OLDaily

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

For 'normals' - Learnlets
Clark Quinn, Learnlets, 2024/01/24

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While I wouldn't expect Clark Quinn cease being a sceptic about learning styles, this short post shows some movement avay from the idea that there's no real difference between learners. We can't just design one learning experience for everybody no matter what some might say; he related the ofty-told story about the airplane cockpit that as designed for the 'average' pilot but which fit nobody (a plight I can relate to as a large man forced to sit in seats designed for the average passenger). Having said all that, the last paragraph feel like he's changing his tune again: "That said, we will need to design for the 'normal' audience." So long as we make content 'accessible' (because that would be the only relevant difference between people?). No. If we design for 'average' we are making people as miserable as they are in airplane seats. Yes, everybody gets to the desitination at the same time, so we may think it doesn't matter. But it does. Think it through.

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Tim Ackermann on Building a Data Culture in Classrooms
Ed-Fi Alliance, 2024/01/24

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What does 'success' look like in this context? "Success is teachers being able to look at data in a non-threatening way and use it to understand who needs support." That seems to me to be a very narrow definition of success. For example, wouldn't a 'data culture' look at literacy differently? Wouldn't mathematics instruction focus more on statistics (and maybe matrix algebra) than on calculus? Wouldn't history be defined by mass data points rather than narrations about ostensibly significant individuals? "Using data to do what you did before" isn't success.

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What can higher education learn from four nascent online education developments?
Neil Mosley, Neil Mosley Consulting, 2024/01/24

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I find this a bit of an odd list, partially because the developments aren't really nascent, and partially because there are much more influential factors at work in higher education. Still, we'll have a look at them: open entry / multiple entry points; performance-based admissions; differential (geo) pricing; and flexible payment methods. Except for the third, all existed at Athabasca University when I worked there in the 80s and 90s. Differential fees have been the subject of debate and discussion for decades. How are these all viewed as new? Neil Mosley writes that these practices "are far from being widespread or standard in the sector." And this especially applies to traditional, as opposed to online, programs. I suppose there's a point here. But it's applicable, I think, only to those administrators who are really behind the times.

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How To Write A Philosophy Paper: Online Guides
Justin Weinberg, Daily Nous, 2024/01/24

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Many readers will have noticed that my papers aren't like typical social science research papers. I don't do 'social science research', properly so-called. I tend to write in a philosophical style, which has its own rules, traditions, and standards. This list of guides provides a good introduction to the format. In a philosophy paper I am seeking to establish a thesis, for which I will argue, drawing upon evidence, all the while considering and responding to objections. For me, the most important standards are clarity and precision. This is very different from a social science paper, which (say) will use a theory as a lens through which to interpret data produced through some sort of study. Me, I have little use for theories, I certainly don't take them as starting points, and I think of them at best as a shorthand to reference a string of arguments or model.

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A Positive Environment of Engagement and Retention in the Online Learning Environment  
Laura Flinn, BSN, MSN, DNP, Kelly Fogelmark, DNP, RN, and Maureen Hermann, BSN, MSN, DNP, Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning, 2024/01/24

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This article won't take you deeply into the subject, but it's a useful overview of engagement in online learning. Describing it as "the glue that holds a positive teaching and learning experience together", the authors write "Student engagement in an online environment can be achieved through various forms of interaction, including behavioral, emotional, and cognitive formats." Mostly engagement here is defined in terms of a student interaction with the faculty member. "Making sure students are aware of who their faculty member is and how to get in touch with them is crucial," they write. This to me suggests that this model creates a bottleneck, limiting the scalability of engaging online learning.

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An exploration of the ideological becoming of online educators
Joanne Larty, Vivien Hodgson, British Journal of Educational Technology, 2024/01/24

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This article is most useful as an introduction to the work of Mikhail Bakhtin and it's application to our understanding of technology adoption by educators. Drawing mostly from the study of language in the Dialogic Imagination, the authors draw our attention to ideological becoming, a dialogical process "through which individuals develop a critical awareness of the world around them." In turn, "Underpinning ideological becoming are the notions of authoritative and internally persuasive discourses." These emerge "as educators engage in dialogue with others and as they become critically aware of tensions between dominant and alternative discourses," and it is on this basis we can understand the process of what can only be called the ideological transformation of educations with respect to educational tehcnology. The bulk of the paper is a study examining the discussions of 12 educators as they developed some 'taster' online learning modules. According to the authors,the Bakhtin-informed analysis "takes the focus away from faculty's feelings of inadequacy or vulnerability when teaching in an online environment and places emphasis on the need to engage in critical reflection and discussion about educational practices."

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

Protocols as Weberian Bureaucracy
Gordon Brander, Subconscious, 2024/01/24

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This is a clever article but with weaknesses. The main premise is stated right up front: " Max Weber says there are three ways power gets organized: rizz, rulers, and rules." You have to admire the use of a word, 'rizz', that the author may not have even known existed until it was selected as 'word of the year'. For the rest of us: 'rizz' is today's way of saying 'charisma'. Anyhow, the point of the article is to say that power in technology is evolving (or should evolve; the distinction isn't always clear) from 'charismatic' leaders like Zuckerberg and Musk through political leaders to distributed governance through bureaucracies creating 'rules'. Godon Brander,m though, equivocates between 'rules', which are centrally defined, and which you have to follow, and 'protocols', which are defined by users, and which are optional. It's a real stretch to impose Max Weber's formula on technology development, at least in my view.

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Building social connection without the pitfalls of social media - eCampus News
Frank E. Ross III, eCampus News, 2024/01/24

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This is one of those articles that should be read paragraph by paragraph from the bottom up. This is especially the case since the first few paragraphs are marketing garbage. It describes why Butler University entered an agreement with a social media app called Nearpeer. The app itself seems pretty sketchy; aside from saying it creates "belonging" the web page doesn't really state what it actually does. A review in the Loyola Maroon writes, "Nearpeer was supposed to be used as a platform for our students to engage with others in another way besides going to in-person events and things of that nature." There are more reviews here.

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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