OLDaily

Presentation
Applications of Analytics
Stephen Downes, Oct 19, 2021, Ethics, Analytics and the Duty of Care,

Part of Module 2 in Ethics, Analytics and the Duty of Care, this presentation survers the application of AI and anlytics in learning, first from the perspective of different functions performed by analytics, then from the perspective of six types of analytics task: descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, prescriptive, generative and deontic.

[Slides] [Audio] [Video]

Presentation
What Does It Mean to Enrol in a Course?
Stephen Downes, Oct 19, 2021, Open Education 21, Online, Via Zoom

This presentation begins with the observation that numerous ope n education providers require students to login before being allowed to view materials, offers arguments why this should not be the case, offers some examples of alternative practices, and looks in more detail at my own efforts to design and offer a course that has no registration or tracking whatsoever.

[Link] [Slides] [Audio] [Video]

Presentation
The Search for the Social Algorithm
Stephen Downes, Oct 19, 2021,

This is a short 15-minute version of a longer presentation; I offered this condensed version at an in-house meeting at NRC and felt it was worth sharing the slides, audio and video to a wider audience. This was the first of three presentations I gave today in a three hour span, all different, which I bring to you as a set.

[Slides] [Audio] [Video]

Ready Teacher One: Virtual and Augmented Reality Online Professional Development for K-12 School Teachers
Stylianos Mystakidis, Maria Fragkaki, Giorgos Filippousis, Computers, 2021/10/19

This article (16 page PDF) describes "the pedagogical benefits of AR and VR as well as the rationale, design, development, and pilot evaluation results from an in-service teacher online professional development program (OPD) on AR and VR linked." The key was hands-on experience with the technology. "Teachers need to see what is possible and which products of top professional quality are available online while simultaneously realizing the pedagogical and emotional value of teacher-generated content for their own students."

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Hybrid collaboration field guide
Miro Blog, 2021/10/19

This is a pretty good overview of how to work in teams from Miro, an online collaborative whiteboard platform. Yes, it's marketing, but I think educators trying to understand how to work in our new hybrid learning environment will get a lot from it. "It is more crucial than ever to create a culture that is inclusive of working from anywhere, at any time," they write. It's not a short document. Divided into chapters on inclusiveness, collaboration and alignment, it covers a lot of the fundamentals of distributed working, supporting its account with case studies and links to additional resources. The article is overtly instructional, offering numerous step-by-step approaches.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

India funded a starving kids' app, but not food
Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic, 2021/10/19

I guess it's easier to attribute blame for this to 'India' instead of the funders and organizers (such as the World Bank and the Gates Foundation). There's certainly blame to go around. "The program spent money on an app to track which kids were malnourished, but it didn't offer sufficient funds to feed them." Read more here. Cory Doctorow attributes this to tech 'solutionism' - "it ignored all the parts of the problem not related to digital technology, sidelined the workers who understood the problem and treated them and the families they served with contempt." More, I would say, it caters to this idea that measuring a problem is sufficient to manage it, or at least, is sufficient to satisfy those with no actual interest in managing it. What should these foundations do? Make sure there's enough food. Pay people proper wages. Give them ownership over their own problems and the responses to them. This all applies to education as well, and most definitely not only in India.

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Using Google Forms to Reveal Teaching Biases
Curtis Chandler, Middleweb, 2021/10/19

This article is less about using Google forms and more about identifying sources of bias and prejudice in one's own teaching practice. I think it's a good introductory discussion overall, as it posits a set of thought experiments and activities that induce the reader to reflect on their own predispositions. I don't think this article will convince the openly sceptical about these subjects, but will be useful to those who are open and reflective. I do note the use of the word 'bias' throughout, instead of 'bias and prejudice'. The two words mean different things. Hating sushi before even trying it is prejudice; tending to prefer seafood over beef is bias.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

A Round-Up of Presentations from AoIR 2021
Alex Bruns, Snurblog, 2021/10/19

This is a set of seven videos featuring Alex Bruns's contributions to the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) 2021 conference. The topics are as interesting as you would expect them to be: patterns of fake news, mis- and disinformation, the presence of Sky News on Facebook, and more about news and social media from an Australian perspective. Good stuff for those looking at digital literacy.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]