OLDaily

Surveillance without borders
Wendy M. Grossman, net.wars, 2021/01/29

Two themes are emerging at the beginning of 2021, writes Wendy Grossman. First, "traditional ideas about consent simply do not work in a world where technology monitors and mediates our physical movements." And second, "the need for enforcement." And there's a third issue: "access to tools." And maybe a fourth: internationalization. As Sophie in't Veld said, "There is little incentive for national authorities to apply safeguards to citizens from other countries." I don't see any of these being solved in the short term, particularly when there's so much money to be made by not solving them.

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Dead Professors Society
Alan Levine, CogDogBlog, 2021/01/29

Alan Levine does the journalism that Slate didn't bother to do before publishing a story about a dead professor teaching a class. No such thing, Levine finds. They're simply using video lectures the deceased docent recorded for another class to be taught online before this pandemic thing made everybody teach online. According to Slate, "The fact that the dead can literally replace living faculty members is a perfect metaphor for what is happening across higher education." As Levine argues, it's nothing of the kind. But like Slate, I'm not one to let reality interfere with my off-the-cuff musing. Why can't the dead teach classes? They'd never be late (well, except in that sense), would never have controversial opinions about current events, and would grade with robot-like dispassion and precision.

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What the World Learned Setting Development Goals
Paola Bettelli, International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2021/01/29

The lesson the world learned from the millennial development goals, writes Paola Bettelli, is that “what gets measured gets done”. I think also that the fact that these goals were self-imposed played a significant role. As Bettelli says, "these goals were to be action-oriented, concise, aspirational, global, and universally applied to all countries." The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) represent the 2030 targets. I've heard it suggested in the past that they would also represent the elements of a progressive core curriculum. At the very least, it's worth underlining that these offer a set of collective values worth working toward, and offer a guide to people seeking more meaning in their lives than making money and seeking pleasure. This article succeeds in that. From the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).

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Rising to the coronavirus challenge
Cedefop, 2021/01/29

This report (6 page PDF) describes how the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) has adapted to the challenges posed by Covid-19. It looks like a series of slides but the points on each slide are actually clickable links to previous posts and publications through the year. It's a good overview and maybe looks like more than it actually is, but is worth exploring if you have an interested in the application of online learning for vocational training.

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