OLDaily

Presentation
Supporting Open Educational Resources
Stephen Downes, Jan 07, 2022, LISACON-2021, Bangalore, India, via Zoom

Developers and practitioners have come to realize that OER require support and an infrastructure, and this has been realized through such mechanisms as open online courses and open practices. In this plenary Stephen Downes describes these developments both from a historical context and also to develop a broader framework of support. Drawing from examples in other fields, including social media, streaming video, and open source software, he identifies key elements of a broad-based open educational platform (OEP) and offers suggestions on how librarians and information scientists can support this approach.

[Link] [Slides] [Audio]

Groundhog day in online learning? What’s different this time
Tony Bates, Online learning and distance education resources, 2022/01/07

Tony Bates says what I said, but much more diplomatically: "Government action regarding improving Internet access though is still terribly slow here in Canada. Much more urgency is required. Even more concerning appears to be the lack of learning in the k-12 system, especially by administrators, about the best way to provide online learning for school children. Apparently some are still requiring students to spend up to six hours a day on Zoom calls... After nearly two years, this failure to adapt teaching methods to what is appropriate for online learning in school systems is becoming inexcusable."

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About Perusall
2022/01/07

I'm not a huge fan of social annotation, but it has proven popular, with applications like hypothes.is leading the way. Today, following up a link to a Wesleyan mini-course on philosophy I encountered Perusall. This is, if you will, the Harvard version of social annotation - packaged and bundled into LMSs and coordinated with publishers to help students purchase e-books. I'll add it to the list of things that were developed elsewhere but were 'invented' by one of the elite universities.

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We Know Why You Hate Online Learning – and It Has Nothing to Do With Quality
Matt Crosslin, EduGeek Journal, 2022/01/07

What is the real reason, according to Matt Crosslin? "It’s all about the power and control. Leaders can’t control their students, faculty, and staff remotely like they can on campus." Now it's true people say online learning is inherently worse. But the research says otherwise: "one of the best sources to look at for research is the National Research Center for Distance Education and Technological Advancements (DETA) at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee’s No Significant Different database." I personally remember this debate playing out for years in the early 2000s before it was finally put to rest. The results of that work are unlikely to be overturned by recent experience.

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‘Beware of oysters’ and other remedies for donor threats to academic freedom
Shannon Dea, University Affairs, 2022/01/07

This post raises some very good questions about how academic activities, such as speaking engagements, are funded. But it also, I think, speaks from a position of privilege. Specifically, writes Shannon Dea, "Since I wouldn’t put 'sponsored by the Koch Foundation' on my business cards, I won’t participate in initiatives they support." This works if you have other opportunities and if you feel strongly enough about your politics that you won't engage with people with whom you disagree. Neither applies to most people.

Where I do agree with Dea is that it is important to be very clear about what strings are attached - there are always some conditions (for example, you may actually have to give the talk, you may have to attend meetings, you may have to produce a report, etc.). Your institution, if you work for one, will also impose its own conditions. Personally, I reject conditions I can't accept - some obvious, like being told what to say, and some less obvious, like signing over ownership of my work. As for ethics, well, if I held everyone to my own ethical standards, i wouldn't work with very many people at all.

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