OLDaily

Welcome to Online Learning Daily, your best source for news and commentary about learning technology, new media, and related topics.

How I Contributed as a Tester to a Machine Learning System: Opportunities, Challenges and Learnings
Shivani Gaba, InfoQ, 2023/02/17

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Not too many people aspired to be a 'tester to a machine learning system' when I was in school. But it's a job today in a field that's likely to grow tomorrow. It's not simply a matter of making sure the AI got the answer right. "To ensure quality, it's important to test learned logic. So I asked myself, how do I test this learning process and the logic learnt by the model? Is it even possible to test this logic? Is a model completely a black box?" This article describes (to some degree) how machine learning works and the various permutations of testing that allow assessors to evaluate validity.

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SURF Tech Trends 2023
SURF, 2023/02/17

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I thought this report (87 page PDF) was pretty good for a number of reasons. For one thing, it actually focuses on technology, and not pseudo-psychological categories (like 'growth mindset' or 'client focus'). Second, the list of technologies is forward-looking; it's not just a list of the things everyone has seen in the last year, so we have things like 'digital twins', 'computing continuum' and 'quantum key distribution' (there are nice write-ups describing each of these plus a couple dozen more). Third, each trend is placed in context, with a discussion of how it relates to public values and ethics, its readiness level, and technology drivers. Plus there's a number of examples of each technology in action. Via Wilfred Rubens.

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View of An Online Physics Laboratory Delivered Through Live Broadcasting Media: A COVID-19 Teaching Experience
Bayu Setiaji, Purwoko Haryadi Santoso, The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 2023/02/17

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This study reports on a nuclear physics lab being conducted using a live video broadcast over Instagram during the pandemic. The actual lab work was performed by teaching assistants, while the students would prepare for the lab and write up the results as normal. The authors report that the project was successful, and most students passed, though as they note, "35% expressed negative feedback. This should not be ignored. It can be driven since some students encountered technical issues during the live session, i.e., poor network quality. In addition, some students expressed criticism related to the camera angle."

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View of The Perception and Behavioral Intention Toward MOOCs: Undergraduates in China
Kai Wang, The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 2023/02/17

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I spent a fair amount of time with this paper because of a related project and found it quite useful. The author uses two common behavioural models (Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and theory of planned behavior (TPB)) to analyze Chinese students' perceptions regarding MOOCs. A 5-part Likert scale (questions in the Appendix) was used to collect data. The paper then offered an explanatory model (pictured) of the results, and assessed the reliability and validity of the scale through a set six measurements (of content validity, convergent validity, consistency, etc). The author found that "(Attitude) was confirmed as a critical variable in the MOOC context. To attract and engage students in MOOCs, teachers should be aware of various learner characteristics and implement teaching that responds to their audience's attitude and perception of learning."

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View of What are the indicators of Student Engagement in Learning Management Systems? A Systematized Review of the Literature
Golchehreh Ahmadi, Aeen Mohammadi, Shadi Asadzandi, Mahsood Shah, Rita Mojtahedzadeh, International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 2023/02/17

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Delivers exactly what the title describes. The 27 indicators "were categorized into three themes and six categories as follows: (a) log-in and usage (referring to LMS, access to course material), (b) student performance (assignments, assessments), and (c) communication (messaging, forum participation). Among the categories, access to course material and messaging were the most and the least mentioned, respectively." What I notice about the indicators is that they're very superficial. 'Number of sent messages', for example, instead of 'Relevance of message to course material'. I also notice that there's no real weighting of indicators. Also, of course, all indicators are from within the LMS, with no indication of what took place outside. None of this is the authors' fault, of course; the literature is what it is.

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So, er, what even is a co-op?
Doug Belshaw, Google Docs, 2023/02/17

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When thinking about the future of learning and especially of workplace learning it would be useful to think about how work itself should be organized, so you're not saying things like "you need to have management buy-in to do such-and-such". This is a really good description of the co-op model of work. "A co-op is an organisation that people can choose to join, and which is controlled democratically by members, in a way where capital is held as common property, so that the organisation is fully independent. Members commit to education and training to help develop the co-op, and seek to work together with other co-ops to build a new/better economy. This work is deeply rooted in community — whatever that means in the context of a particular co-op." If I weren't working in the public service, my second choice would be to work in a co-op.

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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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