OLDaily

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

Behold Modular Forms, the 'Fifth Fundamental Operation' of Math
Jordana Cepelewicz, Quanta Magazine, 2023/09/22

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This article is a bit mind-bending right from the outset as it places 'modular forms' right up there alongside addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. What does that mean? I can't really explain it. I won't pretend I understand it. But the existence of modular forms leads me to question, once again, what we mean when we say learning should begin with 'foundational' principles. Does that mean our grade 1 students should be learning modular forms? Or at the very least, the concept of symmetry? Or do we admit that what counts as 'foundational' depends very much on our point of view?

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The Study of Consciousness, Accusations of Pseudoscience, and Bad Publicity
Justin Weinberg, Daily Nous, 2023/09/22

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The Integrated Information Theory (IIT) of consciousness "consciousness is identical to a certain kind of information, the realization of which requires physical, not merely functional, integration, and which can be measured mathematically according to the phi metric." It is not without controversy. "Earlier this week, a letter signed by over 100 researchers, including several philosophers, was published online, calling a popular theory of consciousness, integrated information theory (IIT), 'pseudoscience.'" The criticisms are not without critics themselves; David Chalmers writes: "IIT has many problems, but "pseudoscience" is like dropping a nuclear bomb over a regional dispute." Personally, I classify IIT as a type of cognitivism, and therefore, wrong. I'll leave others to decide whether it's pseudoscience.

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AI is not a paradigm shift. But it could be useful
Ben Werdmuller, Werd I/O, 2023/09/22

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As the title suggests, Ben Werdmuller is arguing that AI will follow the traditional hype cycle, entering before long the 'trough of disillusionment'. But the more interesting part of this post is his discussion of blockchain, currently mired in the trough, but beginning to look like it will support some long-term utility: "people who installed software like Metamask could choose to identify themselves to a website with a single click. In some countries, digital currencies also gave citizens an accessible safe haven when their own local currency tumbled. And finally, it introduced a much wider audience to the concept of decentralization, where a large-scale internet system is run co-operatively by all of its users instead of a giant megacorp." What might the longer-term applications of AI look like?

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Academic Integrity and Assignment Design
MLA-CCCC Joint Task Force on Writing and AI, 2023/09/22

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This Modern Language Association (MLA) task force is "looking at adapting our existing assignments to mitigate dishonesty and learning loss by discouraging misuse as much as possible through recognized best practices in assigning writing." Using AI-detection systems is not recommended, nor is creating assignments that "AI can't do". So we see them recommend things like focusing on instrinsic motivation, asking for docuymentation of the writing process, and testing the assignments against language models. Image: Giulia Forsythe ,TRU. Via Anna Mills.

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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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