OLDaily

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

A Vision of the Future of Online Learning in the Age of AI
TeachOnline, Contact North, 2023/10/25

---

"We map here the future of education and technology through the next few decades. We begin by setting the technological stage: advances in hardware and materials, algorithms that comprehend oceans of linked data, sensors everywhere, and digital worlds that seem real. The possibilities seem endless, and we explore some of them: fully personalized learning that can happen anywhere, at any time, based on practical experiences in specialized learning centres and in the community, objectively accessed and directly relevant to future employment opportunities." Some readers may find the author's writing style familiar...

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Using Artificial Intelligence to Create OER
Larry Green, Google Groups, 2023/10/25

---

Regular readers of OLDaily will know that this is something we've been expecting for some time now. It's close enough to being a mainstream idea that all we need is for some professor at an elite university like MIT or Stanford to 'discover' it and get credit; then it will be real and have a History and everything. Anyhow, the real pioneers are working at technical colleges and are already saying things like "In regards to this comment, 'I used a lot of AI to create some of the text and all of the images.'  I think this is the norm now. I use it to create SLOs for many of my courses and lesson plans." Sure, there are sceptics (some even in this Google discussion thread), and sure, there are things that need to be done to make it better. But the trend has already started; it won't be long now before people start  talking about AI-generated OER being created 'on demand' for individual learners based on their needs and interests. Image: Media and Learning.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Artificial General Intelligence Is Already Here
Blaise Agüera y Arcas, Peter Norvig, NOEMA, 2023/10/25

---

Overall I think the point has merit - much of what has been done in AI today is at least on the right path to artificial general intelligence (AGI). "The most important parts of AGI have already been achieved by the current generation of advanced AI large language models." But this article in particular raises only one good objection and three straw man objections. The good objection is 'scepticism about metrics for AGI'. Better tests are needed (but based on our experience with humans, may not be forthcoming). In fairness to the authors, most objections to today's generative AI do fall under one of the three straw man headings - devotion to an alternative theory of AI, belief in human exceptionalism, or concern about the economic consequences. But none of these comes even close to showing that we have not achieved general AI (nor is that usually the authors' intent).

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

AI 101: Possibilities & Considerations of Generative Artificial Intelligence
Lance Eaton, Google Docs, 2023/10/25

---

Via Alan Levine by email, this annotated slide presentation from Lance Eaton is a great starter resource. "Generative AI took something terribly complex and nuanced and made it usable in a textbox. That's a devilishly easy invitation.... The lift to figure out what the Metaverse is, how to access it, how to create in or with it, and why it would be better than other things–that's a lot of figure out. But the generative AI comes in the form of a chatbox–a chatbox many of you have already been using in this very zoom meeting…something that's been around for decades."

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Why Canada is losing the next generation of researchers
Sparrow McGowan, University Affairs, 2023/10/25

---

The argument here is that because support for graduate students and postgraduate fellows is so low, more and more students are leaving the country. When I was Graduate Student president in 1989-91, I made the argument that funding was too low. This hasn't changed. What strikes me about this article, though, is that its focus is exclusively on government funding. What about the role of tuition fees? What about the role of poor pay for graduate and sessional instructors? If government support for graduate students is low, university support is even lower! Hire more professors, instead of low-paid temps, and maybe students would stick around. (Also, the authors cite the Bouchard Report with approval for support. But it's primary recommendation is the creation of a 'Knowledge and Science Foundation' with a mandate to "better support coordination and encourage urgent, international, multi- and interdisciplinary and mission-driven research in Canada... and redeploy resources from the current ecosystem to help support its mandate." It might be more money, maybe. But it's definitely more control. Is that what they want?)

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

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.

There are many ways to read OLDaily; pick whatever works best for you:

• Read in your web browser on this web page, updated weekdays
• Receive a daily or weekly email newsletter by subscribing here
• Subscribe to the RSS feed using your favourite feed reader
• Follow @OLDaily@mastodon.social on Mastodon or elsewhere in the fediverse
• Follow @OLDaily on Twitter
• Integrate the open API using the JSON feed