OLDaily

Welcome to Online Learning Daily, your best source for news and commentary about learning technology, new media, and related topics. We publish six to eight or so short posts every weekday linking to the best, most interesting and most important pieces of content in the field. Read more about what we cover. We also list papers and articles by Stephen Downes and his presentations from around the world.

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Digital literacies literacy
Philip Kerr, Adaptive Learning in ELT, 2022/11/17

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I don't think we should forget about digital literacy, or the related set of associated literacies (there's a useful chart in the article). Digital literacy is "a curious amalgam of relatively straightforward skills and much more complex combinations of skills with knowledge, attitudes and dispositions... we would find things like the ability to use tags, hashtags, search engines, and filters (and) the ability to recognise fake news or to understand how and why personally targeted advertising is such a money-spinner." I haven't forgotten that I want to write up my thoughts on this. Time, though. Always time.

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Engaging Students in Research
Amanda Cappon, Lynne N. Kennette, Faculty Focus, 2022/11/17

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This article is based on a survey of students enrolled in a social service work diploma program, though unfortunately there is no link to the study. It documents advantages of encouraging students to engage in research, as seem from the students' perspectives, and also outlines some barriers (not surprisingly, these include lack of time and funding). The authors suggest sharing opportunities "far and wide", making time in their academic schedule, help building student research skills, and ensure training and support is available in the research positions.

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To Fight Misinformation, We Need to Teach That Science Is Dynamic
Carl T. Bergstrom, Daniel R. Pimentel, Jonathan Osborne, Scientific American, 2022/11/17

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"Science is a social process," write the authors, "and teaching students how researchers work in tandem to develop facts will make them less likely to be duped by falsehoods." This article lists five key concepts that should be taught: uncertainty, peer review, expertise, consensus, and agnatogenesis (that is, the deliberate creation of doubt by corporations or other interests with a financial or political stake). To teach this effectively, however, we have to do more than just say it to students. We have to model how it works. We have to practice it in our day-to-day learning practices.

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Digital Books wear out faster than Physical Books - Internet Archive Blogs
Brewster Kahle, Internet Archive Blogs, 2022/11/17

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There's a story about why people of my generation are disgruntled. During our lifetimes we've bought the same Beatles album on vinyl, 8-track, cassette tape, CD-ROM, MP3 download, and now as a streaming service. How many times, we ask, do we have to pay for the same music? It wasn't the same for books. "Ever try to read a physical book passed down in your family from 100 years ago?" asks Brewster Kahle in this blog post. "Probably worked well." However, things are changing. "Ever try reading an ebook you paid for 10 years ago? Probably a different experience. From the leasing business model of mega publishers to physical device evolution to format obsolescence, digital books are fragile and threatened." Right. It's not simply the fact that books are on digital that makes them fragile. Plain text files 50 years old are still easily read. But publishers are constantly changing formats and access models, with the result that, like music, we have to buy them over and over again. That's why the updating work of Internet Archive is so important.

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Scotland publishes first Code of Practice for use of biometric data
E&T Magazine, 2022/11/17

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According to this article, "Scotland has become the first country in the world to publish a code of practice that governs the ethical use of DNA and other biometric data." I can't say I know whether Scotland was first or not, but the code of practice is relevant as an example of the sorts of approaches and concerns that apply to biometric data. The Scottish Framework (20 page PDF) lists nine 'general principles' (such as "enhancing public safety and the public good"), ten considerations for implementation, and eight considerations related specifically to the collection and processing of biometric data.

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EdTech's precarious futures: are there material limits to data-driven higher education?
Kean Birch, NORRAG -, 2022/11/17

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The question I ask, I guess, is how likely is this. Kean Birch points to an example where development is being stalled in central London because the infrastructure cannot supply any more power. But that's London. That's the UK. the same conditions don't apply elsewhere - do they? "As EdTech grows as a sector, it's going to come up against these energy limits too. It's likely that there simply won't be the energy infrastructure in place to enable them to exploit the data they've collected and turn it into useful products and services."

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Why it's wrong to blame online learning for causing mental health issues during COVID-19
University Affairs, 2022/11/17

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It may feel intuitively right to connect mental health issues with online learning, but the research doesn't back that up. "The findings in this literature are mixed," write the authors, "and any assertions about a relationship between online learning and mental health are confounded by research quality and pandemic grief."

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