OLDaily

Placing employability at the heart of further education
Robin Ghurbhurun, JISC, 2022/07/07

Something to keep in mind when anguishing over the state of digital education: "The genie is out of the bottle with regards to working online, and it is unlikely it will go back in." The question isn't whether there will be edtech, but rather, how best to make it work. What are our objectives, and what are our methods? If we just shrug our shoulders and wash our hands of it, what will it become? "It is important to ensure students' online learning experience matches, or surpasses, what they would receive in a classroom. AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning is one way to do this, and the approach is recommended by industry." Got a better plan? Let's hear it. Relying on paper texts and teachers in the classroom won't cut it any more (and we should stop pretending there was a golden age of fair, equitable, inclusive and responsible education some time in the past - there wasn't).

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Teaching Computer Science–Moving atoms not pixels
Alfred Thompson, Computer Science Teacher, 2022/07/07

If I were a pedant I'd say the title should be "moving atoms, not electrons," because there's nothing non-physical about what we're doing on computers. Still, the difference is noteworthy. "Robots, game controllers, Internet of Things, and more are ways that computer science interacts with physical objects and not just pixels on a screen. These are ways that teachers can bring more students to more interesting (to the student) to get involved with computer science." Maybe there should be a whole thing, 'computing with your hands', or something like that. Image: IBM, using atoms as pixels.

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Edtech is killing us: Random notes on a Neil Selwyn talk about edtech and climate crisis
Anne-Marie Scott, A placid island of ignorance…, 2022/07/07

More from the ed tech angst currently flowing through the community. Here's Neil Selwyn's talk on digital education in times of climate crisis saying "the dominant forms of ed tech are based around excess." Here's the summary from Anne-Marie Scott, "that we currently live in a period of edtech excess and that this is fueling increasing disadvantage and climate crisis" as well as "ways in which current forms of edtech are actively harmful beyond their climate impact, debasing and degrading education." George Veletsianos looks at the content of what we are teaching, asking "How could we help people understand that climate change will impact them?" Matthias Melcher draws the useful distinction between "simple, low tech tools that are really tools" as opposed to "patronizing prostheses (and) all sorts of spectacular, shiny, oversized toys."

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Classic Guide for Critical Thinking
LynnAnn Brewer, LinkedIn, 2022/07/07

LynnAnn Brewer shared this taxonomy (image) on LinkedIn. If you have access to LinkedIn you can view the conversation that follows (the quality of which is variable). Otherwise, just click on the image link. It's a good overview of the topics addressed by critical thinking, but a taxonomy of its parts is not the same thing as the thing. Critical thinking, properly so-called, is the how to do each of the parts: how to be clear, how to stay relevant, how to be fair, etc.

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Neal.Fun
Neal Agarwal, 2022/07/07

Simple games that give you something to think about, including a great new game based on ethics and the trolley problem. Best used with a discussion afterward. Via Ian O'Byrne.

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Connectivity and Decentralization
John Hagel, 2022/07/07

We are gaining " the ability to connect more quickly and cheaply with anyone or anything around the world," writes John Hagel, which leads to conflicting possibilities: "we might anticipate more and more centralization where activities are controlled and monitored by fewer and fewer large, centralized global entities," or, by contrast, "we're going to see more and more efforts to decentralize our activities – distributing or delegating activities, especially planning and decision-making, away from a central location or group." The argument is an age-old one: central authority cannot keep up with the page of change and local contexts. But to be clear: decentralization does not entail isolation from each other. "Connectivity and decentralization will unfold together" and "we need to evolve a profoundly different set of institutions that will embrace the twin gifts of connectivity and decentralization."

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