OLDaily

Has online learning gone backwards because of the pandemic?
Tony Bates, Online learning and distance education resources, 2022/02/08

The answer, of course, depends on what you think constitutes 'online learning'. I don't feel personally like I've gone backward, for example. Still, writes Tony Bates, "the majority of teachers and instructors have not changed their method of teaching. It is still mainly lectures or teachers talking to students, sometimes for six hours or more consecutively, all online." Well, yeah, but these are different people from the ones who were doing online learning before the pandemic. These new people are all starting from scratch. They're the 2020s equivalent of people who tried to build virtual environments resembling lecture theatres (and yes, I build one of those in 1995). But they're still way ahead of where they were. As for the rest of us, I have to say, the last two years have been full of challenges, but they really feel like a great leap forward. Even if the new online instructors didn't go from zero to sixty in just a few months.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Stop asking whether online learning is 'worth it.' Start focusing on how it helps working adults.
Don Kilburn, Higher Ed Dive, 2022/02/08

At some point during the 1990s, as we moved through all the debates, we passed the point where we asked whether online learning was just as good as in-person learning and began asking how can we support online learning most effectively. Now as we emerge from two years of 'remote learning' a whole new cohort of instructors and developers is reaching the same insight. Writes Don Kilburn, "Instead of squabbling over the virtues of online versus in-person learning, let's instead appreciate the power this modality holds, when done right, to help working adults make meaningful changes in their lives."

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

A Successful Training Program Answers These Three Questions
Tom Kuhlmann, The Rapid E-Learning Blog, 2022/02/08

I wonder why these questions should even need to be asked. I mean, the first, "Why am I taking this course?", is necessary only if you're being forced to take a course you don't want to take, which should never happen. The next, "What am I supposed to do with all of this content?", seems to presuppose that there's no applied use for the resources, which again seems odd. And finally, if we have to ask, "How can I prove I know this?", then we seem to require some sort of test or assessment for content knowledge, as opposed to a demonstration of skill or competency. That said - sure, we get the point.Objectives, content and evaluation need to be aligned with training goals. The real question, though, is whether the learner is engaged with these goals.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Connecting Sustainable Development, Publishing Ethics, and the North-South Divide
Haseeb Irfanullah, The Scholarly Kitchen, 2022/02/08

Though focused on publications, this discussion could be applied equally to online learning resources. Haseeb Irfanullah asks, "can we really have an ethical scholarly community without addressing such a dynamic North-South divide?" The answer, of course, is "no" and the core of the argument is found in six scenarios where ethical principles appear rather unreasonable when addressed to researchers from the global South. "Imagine being a peer reviewer of a manuscript that you don’t have access to once the article is published, because your Southern institution can’t afford to subscribe that journal," he writes.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

University Researchers Develop Brain-Computer Interface for Robot Control
Anthony Alford, InfoQ, 2022/02/08

According to this post, researchers "have developed a brain-computer interface (BCI) that allows users to modify a robot manipulator's motion trajectories." It uses AI to learn the user's preferences. Normally, a BCI "requires the user to imagine performing a physical activity, which results in neural activity that the BCI can detect and convert to a computer input," however the use of AI allows it to be trained using 'demonstrations'. Obviously there are numerous potential learning applications ranging from work requiring drones or robots to assistive devices for people with limited motor skills. There's an article in Nature with more details.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]