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

Will AI companions replace the prospectus?
Nick Cuthbert, The PIE News, 2023/11/29

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"Universities must now also radically redefine how they offer course and application guidance," according to this article. It struck me as a little off for the author to consider how the university prospectus world be incorporated into an AI-based personal assistant. Why would the student even need these services? It's hard not to imagine that AI, if broadly applied, would create sweeping changes in all aspects of the university, not just the prospectus. It's a common thing, though, for people to predict changes in one place while expecting everything else to stay roughly the same.

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Every Bitcoin payment 'uses a swimming pool of water'
Chris Vallance, BBC News, 2023/11/29

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This isn't about ed tech per se but I want to flag as irresponsible this type of reporting. The article says, "bitcoin consumed nearly 1,600 billion litres - also known as gigalitres (GL) - of water in 2021". I think this is very generous - it even includes evaporation from hydro power reservoirs. The argument is made that "Up to three billion people worldwide already experience water shortages." But this shortage is of distribution, not supply. To make my point: note that 1,600 billion litres amounts to 0.0016 cubic kilometers of water. For comparison, almond production is about 4 cubic kilometers per year. By contrast, Lake Baikal alone contains 23,600 cubic kilometers of water. Lake Baikal alone could supply water for bitcoin for more than 14,000,000 years. And only 5,850 years of almond production. It would do a lot for world water shortages generally, if it were better located. Shutting down bitcoin won't help people facing water shortages. Global income redistribution, by contrast, would - but I rarely see this in the press as an argument for anything.

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A Comparison Between Virtual and Conventional Microscopes in Health Science Education
Nazlee Sharmin, Ava K. Chow, Alice S. Dong, Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 2023/11/29

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I'm not really a fan of scoping reviews for various reasons. But when all of the studies reviewed say something, then that's worthy of note. We have such a case here: "All studies included in our review reported virtual microscopy as superior or equal to light microscopes in all aspects of students' learning experiences." I'm not surprised. I actually can't use traditional light microscopes (if I use glasses my eye is too far away from the eyepiece, and if I don't I can't see anything at all). I'm sure many other people find the physical equipment difficult to use.

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