OLDaily

Succeeding Globally Through International Education and Engagement
U.S. Department of Education, 2022/04/22

According to a newly released short strategy document from the U.S. Department of Education, "it is vital to prepare students to engage with the world. An effective domestic education agenda must aim to develop a globally and culturally competent citizenry. It is not enough to focus solely on reading, writing, mathematics and science skills. Today's world also increasingly requires critical thinking and creativity to solve complex problems, well-honed communication skills, the ability to speak other languages, and advanced mathematics, science, and technical skills." It's nice to see a discussion of education that reflects aspirations, and not collective fears and insecurities. Via The PIE News.

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Ma Ka Hana Ka ʻIke: In Working, One Learns
Hauʻoli Kahaleuahi, Lipoa Kahaleuahi, Getting Smart, 2022/04/22

This article describes the student experience at Ma Ka Hana Ka ʻIke, which is essentially a farm that provides hands-on vocational training in construction, agriculture, and related topics. It reminds me in a way of Kaospilot or School of Rock and similar experience-based programs. There's a lot of repetition in the article and we don't really get into any details, but it made me think: imagine we eliminated 'school' entirely and organized education around varying hands-on experiences of this sort. Not just farming, but all aspects of society, everything from culture and arts, law, business management, retail, mining and engineering, and more. Where each year, students would be located in a different milieu, perhaps five or ten over all. Just idle thinking...

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Children coming across far-right material when researching, teachers say
Sally Weale, The Guardian, 2022/04/22

I think most people are agreed about the damaging impact of far-right material (and, indeed, any material promoting conspiracy theories, racial or religious intolerance, or violence and hate). We have learned, I think, that merely exposing it does not sterilize it; quite the contrary, it normalizes it, and makes it seem acceptable. We also know that repressing it (or, in the jargon on the day, to 'cancel' it) doesn't make it go away. What, then? The solution offered in this article is that "Anti-racism must be central to the curriculum and schools and colleges must also be supported and equipped to provide a curriculum that challenges all forms of bigotry, prejudice and hatred." Well, I agree, but we must be clear that we can't fight propaganda with more propaganda. Education must enable students to construct a defense against propaganda, not merely compliance with what we teach them.

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What Educators Need to Know About Assistive Tech Tools: Q&A with Texthelp CEO
Kristal Kuykendall, THE Journal, 2022/04/22

This is an introductory discussion of assistive technology, structured as an interview with Martin McKay, the CEO of Texthelp, which produces literacy and math instruction software built around accessibility tools including as text-to-speech, speech input, text prediction, picture dictionaries, and translation. There are some useful bits, for example: "most normal spelling and grammar tools are not good at fixing dyslexic errors. Think 'lefant' = 'elephant' or 'fizix' = 'physics' for example." It makes me think of Tolstoy: when we succeed, we all succeed in the same way, but when we fail, we each fail in our own way. Image: free or low cost assistive technology for everyone, Augsburg University.

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The Programmer's Brain
Felienne Hermans, InfoQ, 2022/04/22

Felienne Hermans wonders why her Saturday students are being frustrated by computer programming and concludes that they need to learn code. Her discussion of how they do this offers a good dose of cognitive load theory. Now I am no fan of cognitive load theory but I am a fan of reading code, and I view it very differently, and specifically, as a matter of pattern recognition. The difference, it seems to me, is a bit like the difference between focusing on the syntax and focusing on function. Now we don't need to go deep into this discussion here; what the article made me think of is what we 'see' when we read things - whether words in English, functions in computer code, clues in a criminal investigation. "You look, Doctor Watson, but you do not see."

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Reading Audrey Watters: A reflection on personalised learning via education technology through a decolonial lens
Moizza Binat Sarwar, EdTech Hub, 2022/04/22

In this post "we are reflecting on elements of Watters' historical take on personalised learning —  one specific aspect of EdTech —  and sharing five decolonial reflections on the current form and landscape of EdTech." The reflections are (quoted): technology as the saviour to a broken education system; behaviourism as the underpinning learning theory of personalised learning; lack of user-led development of digital personalised learning; proprietary algorithms inaccessible to users; and conditions and inherent coercion within EdTech products. These are all worthy topics of discussion, and can certainly be viewed from a decolonizing perspective, but I wonder whether it would be more productive to think of them under the wider heading of power and control generally.

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