OLDaily

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

All wrapped up: the biggest stories of the year
University Affairs, 2023/12/27

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At a certain point, universities are going to have to trthink their operating model. As this year-end summary reports, "graduate students and postdocs... receive $17,000 on average each year in funding, leaving many below the poverty line." This wasn't sustainable when I was a graduate student, and yet surprisingly it continues to the present day. As we read, "it's leading to a brain drain of Canadian talent. UA dove into the problem in a recent feature article, Why Canada is losing the next generation of talent, where researchers and advocates lay out what a devastating impact this can have on Canada's innovation ecosystem and future economy." I started working in the field of online learning to find ways to offer more access to learning for less money, thus making the whole economy of post-secondary education fairer and a lot less exploitative. We;ve made great strides, but the most stubborn resisters continue to be universities themselves.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Preparing my gaming and education class for spring 2024
Bryan Alexander, 2023/12/27

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Bryan Alexander is preparing his class for the next semester and looking for feedback. It involves a look at a number of games, game design for education, and a little bit at the end about gaming and AI. I'm not sure whether he uses any procedurally designed world games like No Man's Sky but I would, especially as these create unique opportunities for gameplay and incorporation of AI. I would also make it a MOOC, free and open to all, but I'm not sure whether his employer would allow that.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Embracing Dead Week
Tim Stahmer, Assorted Stuff, 2023/12/27

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My employer closes all offices this week so I welcome the opportunity to work on whatever I want to work on for a week. It's a habit I picked up many years ago, and usually involved getting deep into some programming project (invariably unfinished, of course). I keep doing the newsletter because, well, I like doing the newsletters.And I do think New Years is a good time for a restart because that's when I start getting into shape for my next summer biking season - so it's back on the trainer in the morning, back to doing noon hour walks, back to eating healthy. For a few months, anyways.

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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