OLDaily

Having our Cake and Eating It Too
David Cook, 2022/03/31

"You can't have your cake and eat it too." That saying suggests the impossibility of having two incompatible things. In this case the incompatible things are, first, " a learner-centered education system (having your cake)", and second, measuring "all learners in the same way as if they were widgets (eating it too)." The current system, argues David Cook, is optimized for the second, which makes the first impossible. "For decades teachers, administrators, families, communities and learners have fought hard to get better at a system that wasn't intended to be equitable or learner-centered." And that, he says, is exactly what should change.

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Transition to web3: a guide for non-technical roles
Transition to web3, 2022/03/31

It's worth taking the time to look through the list of activities and resources listed on  this website, beginning with the basics, then to consuming and creating content, and on through the rest. The site leans more toward things like DAO, NFTs and crypto than I would like, at the expense of (say) IPFS and distributed data networks. But the site is a valuable reference, especially if it's well-maintained. Just be wary, and don't invest any money you're not prepared to lose. Image: Natalia.

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State of Utah Approves Funding for Continued Use of YouScience Discovery Statewide
eSchool News, 2022/03/31

YouScience is probably the sort of thing learning styles sceptics are talking about when they argue so vehemently against them. What it purports to do is to "use performance measures of aptitudes to uncover students' natural talents, match them to careers, and give them personalized feedback." It's like a sorting hat for talent. I wanted to test it but it asked me for $29 instead, so buyer beware. This article, punitively in eCampus News, is in fact a press release (at least they're making this clear up front so I don't have to search for the original). I'd be interested to know why the Utah government thought it was worth paying for. Certainly you don't need software to know that more people sorted into agriculture or manufacturing don't really have an interest in being there. (p.s. Ravenclaw, ftw)

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Facebook paid GOP firm to malign TikTok
Taylor Lorenz, Drew Harwell , Washington Post, 2022/03/31

I know this feels more like a political headline than a technology one, but as a tech writer who left Facebook some four or five years ago because the ethics of the company just didn't sit well, this is to me just another in a long list of reasons not to use the platform. Not that TikTok is perfect - and as a regular user and sometime contributor I admit to still being surprised by its moderation decisions. In the long term, we shouldn't be depending on any of these platforms (nor especially on algorithms that privilege commercial value over truth, accuracy or fairness). And that's a pretty universal concern, not just political. More: Casey Newton, The Lesson Facebook Won't Learn.

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