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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37 predictions about edtech's impact in 2023
Laura Ascione, eSchool News, 2023/01/02

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We all love a good predictions article and this one collects 37 items from various sources in edtech. But if you want to have some fun with this one, read the predictions from the bottom up, looking up the author and organization first. Then try to predict what their prediction will be about. It won't be hard for most of them: the Johnson Controls prediction is about clean air requirements, the Cook Center for Human Connection prediction is about mental health, and so on. On one hand, it makes sense that people would write about what they know. On the other hand, these predictions serve the authors' interests very well - which makes me doubt their reliability.

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Why Neuroscience Refutes the Language of Thought
Gualtiero Piccinini, The Brains Blog, 2023/01/02

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When I was working on a PhD, the Language of Thought theory (LoT) was everything. They wanted me to work on physical symbol systems, mental contents, and other computation-like models of cognition. But this much was clear to me even then: "there is no evidence of a genuinely digital code in the brain, or of a computer-like programming language being executed within the brain, let alone digital processors including the special components that are needed for processors to work, such as program counters or digital memory registers separate from the processors." So it's upsetting to me that people still talk as though the brain is like a computer with input processing, decoding, buffers, working memory, and the like.

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Playing with ChatGPT: now I'm scared (a little)
Tony Bates, Online learning and distance education resources, 2023/01/02

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The best bit in this article on exploring chatGPT is this: "If I was setting a question as an assignment, I would try it out first on ChatGPT, then see if I could improve the question." That makes very good sense if you're still designing assignments this way. Though, of course, as chatGPT improves, we will no longer be designing assignments this way. Also relevant: "The danger of ChatGPT being so good in general is: what if it does get something really wrong, or provides responses based on biased or hateful sources? I guess that is now another responsibility for experts, to keep an eye on it and point out or correct obvious errors." Related: Why ChatGPT is not a threat to Google Search, TechTalks.

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Employment of Technological-Based Approaches for Creative E-Learning
Hamed Taherdoost, Mitra Madanchian, Procedia Computer Science, 2023/01/02

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I'm disappointed to see what passes for peer reviewed literature at Elsevier. This is from the literature review: "Laziness is the natural attitude of the human brain. According to this fact, individuals highly prefer to stay in their comfort zone and not thrive." This gem is found in the context of a case study (7 page PDF) "to study the employment of creative approaches in the virtual learning environment." The innovative strategies described include icebreakers, breakout rooms, online quizzing and polls for feedback.

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The Work-From-Anywhere War Is Beginning
Bruce Daisley, Wired, 2023/01/02

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"Forget return-to-office mandates," writes Bruce Daisley. "The most sought-after talent want ultimate flexibility. Their bosses need to get on board... According to a report by workplace research firm Leesman, office-based working has been most popular with one group alone - senior leaders who had their own offices (or private meeting spaces)." I have zero interest in returning to the office. Zero. It costs me more money, takes up more of my time, and makes me less productive. And I see my co-workers online more than I have ever seen them in person! (Partially because we work all across Canada). I hope my employers are watching this, because while we're used to some decisions not making sense, this one runs against all available evidence and common sense.

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An empirical study on the scaffolding Chinese university students' English argumentative writing based on toulmin model
Rui Yang, Heliyon, 2023/01/02

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Normally we would think of an argument in a paper as consisting with the evidence for a proposition, a background theory or model that makes the evidence relevant, and the conclusion to be drawn. In philosophical argumentation, however, it is typical to consider as well a range of possible objections and formulate responses. Additionally, in scientific writing, the strength or plausibility of the inference is assessed. Students are weaker in these two latter aspects, even when taught how to argue, so to scaffold their learning a framework, such as Toulmin's Method, is applied. This paper reports on a study of two classes (n = 81) from a university in Tianjin, China, testing the application of the method in that context. Based on the study, "the teaching method based on Toulmin model can play a more comprehensive role in improving the quality of argumentative writing."

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