster, 2020/07/23

This post offers a more technical look at many of themes we've explored here in recent months, and especially the idea of the data-driven web, linked documentation, and automated software design, though it draws more from the semantic web than I would (quoted):

• Representation: Software components should be represented by a common, language-agnostic data format.
• Addressability: Packages, modules, and their constituent APIs should each have a unique URL identifier.
• Decentralization: Information should be distributed across a federated network of data sources, which can cross-reference one another by URL.

The difference between my view and this view is that I collapse the first two of these into one point: there is no representation, and so addressability is essentially content-based, not name-based. This, essentially, is also the difference between connectivist and constructivist approaches.

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Serious game in introductory psychology for professional awareness: Optimal learner control and authenticity
Hans Hummel, BERA Blog, 2020/07/23

One of the reasons games support learning, according to this article, is that they support learner autonomy. "A way to provide students with motivational learning experiences is to offer them ill-defined, authentic tasks from realistic problem contexts, and give them autonomy in finding solutions through meaningful gameplay... Research highlights the importance of personalising learning experiences in order to keep learners motivated and in their ‘flow channel’." See also the full article (17 page PDF) on which this short summary is based.

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A Federal Blue Checkmark, and Not Learning Lessons
Anil Dash, 2020/07/23

Facebook has in the past advocated the idea of requiring a single validated identity for all users, so it's no surprise to read Sam Lessin, a former Facebook VP, recommending that "government should mandate that all social networks  of any size adopt a national version of the coveted blue 'validated'  check mark confirming an authentic identity." There are problems with this idea, as Anil Dash makes clear in this response. And sure, such a system could be abused. But more importantly, it makes my identity depend on their approval. For example, as Rick Klau says, it "makes a citizen's speech dependent on the government's continued support of that identity."

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Who you know matters. Let’s start measuring it.
Mahnaz Charania, Christensen Institute, 2020/07/23

We've suggested in the past that one of the major benefits delivered by elite schools is access to an influential network of friends. This article, while observing that "the American educational system is one of the most unequal in the industrialized world," proposes measuring this networking gap. Now this article focuses on academic achievement. It says "students’ social capital—their access to, and ability to mobilize, relationships that help them further their potential and their goals—was found to have a greater impact on their math and literacy skills than instructional resources." Maybe so, but this may be a straw man. The real networking effect happens later, when students are in careers and relying on their networks for employment opportunities and career advancement. Anyhow, the article proposes a "a four-dimensional framework for measuring students’ social capital" that really feels like they pulled it out of their, um, hat, but may be a good starting point to address this. Here's the full paper (29 page PDF) treating this subject, and it's well worth reading.

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Developing Self - regulated Learning Skills in University Students Studying in the Open and Distance Learning Environment Using the KWL Method
D. V. M. De Silva, Journal of Learning for Development, 2020/07/23

This small action-research study (14 page PDF) looks at the employment of the  KWL  (What I Know, What I Want to Know, What I Learned)  method to support self-regulated learning. There's a lot of background in this article on the origins of KWL, which dates from the 1980s. This study looks at the application of KWL in an open and distance learning (ODL) setting at the Open University of Sri Lanka. I'm not sure of the relevance of a detailed statistical analysis of a study of 24 students, and find this paper more useful for the accounts and description of the method. Image: Candace Hackett Shively.

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Step Inside Someone Else’s YouTube Bubble
Mozilla, 2020/07/23

This article introduces TheirTube, a website that gives you alternative views of the YouTube algorithm. "What if you could step inside someone else’s YouTube bubble and see the world the way they do? This is the central idea behind TheirTube, a website by creative developer Tomo Kihara that lets you peer inside different YouTube recommendation bubbles. Experience it at their.tube." I'm sure anyone who uses YouTube has experienced this effect - watch one thing, maybe another, and the algorithm decides that you definitely want nothing but more extreme versions of the same thing. It's not only a political problem; it has made the recommender almost useless for music and entertainment.

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