OLDaily

Presentation
Future Learning Environments
Stephen Downes, Apr 28, 2021, Conversation with Task Force, Online, via Zoom

This is a conversation with a working group based in Kazakhstan studying the future of the institution, both in the short term, to respond to the post-pandemic environment, and also in the longer term, considering what the ideal learning environment might look like. No slides.

[Link] [Audio] [Video]

Feature Article
Future Learning Environments 2021
Stephen Downes, Half an Hour, 2021/04/28

This is a conversation with a working group based in Kazakhstan studying the future of the institution, both in the short term, to respond to the post-pandemic environment, and also in the longer term, considering what the ideal learning environment might look like. No slides. For audio and video please see https://www.downes.ca/presentation/548

[Link] [Comment]

Feature Article
Connectivism
Stephen Downes, Half an Hour, 2021/04/28

A comprehensive overview of connectivism. This presentation defines connectivism and distinguishes it from some other theories, looks at how learning actually happens, how to understand or interpret connectivism in a practical way, and how to think of connectivism as a theory of pedagogy.

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How producing videos on TikTok is impacting teaching
Emily Baron Cadloff, University Affairs, 2021/04/28

I've been watching TikTok videos for some time now, and I have to confess, I'm getting bored with it. Now this is possible a result of the algorithm sending me an increasingly bland selection of content (may it knows me all too well) or maybe it's me wanting something more than dancing, random facts (that I already know), clips from TV shows (that I saw ages ago) and people saying "help me out" to push up their view count. So while of course educators are trying out this new medium, and I'm all for that. Sure, TikTok is fresh and fun, not greasy like Facebook, but I'm wondering how long it will be before the next contender comes along.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Proctorio – Unis as custodians
Martin Weller, The Ed Techie, 2021/04/28

I think that the intent behind this article is to note that Ian Linkletter is facing new and greater expenses in his legal fight against Proctorio, and institutions of higher education should play a greater role in his defense - if they can't actually contribute to his legal fund, they should at the very least, says Martin Weller, be boycotting their product. With this I agree (and am making an additional contribution today). But Weller couches this all in the language of universities being the 'custodians' of certain values in society, for example, "freedom of legitimate academic criticism." If they are indeed custodians, then I think they're very poor custodians, being as they are institutions who protect these freedoms only for a certain (privileged) class of people (which is how and why we see Linkletter struggling to defend himself).

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Knowing Who to Stand Up For: Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault and the Regulation of Free Speech
Michael Geist, 2021/04/28

Michael Geist has been writing recently (here and here) about what he calls the government’s "stunning, dangerous, and inexcusable decision to rescind legislative safeguards for user generated content in Bill C-10." He is objecting to the idea that "it is appropriate to regulate a new generation’s form of speech – TikTok videos, Instagram posts, Facebook feeds, and YouTube videos – as if they are the equivalent of broadcast programs." They are not, of course, and I think cooler heads will prevail. Still, there is a widespread and not quiet sentiment in society as a whole that something needs to be done. That's what's fueling, for example, the British football and cricket associations' boycott of social media next week. The abuse, they argue reasonably, must end. Now I am a defender of free speech, but I fall into the broad school of thought (following Mill) that a person's right to free speech ends when it becomes an act, and not merely an expression of opinion. It doesn't help that copyright owners are stupidly trying to use the issue to pursue broad and punitive copyright enforcement. And subjecting social media to the full weight of broadcast law is a blunt instrument to use when something more precise is needed. But make no mistake: something is needed. Something that protects people, but that doesn't give governments and publishers a club to punish people for other imagined misdeeds.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Paid podcasts are here: What publishers need to know
David Tvrdon, The Fix, 2021/04/28

The number of people lining up for the opportunity to pay for podcasts is exactly zero. But publishers are going to inflict on them anyways, because, after all, they have to pay back all the money they borrowed in order to acquire most of the podcasting services out there. This is exactly what was predicted last May when the carnage began. This article focuses mostly on Apply, which recently announced podcast subscriptions. But you know, we also have services that enable private RSS feeds (Libsyn, Buzzsprout, Transistor, Captivate, Acast, Supporting Cast) and podcasting 'stars' and big name producers (like Radiotopia, NPR, the L.A.Times and Sony). While there may be some 'free' podcasts to attract listeners, the main strategy here will be to force both podcasters (both free and paid) to use the monetized platforms in order to get any exposure at all. If you're not 'pay to play', you just won't be visible to listeners. And that's how you wreck something good that we all used to have.

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Digital technology and the futures of education - towards ‘non-stupid’ optimism
Keri Facer, Neil Selwyn, UNESCO Futures of Education, 2021/04/28

My first reaction to the paper was negative - the title seems condescending to me. The authors argue that "if we are concerned to create educational practices that work towards the common good and towards sustainable futures, then our first concern must be to attend to the causes of existing injustices, individualisation and unsustainability and to proceed from there." Indeed, it almost suggests we abandon educational technology altogether; after all, "even the most extensively implemented educational technology innovations have mixed and inconsistent outcomes." To be fair, the different technologies were "not worthless", but "neither were they as effective and transformatory as was widely claimed at the time." The authors make a series of strong claims - that digital technology "does not transform education", "does not improve learning", "does not fix inequalities", etc. But you know this is just a series of straw man arguments against technology. There isn't space in this post to offer a response to this article, but boy, does it need a response! Via David Hopkins.

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Broken or just bruised? Why traditional executive education is struggling, and how the right program can help
Robert David, Chief Learning Officer, 2021/04/28

What I wonder most of all on reading this post is how much executive education is really as broken as suggested here. Sure, as the article says, an academic classes "affords very little opportunity for executives to get out there, roll up their sleeves and put what they’ve learned to the test." But my admittedly limited exposure to executive education suggests to me that a lot of it has moved on, offering participants hands-on experience with scenarios, activities, practice sessions, one-on-one mentoring, in-office exercises, and more. This is the right way to do it, and is, I think, more common than the author suggests.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Augmented Reality in Education: Looking Forward
Shawn Mack, EmergingEdTech, 2021/04/28

This article is probably most notable for using the term Alpha Generation to reference the children born between 2010-2025. According to the author, they "perceive this technology as more of a part of routine rather than an advancement or an exception, which of course, gives us more room for exploration and further discovery." Maybe. But it will have to be a significant improvement over using a hololens in space, as the 2015 project Sidekick did. I'm not discounting augmented reality. But I think it needs a conceptual leap forward before becoming mainstream.

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