OLDaily

The ‘Post-Pandemic’ University
David White, Digital – Learning – Culture, 2022/07/08

"terms like 'returning to normality', 'quality' and 'experience' are used in a manner which implies there is an ideal model waiting to be sculpted from the substance of recent years," writes David White. But these key terms "are often argued from differing, but rarely explicitly stated, positions," as characterized by a series of tensions between culture, education and sustainability. "There is a task ahead to rethink our relationship with work in an environment where technology has outstripped our abilities to set boundaries. Being honest about the conditions of the system we are operating within is the first step."

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An intro to “ecosystem mapping” with Allegheny County’s Literacy Ecosystem
Meghan Orman, Remake Learning, 2022/07/08

This is a short article that really makes me want to learn more (fortunately there's a set of links to related items at the bottom). It described a type of learning ecosystem, specifically, a 'literacy ecosystem', "a type of learning ecosystem composed of networked people, organizations, and places that support literacy development across the same area." The idea of mapping such an ecosystem is that it helps people understand the range of resources and connections across the field in a region, which allows them to provide better advice and referrals. It also provides guidance on how the existing ecosystem can be grown and developed.

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Reflecting on Identity Boxes
Arianna Lambert, Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, 2022/07/08

Here's a meaningful use of technology, according to the author: "one teacher brought up the idea of supporting students on creating Identity Boxes, loosely based on the idea of Joseph Cornell's Box. The idea was to work with students intentionally on understanding the many facets of our identities and how they intersect, and from there, to create a digital version – similar to James Cornell's – where students could share their learning about themselves, with one another and their families." This seems to me to be something good, far from the edtech commodification we keep reading about from the critics. Related: "judy mckeown has provided teachers with an excellent resource – Pause and Ponder Social Identity Self-Assessment – that teachers may wish to use for themselves." Via Doug Peterson.

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Skirting Paradox
Miguel Guhlin, Around the Corner, 2022/07/08

Miguel Guhlin's comments in response to Dave Truss on the (non-)role of religion in education stand on their own and are well worth reading. But it's his parenthetical response to the recent edtech angst that makes my day: "I might want to discuss the end of edtech, but friends, that conversation is past. Evidence-based research reigns supreme, the rest is unverified assertions. More critical thinking is needed, but that is also the point...stop doing fantasy pedagogy.

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Meta Releases Open Source AI Machine Translation Model
Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology, 2022/07/08

According to this article, "in a project called "No Language Left Behind," Meta has built an artificial intelligence model - NLLB-200 - that can translate text across 200 different languages." Like most readers, I am sceptical of Meta's intentions in anything they do. So I approach this particular resource with caution. But it does signify the wider trend toward instant and widely available automated translation, something that will genuinely revolutionize the world (and partially erase the in-built advantage native English speakers have enjoyed in business and academia).

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The One-Traffic-Light Town with Some of the Fastest Internet in the U.S.
Sue Halpern, The New Yorker, 2022/07/08

This week I was finally connected to fibre internet, after years of waiting. I was the first in my neighbourhood in a thriving rural village in eastern Ontario to be connected. So this article from 2019 describing how an impoverished county in Kentucky accomplished the same thing through their local cooperative is particularly relevant to me. As the article explains, "The big telecom companies aren't going to do it, because it's not economical and they have shareholders to answer to." And that was the case here in Casselman, and why we waited so long. This link comes via an article by Cory Doctorow on the inequalities caused by the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few billionaires, and how people can organize against it. But it requires law to enable, as outlined in 'Constructing Countervailing Power: Law and Organizing in an Era of Political Inequality,' And it's not clear that the people have the power to change the law. Not now, at least. Via Scott Leslie.

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