OLDaily

Re-imagining Wittgenstein’s Hut at Skjolden
Mark Rikey, Thinking Place, 2021/09/03

Wittgenstein resonates with me. So when I encountered the phrase "Walk criss-cross over the landscape" attributed to him in a Twitter tagline I felt compelled to go looking for it. It's a paraphrase, as it turns out, but the search unearthed this gem, a description of a trek to find Wittgenstein's hut in the Norwegian wilderness, and an attempt to unravel aspects of his thinking in the process. They both speak to me. From the Investigations: "The best that I could write would never be more than philosophical remarks; my thoughts soon grew feeble if I tried to force them along a single track against their natural inclination. And this was of course connected with the very nature of the investigation. For it compels us to travel criss-cross in every direction over a wide field of thought. The philosophical remarks in this (newsletter) are, as it were, a number of sketches of landscapes which were made in these long meandering journeys."

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Yet Analytics announces new Open Source LRS
Yet Analytics, 2021/09/03

According to the announcement, "it is time for a new open source LRS purpose-built from the ground up to reflect what has developed as best practice and business need in the enterprise learning and training domain." Additionally, "SQL LRS will integrate via Yet’s xAPI Reporting templates to the common business intelligence platforms including Google Data Studio, Kibana, Power BI, and Tableau." Release is expected at the end of September.

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The Cult of Quality Matters
Jesse Stommel, Martha Burtis, Hybrid Pedagogy, 2021/09/03

Jesse Stommel and Martha Burtis argue that "stock, prescriptive models for online learning exacerbate problematic power dynamics and structural inequities, and they deny students, faculty, and staff the agency necessary for the work of education." They make a good case, and what they argue is probably true. I would argue, though, that the argument against quality metrics should go further. First, it's not clear that the metrics employed are conducive to quality. Second, the detail and complexity of the metrics create barriers against the creation of new works. Third, a focus on the quality of resources distracts from other matters, such as access to resources.

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Eternal Change for No Energy: A Time Crystal Finally Made Real
Natalie Wolchover, Quanta, 2021/09/03

Absolutely the best headline to appear while I was on my break had to do with the development of time crystals. It's an outgrowth from the concept of spin glass (another delicious invention) wherein the material cycles through several stable states without consuming any energy. "It has order and perfect stability despite being in an excited and evolving state." Anyhow, a Google team created one on a quantum processor that "employs a time-reversal protocol", and another team reports having created one in a diamond. Now I admit, this news has nothing to do with online learning. But it's an example of the sort of thing it's useful to keep an eye on, just in case.

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CourseMarks
2021/09/03

These people spammed me asking for a link to a course review on one of my posts. Not gonna happen. But I am going to link to their main site, as it's an instance of what I've been expecting for some time - an independent ranking of online courses, based on user feedback, from multiple providers. Now the ranking process needs considering: it's based on what they say are "18 factors, including freshness, student feedback and content diversity." But we don't see all those individual rankings. And many (if not most) of the courses don't have scores at all (like this one). So this site has a long way to go before being anything useful.

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Low Cost Home Office Webinar Setup
Tom Worthington, Higher Education Whisperer, 2021/09/03

The surprising thing about this setup is the use of a 4G wireless modem connecting to a mobile provider, rather than to a cable or fibre internet provider. It does provide mobility, which may or may not be useful, but the vageries of Australian mobile internet created some hurdles for effective use. The rest of it seems pretty straight-forward, if not necessarily ideal. It is low-cost, after all. There's also a link to Nicolo Malagutti's bespoke audio-visual set-up. My approach is a bit different; I spent a lot of money on my computer (my computer, not NRC's, so I can configure it properly) and dual monitors (so I don't need to use the laptop or phone), Logitech camera, and an Audio Technica mic. I have a wired connection with TechSavvy (cable internet speeds; no fibre yet in rural Ontario) and then do all my effects with Open Broadcaster and present things digitally, rather than with whiteboards, and use a picture-in-picture (PIP) rather than a green screren. Here's an example of a live stream I ran on YouTube yesterday.

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