OLDaily

he Future with Decentralisation and Blockchain
Signe Agerskov, Data Ethics, 2022/04/25

This is a very brief outline of a longer report (62 page PDF) on blockchain and web3 by the Future Today Institute. Yes, the report is cheerfully optimistic, perhaps overly so, but its primary benefit will be to help people write use cases for decentralized digital technology, including especially digital currencies. There were certainly additions over and above my own list (slightly dated), for example, 'conditional money' (which can only be used for certain purposes), 'earned wage access' (instead of waiting for payday), fractional ownership and fan ownership models (instead of ownership by billionaires) and distributed earning models. Most of these will have educational analogues.

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What education problems can technology not address? Which ones does it exacerbate?
Michael Gallagher, Yujun (June) Xu, Ben Williamson, World Education Blog, 2022/04/25

This article reports on the results of a consultation (11 page PDF) on a recent concept note (10 page PDF) for the Global Education Monitoring project published by UNESCO. While I know the writers are trying to be fair, it really reads (as the title suggests) as though technosceptics have been asked to find everything that could possibly go wrong with technology in education. It's a frustrating read. For example, what's the point of redefining technology to "the full range of technologies available to us: paper, radio, televisions, mobile devices, laptops, and so on" and then to complain that "billions of dollars of venture capital are flowing to EdTech companies." There never seems to be any complaint by the technosceptics about the billions invested in paper production, as though it were an industry that had no impact or influence on the world at all. The calculus is never about 'it can do this', 'it cannot do that'. It should always be a comparison: does it make sense to clearcut the entire Canadian north (as, in fact, we have done) or would it make more sense to give people computers? Or: what is the evidence that the technology we have been using for the last hundred years has addressed the problems of governance and inequality (let along equity)?

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AI’s pivotal role in authentic PD
Laura Ascione, eSchool News, 2022/04/25

According to this article, "Edthena, a provider of video-powered PD tools, is harnessing AI in its new AI Coach platform. The solution helps schools and districts give teachers access to supportive coaching to improve teaching effectiveness." The pitch to staff fearful of losing their jobs resembles the pitch for pretty much every educational technology I've ever seen. "AI Coach by Edthena is not meant to replace existing coaches," said Geller. "Instead, the platform is meant to help every school and district provide more coaching and feedback than they can deliver today due to not having coaches or not having enough coaches."

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'How a $10k poker win changed how I think'
Alex O'Brien, BBC, 2022/04/25

From last year, but still worth sharing. To be clear, what changed Alex O'Brien's thinking wasn't the win, it was the training she received in preparation for a "heads-up match" with a prominent poker player after having won the $10k win. What struck me was how her relation to 'truth' changed. "what most of us think of as a 'prediction' is 'heads' or 'tails.' However, a trader or poker player would say 'equally likely to be either' and act accordingly." When you look at it this way, "It means being less hard on myself when something turns out poorly, as long as I did everything I could to achieve a good outcome." I think a lot of things are like that. Baseball. Health. Life. "In life, too, we can do all the right things and still lose.... The biggest risk in life is to take no risk at all."

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East African bloc moves to develop RPL policy
Maina Waruru, The PIE News, 2022/04/25

The trick to developing a prior learning assessment and review (PLAR) policy, in my view, is having the results recognized by other agencies. That's why an initiative like the East Africa recognition of prior learning (RPL) is a good idea. "The regional universities body, the Inter-University Council of East Africa, is leading the process which will recognise skilled and talented people without professional academic papers, across the region."

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On how (not) to learn Latin via French
Victor Mair, Language Log, 2022/04/25

This post is intended as a criticism of requiring scholars learn modern Chinese before learning classical Chinese. By analogy, writes Victor Mair, imagine a person needed to learn modern French before learning Latin. However, I read it as a critique of education in general, where students find themselves learning everything but that thing they really wanted to learn (I still remember my first (and only) year of Computer Science at Algonquin College in 1979-80, where I learned technical writing, electronics, engineering, mathematics... and one basic course in computer science). Image: The BHS Beat.

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