OLDaily

Achieving education for all through standards, not standardisation
Maria Ron Balsera, World Education Blog, 2022/10/12

Standardization refers to "the application of a model of standardised mass production" while standards are "minimum conditions". The former, argues Maria Ron Balsera, leads to dehumanization in the quest for lower costs, while the latter is "based on the equal dignity and worth of human beings and workers." And so "defenders of education should focus on upholding standards, particularly national minimum standards and human rights, including the Abidjan Principles."

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A Partial Defense of Extended Knowledge
2022/10/12

The author distinguishes between two types of extended cognition (or extended knowledge) and advances an argument for one of them. Extended cognition is "is the idea that mental states, or representations, depend in an important sense not just on the brain but also on the body or the external environment." Strong extended cognition is the assertion that all cognitive states are extended, while weak extended cognition is the assertion that only some cognitive states are extended (I'm paraphrasing a bit). The author defends the weaker position. Papers like this, which consist almost entirely of definitions and thought experiments, can be frustrating to read. But this paper (24 page PDF) is useful in that it will catch readers up with the current state of the literature in extended cognition, looking at discussions of extended perception, belief and memory as well before making the case through an account of extended procedural knowledge.

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Everyone assumes universities have a duty of care towards students – our campaign would establish one
Robert Abrahart, Margaret Abrahart, WonkHe, 2022/10/12

While I think the first part of the headline is more or less true, this article breaks down when it comes to the second, as it is not exactly clear precisely what they mean by 'duty of care', despite the effort they take to define it. The argument is presented in the context of a judge's ruling that a "university had not made reasonable adjustments to the way she was assessed as part of her course," and suggests "'Care' in this context is about giving serious attention, or proper consideration, to doing something correctly and in such a way that causing damage or creating a risk is avoided." But later the same article suggests 'care' means something like "the phrase 'in loco parentis' – or the 'prudent parent' standard of responsibility." That, though, is a much more stringent standard, and seems to go well beyond the common understanding.

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Compared to what? Effects of social and temporal comparison standards of feedback in an e-learning context
Marc P. Janson, Jan Siebert, Oliver Dickhäuser, International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 2022/10/12

Interesting paper (26 page PDF). It raises the question of whether student preferences for one or another type of evaluation ('social comparison' and 'temporal comparison') has an impact on learning outcomes. It does not evaluate for comparison against an objective standard, which I find to be a weakness. Still, the question it does ask is worth asking. The results are mixed. Greater 'fit' with a preference for social comparisons does have an impact, while fit with preference for temporal comparison does not. This may be (suggest the authors) because weaker students prefer not to be compared with others, and perform less well when they are.

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Some of The Best Free Digital Storytelling Tools for Teachers
Med Kharbach, Educational Technology and Mobile Learning, 2022/10/12

As before, I won't attest that these are the 'best', merely that they exist. "The tools provide students with diverse media through which to design and share their stories: they can use videos, posters, presentations, and comics to compose and narrate their stories," writes Med Kharbach.

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