OLDaily

Students Often Prefer In-Person Classes . . . Until They Don’t
Perry Samson, EDUCAUSE Review, 2022/04/12

Never mind what surveys say. People have lots of opinions about things they haven't experienced.  What do students prefer, as demonstrated by their behaviour? "Given reasonable options, students in my class did not prefer the in-person mode of course delivery. In fact, the number of students who physically attended class dropped precipitously to an average of around 20% by mid-semester."

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Does Twitter’s Algorithm Hate Your Friends?
Tyler Freeman, Nightengale, 2022/04/12

The short answer is "yes", according to Tyler Freeman, and he has the data to prove it. "I felt like I wasn't ever seeing tweets from people I actually follow, but rather randos that The Algorithm thought would keep me hooked," he writes. "I am following over 2,000 people, so to only see tweets from 10 percent of them is disconcerting; 90 percent of the people I intentionally follow, and want to hear from, are being ignored/hidden from me." Now in my case, it's a bit difference. I have two similar-sized accounts (@Downes and @OLDaily) following 1 and 0 people respectively. When I'm logged in to the first, which has a blue check mark, I don't get any algorithmic recommendations. But the other one, which has no check mark, is flooded with useless content I don't want. This sort of thing is what led me to abandon Facebook (has it been five years now?) because the last thing I need is to have my personal stream of information polluted, and as an information provider, the last trhing I want is for someone to follow me and then receive nothing (which, I might add, is what also happens on LinkedIn). Via Doug Belshaw.

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The state of Australasian online higher education post-pandemic and beyond
Michael D. Sankey, Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 2022/04/12

Online learning wasn't just discovered in March of 2020. But a ,ot has changed. "What is new," writes Michael Sankey, "is that we are now realising that what was conceived as being good online learning pedagogy is being challenged by many of the newer student-centred approaches that have evolved in learning and teaching." Think of this as an analysis of what happened when 'traditional' online learning, as found (say) in learning management systems, suddenly met up with the range of new synchronous browser-based interactivity tools, everything from Zoom to Slack to MS Teams, that suddenly became available to staff and students after years of being locked down by the enterprise. Good paper (15 page PDF); worth a quick read.

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How I stopped worrying and learned to embrace pre-prepared courses
George Justice, Times Higher Education, 2022/04/12

This is a 'created in partnership with' article, and therefore probably an advertisement (the surest sign is that there is no paywall). But I'm linking to it anyway to people can be clear about the vision being offered here. At first, the author - a professor - reacts negatively to being assigned to teach a 'course shell'. "It dawned on me: I was basically going to be a glorified grader for my colleagues' courses." But then he learns to adapt and be grateful: "the department can exercise quality control over our programmes"; "this has meant a lot more time for engaging with students on discussion boards"; "the students are clearly learning a lot"; "the shell protects me from outside forces and gives me a home." Oh! For the more realistic world of Hallmark Romances.

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DigComp 2.2: The Digital Competence Framework for Citizens - With new examples of knowledge, skills and attitudes
Riina Vuorikari, Stefano Kluzer, Yves Punie, European Commission, 2022/04/12

This is definitely not a document you just sit down and read. It's a very detailed publication (134 page PDF) containing "examples of knowledge, skills and attitudes that help citizens engage confidently, critically and safely with digital technologies (and) systems driven by artificial intelligence (AI)." Use this as a reference document, or as background to any digital skills or literacy program that you may be working with. Each item is defined in five dimensions: competence area; specific competence; proficiency level; examples knowledge, skills and attitudes; and use cases. There are also sections containing tools and resources, as well as a detailed methodology.

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Fostering the Development of Digital Pedagogical Skills of Teachers in Africa
Oluwakemi Olurinola, eLearning Africa, 2022/04/12

This article argues that "if Africa is to meet current educational system demands, it is critical to shift the focus away from ICT skills training for teachers and toward digital pedagogical training." In the development of digital pedagogy skills, "the emphasis is on pedagogy, with a greater emphasis on process; it is less about the tools themselves than it is about how these tools permit a shift in pedagogical approach within the classroom, and how the use of digital tools affects teaching and learning." See also Digital Pedagogy: A Guide for Librarians, Faculty, and Students.

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Why email advertising innovation has stalled, and how publishers can move forward
Esther Kezia Thorpe, Media Voices, What's New in Publishing, 2022/04/12

I would say that the last thing the world needs is "email advertising innovation" and yet here we are. And there's no doubt with the increased popularity of commercial email newsletters, propelled by companies like Substack, there will be more efforts to get marketing messages into your inbox. It's hard, because as this story points out, the ad world depends on cookies, and email readers don't use them. But there are other methods. For example, take the recently launched Paved Ad Network. In a (loose) sense, it's like the mail-merge functions of old; "simply drop the Paved snippet in your newsletter and we'll deliver ads automatically." Not that anybody (other than advertisers) wants this. But you know, can't stop the signal, I guess.

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A New Model for OER Sustainability and Continuous Improvement
David Wiley, improving learning, 2022/04/12

The 'new model' described in this post is similar to a bug bounty, but instead of bugs authors improve the "places where OER are less effective at supporting student learning" as determined by Lumen  Learning's RISE Model, and are paid by the company. I would classify this less as a 'sustainability model' and more as a 'contracting model'. Apply here.

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How Can Algorithms Be Biased?
John Danaher, Philosophical Disquisitions, 2022/04/12

What does it mean to say that AI or algorithmic system is biased? The answer often depends on who you ask. This article looks at some ways of thinking about the issue. There are "moral and non-moralised definitions of 'bias'," there are different causes of bias, and "bias can arise at different stages in the developmental pipeline for AI systems." Consider, for example, how "you have to decide what counts as 'student success' — i.e. what is it that you are trying to predict," or how "there could be some misalignment between the user's values and those embodied in the algorithm."

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