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Entangled eclecticism: a sociotechnical‑pedagogical systems theory approach to learning experience design
Matthew Schmidt, Yvonne Earnshaw, Isa Jahnke, Andrew A. Tawfik, Educational Technology Research and Development, 2024/03/12

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By 'eclecticism" the authors mean 'diverse' and by 'entangled' they mean 'connected', as in "the complex and interconnected ecological relationship between humans, technology, and the environment." There's obviously a lot of overlap with connectivism (not mentioned in the article) but the authors come from a much more traditional perspective, arguing for a "carefully selected and curated... heterogeneous mix of theories and models." The result (23 page PDF) is a proposal that described three interconnected ('entangled') dimensions of learning experience design: the technological, pedagogical and socio-cultural. There's a lot to like here, but we still have a picture of instructors and designers delivering learning ("we maintain that these dimensions are interdependent, synergistic, and must be considered as a complex, interconnected ecology when crafting learning experiences that guide learners to achieve their learning goals") never seeing that it might be the learners that are diverse and interconnected.

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Are the LMS & VLE dead! Accenture and Udacity draw new line in sand
Donald Clark, Donald Clark Plan B, 2024/03/12

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Donald Clark weights in with a comment on Accenture's acquisition of Udacity, posing the question of whether it means the LMS is dead. I never really thought of Udacity as an LMS, but the question is still relevant. The first part summarizes the acquisition and questions its merits, the second part offers eight reasons people hate LMSs (here's what chatGPT produced when I asked it for a similar set of reasons). Finally, he says, "to be fair a VLE or LMS was often the prime mover for shifting people away from pure classroom delivery." Also, "There will always be a need for single solutions." However, what we have seen is "this has descended into the mess that is the all-embracing, death-clutch that is 'Talent management'." We need "more dialogue than monologue," he writes. May that's what AI brings?

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Open access repositories in transition: strategies of professionalization
Heinz Pampel, Marcel Wrzesinski, FIS & EPUB, 2024/03/12

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This article is in German but is easily translated in your browser (12 second video instruction here). Here's the key point: "Repositories as passive databases are unattractive to research and teaching. The degree of integration of a repository in the scientific workflow determines the success of the repository." The article outlines a project being launched to move open access repositories (OAR) forward. "The central result of the project will be practice-oriented recommendations as an impulse for the further development of a science-led open access culture."

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Pearson Expanding Generative AI Study Tools to More Pearson+ E-Textbooks
Campus Technology, 2024/03/12

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This short article tells us that "since learning company Pearson introduced generative AI (Gen AI) study tools in beta testing to its Pearson+ e-textbooks in fall 2023, the feature has become increasingly popular, and the company has announced plans to add at least 40 more titles in math, science, business, and nursing for fall 2024." According to Pearson, the tools include text summarizers and explanations along with practice activities and flashcards. It's not surprising commercial textbook producers would adopt AI; the real question is how (and whether) open educational resource (OER) producers will do the same. See also: Khanmigo.

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Setting Boundaries for Sharing Freely
Christy Tucker, Experiencing eLearning, 2024/03/12

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This is something I've thought a lot about. At some point my day job will end, but my pension isn't all that great (forget everything you've heard about 'gold plated' public service pensions). So, like Christy Tucker, I'd like to keep paying the mortgage. That means getting paid... for something. Not for OLDaily - I'll never charge money for this. Nor for my articles and things like slide decks. For me, as with Tucker, "most one-to-many interactions are free." But what then? Not that I get many invitations any more, but if you want me to speak at your conference, I'll need you to cover the expenses. Should I create paid courses? Custom workshops? Join more project proposals like Democrat-Horizon? Write on-demand research reports? All these are interesting ideas that let me keep working from home (or wherever) and let me keep my freedom (from the bank, at least).

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Nova Scotia and the Politics of Listening
Alex Usher, Higher Education Strategy Associates, 2024/03/12

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One difference between me and Alex Usher is that my RSS works and his doesn't, which means I'm often late to see what he posts on his newsletter. Another is that when he was involved with student politics he led an effort to rename the student union building after William Shatner, while in my case I led an effort to sue the university for a shade under a million dollars to roll back and repay illegal student fee increases. Nothing against renaming the building, but what you see depends a lot on what you think is important. That's why I scoff at his claim in this article that "Nova Scotia is attempting is not something any Canadian government has previously done."

Under Alberta's Conservative governments, universities were always "essentially utilities, subservient to the state." As a member of the University of Alberta's Board of Governors I could see that in action weeks after week. The same sort of annual budgeting Nova Scotia faces now. That's why it has been a theme for me over the years that in order to survive (let alone regain their independence) universities must not only claim, but actually be, indispensible to the public. They do this not only by training nurses (because after all, a government that underfunds health care won't give them jobs anyways) but by lowering fees, opening access and extending their reach into the community. Image: The Gateway, from last year.

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Who pays for 'authenticity'?
Helen Beetham, imperfect offerings, Substack, 2024/03/12

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Helen Beetham's post on 'authenticity' in AI is filled with relevant points, as always. And as always, while I really appreciate the nuance and consideration that goes into her work, it also leaves a lot for me to disagree with (note: that's a good thing; I wish everyone were so grounded and detailed with their thoughts). The main take-away, for me at least, is the description of the use of (what might be called) pre-prompting to nudge generative AI toward acceptable responses. There's also an extended discussion of the use of AI to replace experts. But it all comes back, to me at least, to what we mean by 'authentic'. We would like AI to be 'authentically' ethical - but what does that mean? I think we have a sense here of what it is not, but picturing an AI as some sort of ideally progressive persona who 'naturally' (rather than artificially?) resists prompts or internal tendencies toward offensive behaviour doesn't really do the job either.

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Fostering children’s agency in their learning futures: Exploring the synergy of generative AI and sensory learning
Natalia I. Kucirkova, First Monday, 2024/03/12

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I'm pretty comfortable with the concept of sensory learning, "an understanding of learning that centres the individual contribution, and joint interplay, of all key human senses (vision, hearing, touch, smell, gustation and proprioception)... building upon the idea that our sensory system (known as the sensorium) is centrally implicated in how we perceive and understand the world in collaboration with others." The proposition here is that the AI turn re-emphasizes the importance of sensory learning. Meanwhile, agency - thought of as "self-efficacy and control... and children's active participation in learning" - should, according to the author, "be central to recognizing the importance of sensory learning as an emerging paradigm in reimagining learning futures." There are important insights, and I think we'll see a lot more thinking along these lines in the future.

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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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