OLDaily

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

Nairobi
Brian Lamb, Abject, 2023/11/01

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I can only imagine how much of an impact this experience will have had on Brfian Lamb, who here recounts his experience working in Nairobi, Kenya, "on a three week assignment as an E-learning Development Advisor with a truly inspiring organization called RefuSHE." Even before arriving in Kenya, he reports, he took "hours of asynchronous and live online training for WUSC's "flagship international volunteer cooperation initiative", IGNI+E, which is intended 'to help address the root causes of youth unemployment in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Jordan and Côte d'Ivoire – particularly for young women.'" This includes courses "on intercultural sensitivity, gender equality and social inclusion, environmental sustainability and climate action" as well as "training on the more direct requirements of an international assignment, such as maintaining physical and mental health, and various elements of safety and security."

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

How AI Shapes the Future of Critical Thinking
Gigster, 2023/11/01

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This article isn't particularly well written but I've kept it in the bin because it advances an idea that is probably commonplace but incorrect: that "AI isn't designed to replace human critical thinking." By 'critical thinking' we're not talking about 'detecting false statements' - an AI will need to be able to refer to a store of facts and data to do that. Rather, critical thinking is (more or less) "the capacity to question, evaluate, and reflect on previously held beliefs; it's the ability to recognize ambiguity and make informed judgments and decisions." We could say that critical thinking (a) detects patterns in  reasoning, and (b) distinguishes good patterns from bad patterns. Both of these (pattern recognition, and classification) are core functions of AI. I would expect (over time and with more training) our AI systems to excel at critical thinking, to the point where we will be able to offer arguments or lines of reasoning as prompts and receive an analysis and criticism of that thinking in return.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

A framework for evaluating rapidly developing digital and related technologies
Alison Meston, International Science Council, 2023/11/01

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Although everybody today is focused on AI, I did some project work with the ISC when Covid first hit, and it strikes me that 'rapidly developing' could be applied to a range of things to which technology may be a response. So the framework could be applied to, say, 'remote learning' as well as to AI, as it is here. "The issues are broadly grouped into the following categories for further examination:
   • Wellbeing (including that of individuals or self, society and social life, and civic life)
   • Trade and economy
   • Environmental
   • Geo-strategic and geo-political
   • Technological (system characteristics, design and use)."
This seems to capture the entire range, but an awful lot is packed into 'wellbeing', which seems to diminish the importance of individual items within it when compared to, say, trade and economics, or geopolitics.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

More help with math and science problems in Search
Rob Wong, Google, The Keyword, 2023/11/01

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This post from Google offers additional challenges for teachers. One product allows you to scan a math problem and then provides a step by step solution. Another doers the same for word problems. And a third tool provides 3D visualizations of STEM concepts (for example, the inner folds that create the cristae or the matrix within the inner membrane of mitochondria ). Via a Search Engine Journal article that is essentially a rewrite of the Google article.

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.

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