OLDaily

Is information power? Exploring the potential of data and analytics for student representatives
Diego Rates, Dragan Gašević, International Journal for Students as Partners, 2022/06/01

"After more than a decade of studies," write the authors, "there is still a critical literature gap about analytics designed to support the activities and decisions of student representatives." This paper is intended to address that gap, though mostly as a very limited and preliminary exploration. As a former student representative myself, I am familiar with the challenges they face when a Board president (say) suggests "you do not represent the views of your members". Would analytics change that? To a degree, but only to the limit of its capabilities. There's only so much you can do with comments from students. It would be useful, in addition, to have access to data collected by the institution ("all the participants said they had not been provided with any of the student feedback collected by staff"). 

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Physicists Rewrite the Fundamental Law That Leads to Disorder
Philip Ball, Quanta Magazine, 2022/06/01

I've commented in the past that the only 'purpose' or 'directionality' in the universe is entropy. I've also questioned the role of information theory in knowledge and learning, describing knowledge and learning as physical, not cognitive, processes, governed not by content but by the laws of physics. But what if these two views can't both be true? That's the dilemma I face after reading this article that (to vastly oversimplify it) describes entropy in terms of information. "Quantum resource theories adopt the picture of the physical world suggested by quantum information theory, in which there are fundamental limitations on which physical processes are possible." Stuff like this keeps me up at night.

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First Impressions Matter! An Experiment Comparing Autonomous and Controlling Language in Course Syllabi
Jully Paola Merchán Tamayo, Meredith Rocchi, Jenepher Lennox Terrion, Simon Beaudry, International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 2022/06/01

This is an interesting idea: "to compare an autonomy-supportive with a controlling syllabus to see how students felt when reading the syllabus, and how the syllabus related to their impressions of the professor, reported motivation, and expectations for the course." The study (17 page PDF) describes the language adjustments made to the syllabus, and tests for a range of perceptions (for example: approachability, engagement, fairness), with the results suggesting "autonomy-supportive language promotes positive outcomes for students compared to controlling language."

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TPACK Tried and Tested: Experiences of Post-Secondary Educators During COVID-19 Pandemic
Viola Manokore, Jeff Kuntz, International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 2022/06/01

This article (15 page PDF) uses the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework (see Koehler & Mishra, 2006) to examine educators' experiences. "The TPACK framework suggests that educators should have adequate technological, pedagogical and content knowledge for them to successfully enhance student learning, no matter which environment they are working in." Conclusions were based on a self-selected set of 140 respondents from a province not named "to protect the identities of the participants" (though the authors are from NorQuest College, in Alberta, so you can do the math). Not surprisingly, the vast majority felt confident in their content knowledge, and also not surprisingly, "more than 50% of the study participants reported that the quality of their practice declined as they shifted from face-to-face to remote teaching as a result of the pandemic," attributable to their lack of mastery of the full TPACK framework.

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How Teaching Online Impacts Safety and Comfort: Experiences of Students and Instructors in the Context of Learning Counseling Skills Online
Kimberly A. Calderwood, Connie L. Kvarfordt, International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 2022/06/01

The value of this study (10 page PDF) is in the depth provided by the 18 interviews. It allows the authors to extend what I think are commonly thought of as 'safety' and 'comfort' in learning both offline and online. And I can relate to many of the comments - the stress, for example, in traveling to an in-person class, the need to have my breaks from other people by myself (even  in-person I don't like socializing during breaks), the comfort of sitting in my own chair and eating my own food (and coffee! decent coffee!). Image: Mohamed Hassan.

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