OLDaily

The Evolution of Micro-credentials and Short Courses
Alex Usher, Higher Education Strategy Associates, 2022/02/16

Alex Usher highlights the New Zealand Micro-Credential Framework, arguing "this approach is necessary if you think micro-credentials need to be both stackable and portable." In the New Zealand framework, micro-credentials need not only to be small, but also show strong evidence of need, not duplicate current approved learning, and be reviewed annually. Usher also notes that the Singapore  Skills Future program "has done a truly ludicrous amount of work to try to standardize skills" and suggests that the European Framework "is pretty clearly thinking about how to graft a New-Zealand like attempt to put microcredentials into a national credential framework into a multi-national online platform."

Usher follows up with an article discussing criticisms of micro-credentials, including a response to Gig qualifications for the gig economy: micro-credentials and the ‘hungry mile by OISE’s Leesa Wheelahan and Gavin Moodie. Not only does the article not show that micro-credentials lead to gig employment, he writes, a approach like New Zealand's would address the criticisms. "Even if it was something bespoke for a particular industry or firm, the “value” of the credit could be objectively defined and understood." But I think there is a danger, as Wheelahan and Modie argue, that micro-credentials " accelerate the transfer of the costs of employment preparation, induction, and progression from governments and employers to individuals." Image: HEQCO, Making sense of microcredentials.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Data Patterns on Edge
Anoop Koloth, InfoQ, 2022/02/16

The misuse of capitalization and non-use of definite or indefinite articles make it impossible to know whether the author is referring to Microsoft's Edge browser, the RedHat Edge concept, or just edge computing in general (see? grammar is important). Edge computing is anything that happens outside the data centre, and most often on end-user computers. The rise of edge computing will be important when we start thinking about privacy-preserving data management and artificial intelligence. This article talks about three major data patterns in edge computing: synchronous data retrieval, subsequent data retrieval, and pre-fetch data retrieval. You can find these patterns in a lot of Javascript applications already, and the thought (however unlikely) of the Edge browser supporting edge data patterns (and hence, in-browser analytics and artificial intelligence) was for a moment alluring to me.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

The Great Resignation Hasn't Hit School Teachers Yet. Here's Why It Still Might
Antonio Ruiz Camacho, Cnet, 2022/02/16

The Great Resignation during the pandemic resulted in a shortage of workers in low-paying and high-pressure jobs. And left unasked in the rush to return to the classroom, not just in the U.S. but everywhere, is how much of in-person learning depends on low pay and poor working conditions.  This varies a lot by country. But it leads to the possibility, as this article suggests, that teachers may decide that the work is simply not worth it. "Beyond the TikTok viral videos and the agonizing news headlines, there seemed to be enough evidence to express real concern about a looming tsunami of teacher shortages and resignations," writes Antonio Ruiz Camacho. Depending on a low-paid underclass of unqualified teachers to teach students in person could have long term consequences, some of which we are arguably seeing today. Image: Wikipedia.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Introducing the Remote Mentoring of Undergraduate Research Students (ReMentURS) Workshop Series: Initial Evaluation and Plans for Wider Implementation
Elizabeth Sargent, Abid Shaikh, Karla Sue Marriott, Taysia Porter, Dawn N. Cannon-Rech, Shainaz M Landge, International Journal for the Scholarship ofInternational Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and LearningTeaching and Learning, 2022/02/16

According to this paper (11 page PDF), the purpose of ReMentURS "is to design a remotely available professional development training that will provide rigorous research concept and skills introduction to incoming undergraduate research students." This paper reports on a preliminary workshop where participants studied and evaluated the idea. I wish it had included references to some of the materials used, such as the 'choosing a graph' video (maybe it was this one? maybe this one? Or perhaps something completely different).

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Web3 is going just great
Molly White, 2022/02/16

"Web3 is going just great...and is definitely not an enormous grift that's pouring lighter fluid on our already-smoldering planet" declares this website sarcastically. The image is titled "A sad-looking Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT monkey looks at a world engulfed in flames." Known as W3IGG to the web3 community and founded in December, this website highlights the continual (and sometimes hilarious) failures of the world of blockchain, NFT, web3 and crypto. Recent examples include a case where a DAO lost all its money after a 'hostile takeover', the convoluted efforts of the Canadian truck protestors to distribute bitcoin they've collected, the Coinbase outage during the Super Bowl, and many more. Via Platformer.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]