OLDaily

Bridging the Gap: Micro-credentials for Development
Don Olcott, Jr., Glenda Cox, Wayne Mackintosh, Rory McGreal, International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 2022/08/31

"This paper (15 page PDF) describes current trends and issues in implementing micro-credentials," write the authors. The argument for micro-credentials, or as they're also referenced in this work, Alternative Digital Credentials (ADC), is that "students desire more options at lower costs to combine their education and training for jobs" while "employers want entry-level employees with better skills and capacity to learn." ADCs essentially break the link between time and academic credits, measuring for knowledge and skills learned rather than duration of a class or program. "Other benefits include having fast access to learning on demand at lower cost and with more choices, especially regarding skills in demand in the marketplace," write the authors. There's a case study and recommendations for institutions and governments. Image: Tony Bates.

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The Value of Play in HE: A Study. Free Book!
Alison James, 2022/08/31

This openly accessible ebook (343 pages in a 172 page PDF) is the account of Alison James's "study into the use and value of play in higher education, conducted September 2019- September 2022. Its purpose is to share the thoughts, experiences and perceptions of those who have contributed; writers on play, educators who play, scholars and practitioners who play with play." There's so much to like about this book: the way it's artfully constructed, the way it brings in many voices, the letter G, and of course the positive attitude toward play. It is on the one hand encyclopedic (witness the 'Gallery' of games in education, which forms the substantial body of the work) and on the other hand insightful ('going deeper'). If you read nothing else, skip to page 321 and read the 'gems'.

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Being in the humanity of governance, with all its messiness and joy
Resonance Network, Network Weaver, 2022/08/31

These are reflections - and nothing more than that, really - from the WeGovern Learning Community as it moves into phase two. It's interesting for couple of reasons - one, in that it offers an example of the new sort of learning once we break out of traditional patterns, and two, in considering the relation between why we govern ourselves (in this case, to "uplift the collective dignity, wholeness, and thriving of one another"), and how we govern ourselves. The observations apply directly, in my view, to how we manage and govern learning amongst ourselves as well.

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The Language Game
Steve Dodson, Languagehat, 2022/08/31

It is well worth the time for any educator to become familiar with Wittgenstein's concept of the 'language game' - that is, the idea that language is not a set of rules, meanings and syntax but rather a "community-wide game of charades, where each new game builds on those that have gone before." This is important because "it is constantly re-contrived generation after generation." Indeed, "we talk without knowing the rules of our language just as we play tennis without knowing the laws of physics, or sing without knowing music theory. In this very real sense, we speak, and do so skillfully and effectively, without knowing our language at all."

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Democracy dies behind a paywall
Tara McGowan, Poynter, 2022/08/31

It doesn't matter what the story is, I'm just glad someone besides me is using this phrase, because it's exactly right. Poynter is very limited in its advocacy: "Paywalls bolster news organizations' bottom lines, but leave Americans in the dark. As a public service, let everyone read election stories for free." It should be more than just election stories, and it should be for everyone. There's a very close link to being able to access knowledge and being able to govern ourselves, as the developers of the first libraries knew very well.

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Self-Sovereign Identity: The Ultimate Guide 2022
Dock Blog, 2022/08/31

Even  if we don't end up with a system exactly as described in this document, we're going to end up with something like it. Why? It addresses the need for each of us to have an individual set of identity credentials, that we manage ourselves, the way we handle cards and documents in a wallet, and it addresses the issues of confidentiality, reliability, persistence and efficiency. This document is a long and detailed description of self-sovereign identity, from the perspective of a certificate provider, and something every education technologist will want to at least know about, if not understand deeply enough to be planning to use something like this in five to ten years.

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