OLDaily

ELT slogans
Philip Kerr, Adaptive Learning in ELT, 2022/01/20

There is, to be sure, a danger of 'feelgoodism' in education, as Black Harvard warns. A lot of it comes from, and is directed toward, school teachers and the consultants who prey upon them. But there's no less of the same in education technology, as this article demonstrates. Philip Kerr offers us an array of mind-numbing examples of "buzzword-heavy word salads [that] are rinsed, re-used, and repeated ad nauseum" (per Mike Griffin). Ah, but lest you think Kerr is opposed to slogans and buzzword, he offers advice on how to use them for personal academic branding. Create or adopt the slogan, link it to your work, make sure it's used in conference titles, recycle it endlessly, and frame it with words like 'radical' or 'unprecedented'.

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A Model of Scientific Data Reasoning
Amy M. Masnick, Bradley J. Morris, Education Sciences, 2022/01/20

Data reasoning is a relatively automatic process of summarizing large quantities of information, write the authors, but can be susceptible to things like cognitive biases and fallacies. So the tools of scientific reasoning, including "external representations, scientific hypothesis testing, and drawing probabilistic conclusions," are needed to reduce the liklihood of such errors. To that same end, Nicholas Friedman and Stephen Esser argue elsewhere that the philosophy of science should be taught in high school. I wouldn't disagree. Anyhow, this article (19 page PDF) proposes a model of data reasoning that includes elements such as data sensemaking, "a process that includes declarative (e.g., scientific facts) and procedural (e.g.,conducting unconfounded experiments) elements," which is then supplemented with the tools of scientific data reasoning.

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Top 10 Data Modeling Tools to Know in 2021
Eyal Katz, Spectral, 2022/01/20

I followed up today on a question about data modeling tools. Data modeling is the process of organizing data and defining the relations between different types of data. Here is a quick introduction. A data modeling tool will allow users to define different types of data and the sorts of properties each data type can contain; this is used to define the structure of a database used in an application such as an LMS or student information system. Based on a quick survey, the top tools are probably Erwin and ER/Studio. These are not cheap, though, and individual users are probably looking at NaviCat or the open source tool Archi. Over and above these is a class of tools that manage data modeling, pooling from multiple sources, and transformation at an enterprise level, tools like Qualiware, iServer, and Sparx.

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Research on the Relationship between Self-efficacy and Inquiry Community Mode
Xiang Zhou, International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 2022/01/20

"The infrequent face-to-face interaction between teachers and students and the non-physical communication between students lead to learners' loneliness and anxiety," writes Xiang Zhou, which suggests the relevance of investigating the relation the various forms of presence described in the Community of Inquiry model and student self-efficacy (15 page PDF). According to the author, "Self-efficacy plays a complete and partial mediating role in teaching presence and social presence and has a significant positive effect on cognitive presence." The sample is small and not diverse, consisting of 243 respondents at a university in Jiangsu Province, and so should be taken merely as suggesting an association between these factors, not demonstrating one.

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What are the Main Trends in Online Learning? A Helicopter View of Possible Futures
Mark Brown, Asian Journal of Distance Education, 2022/01/20

This paper (26 page PDF) discusses seven macro-level trends:

• convergence - in the sense of 'blurring' modalities
• massification - the many faces of MOOCs and expansion into schools
• openness - looking for "more open dialogue and critical pluriversalism"
• interactivity - new concepts of presence, pedagogy of care, deep conversations
• diversification - beyond the LMS "as a complex ecosystem of interconnected technologies"
• big ed tech - new online education models of ‘marketisation’, ‘platformisation’  and ‘commercialisation’
• green ed tech - online ed as part of the solution, but still a big energy consumer

Good paper, well thought out, and while the macro-trends may seem obvious at first glance, the discussion uncovers nuances beyond the everyday discussion.

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