OLDaily

Feature Article
Vincens Vives Interview
Stephen Downes, Half an Hour, 2022/04/27

I was recently interviewed for the Vincens Vives blog (in Spanish). Below is the full-length set of answers I sent, in English, to the questions I was posed.

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Why One University Is Moving Toward a Subscription Model
Jeffrey R. Young, EdSurge, 2022/04/27

The idea of a subscription model for access to higher education isn't really new. It's the model adopted by services as diverse as LinkedIn Learning and MasterClass. Forbes wrote in 2017 subscriptions were "disrupting" the traditional business model. This article - really just a short intro to a podcast - profiles plans by Mark Lombardi, Maryville University's president, to move that institution (probably better known for eSports) to subscription fees rather than tuition fees. You might recall Lombardi's proposal for iPad University in 2017. He's doing the speaking circuit promoting his book Pivot, hitting SXSW in March; you can also hear him on the Audacy podcast from a few days earlier, EdUp from last week, SkillsBaby from March, DisruptU from last fall and IngenioUs from December. The details are scant, though. This interview in the Maryville Magazine tells us almost nothing, and this interview in EdTech magazine is more about the use of data analytics. (Couple of sidenotes: first, it was interesting to see how many places republished the EdSurge article; second, it was interesting to discover Muck Rack, a website for PR people, while I was digging into this story).

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What is the Logic Behind The Logic’s Demand for Internet Platform Payments?
Michael Geist, 2022/04/27

I used to subscribe to The Logic, because the quality is there, but unsubscribed because I found the coverage skewed to a particular perspective (that's not a gripe; it's both their right to do this and my right to unsubscribe). But in a recent op-ed Logic editor David Skok has come out in favour of the government's proposed bill C-18 that would lead to a requirement that social media pay publishers for links to original content (Skok argues that this is not a 'link tax' because the money does not actually go to the government). Geist points out that The Logic already receives substantial public subsidies and says "the question left unanswered in Skok's piece is why The Logic in its current business model should be entitled to any payment at all from the Internet platforms. There is no reproduction of any articles and even links do not lead to an accessible news article" because almost everything The Logic publishes is behind a paywall.

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Open Educators on Mastodon
Clint Lalonde, EdTech Factotum, 2022/04/27

This is a list of Mastodon accounts of some people interested in open education. It is newly relevant in light of the ongoing exodus from Twitter (I don't think I've ever seen my Mastodon feed so busy). If you're looking for me I'm @Downes@mastodon.social. I'm more open and chatty on Mastodon than I ever was on Twitter (who wants to be chatty for the entire world?). If things continue the way they are I'll probably set up an OLDaily feed so people can follow the newsletter there without having to wade through my commentaries on the weather, cats, bicycle trips and garter snakes. But I won't be shutting down the OLDaily Twitter feed just yet, so there's no need to panic. Let's wait until something actually changes before we do that.

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Liberated Learners
Terry Greene, Kyle Mackie, eCampusOntario, 2022/04/27

This is an open e-textbook by eCampus Ontario designed to help students make the most of their learning (and especially their online learning). "The project has four modules: The Learner, The Navigator, The Collaborator, and The Technologist. Taken together, the modules aim to enable a well-rounded and ready-for-almost-anything post-secondary learner. For Learners. By Learners." It strikes a nice balance between comprehensive enough to be useful but light enough to be accessible. It's published in PressBooks, which means it suffers from awkward Pressbooks navigation.

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Sal Khan partners with Arizona State University to Launch New Online Global High School
BusinessWire, 2022/04/27

It's a long way from those first heady days of free Khan Academy math and physics lessons on YouTube. Khan World School is partnering with ASU to offer an online school experience for a reported fee of $US 12,900 per year. "Each day will include a seminar where small student peer groups will have the opportunity to interact online and actively dive deep into society's most challenging questions with support from mentors and world-class learning guides." Nice, but school should be for everyone, not just those who can pay. Khan has raised more that $16 million in grants and investments over the years.

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Harvard pledges $100M to research, atone for role in slavery
Collin Binkley, ABC News, 2022/04/27

Harvard should be praised for its extensive documentation of how it participated in, and benefited from, slavery an the legacy of slavery, as this report (134 page PDF) describes. But nobody should be fooled by reports that it will "spend $100 million" to atone. None of this money is actually leaving Harvard. As an examination of the recommendations shows, the money will be paid to Harvard staff to "engage" with descendant communities, specifically (and for example), "the creation, expansion, and dissemination of world-class learning opportunities—including curricular and pedagogical innovations, expanded access to existing resources, and outstanding teacher training." The Harvard University endowment was valued at $53.2 billion as of June 2021.

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