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

Casino Capitalism in EdTech
Glenda Morgan, On EdTech Newsletter, 2024/05/08

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Glenda Morgan desscribes 'casino capitalism' in in EdTech as "when universities try to act quickly and end up investing large amounts of money on risky ventures without engaging in appropriate levels of due diligence." Examples mentioned include Purdue acquiring Kaplan University and the University of Arizona buying Ashford University. Or when universities ("usually a Dean, hence the term 'Deans Gone Wild') signing a deal with an online program manager (OPM). Why does this keep happening? There's the need to raise revenue, suggests Morgan. Also: new money, fear of missing out (FOMO), and secrecy. I'd say the rate of these risks by universities (especially public universities) is much lower than in the private sector generally.

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Slop is the new name for unwanted AI-generated content
Simon Willison, 2024/05/08

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I'm more familiar with the term 'pink slime' but 'slop' is a good name for it too I think. It evokes the same sort of response. "I'm increasingly of the opinion that sharing unreviewed content that has been artificially generated with other people is rude," says Simon Willison. "Slop is the ideal name for this anti-pattern. Not all promotional content is spam, and not all AI-generated content is slop." It's worth noting that the original use of the term referenced the first few links that came up in a Google search (a service that is rapidly becoming irrelevant, sadly). Image generated by AI, naturally.

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Thousands of AI Authors on the Future of AI
Katja Grace, Harlan Stewart, Julia Fabienne Sandkühler, Stephen Thomas, Ben Weinstein-Raun, Jan Brauner, arXiv, 2024/05/08

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This paper (38 page PDF) proclaims itself as "the largest survey of its kind" and reports on a survey of "2,778 researchers who had published in top-tier artificial intelligence (AI) venues, asking for their predictions on the pace of AI progress and the nature and impacts of advanced AI systems." If I had to characterize them, the answers are, I would say, 'rapid', 'advanced' and 'mixed'. Also, "respondents were asked when four specific occupations would become fully automatable: 'Truck driver,' 'Surgeon,' 'Retail salesperson,' and 'AI researcher'." The answer? Not long. Have we changed the way we educate people for a world in which this takes less than 40 years? Nope.

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8 Best Three.js Courses to Take in 2024
Kinjal Vora, Fabio Dantas, The Report by Class Central, 2024/05/08

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I think the main thing here is the Javascript library called three.js, which allows developers to create three-dimensional websites. Well, sort of three dimensional websites. Create advanced animations and immersive experiences with the best Three.js online courses. If you want to get a feel for what's possible, try out some of the many examples offered on website. Meanwhile, this link from Class Central suggests that "while the official Three.js documentation is comprehensive, it can be overwhelming for beginners" and offers links to some courses. With the impending closure of Mozilla Hubs, this may be the future go-to for open VR as an alternative to Unity and Unreal.

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Cultural responses to AI
Bryan Alexander, Bryan's Substack, 2024/05/08

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Some of the examples in this article are interesting (including especially the recasting of the movie Alien into the 1950s). Bryan Alexander concludes, "we are culturally responding to generative AI with a great deal of creativity, even when we oppose it. Some of us are using AI to make art, while others fear that very thing. Again, as I've been saying, we are deeply divided about generative AI, and that division will play out across all kinds of human domains including, and also beyond culture." I think the most problematic uses of AI in culture are when the real and artificial are blended - as, for example, the live video superimposes advertisements onto the field, ice or background of the sporting event.

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Are edtech platforms threatening academic freedom and intellectual property rights?
Janja Komljenovic, Ben Williamson, Education International, 2024/05/08

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"Digital platforms are routinely used in universities to support teaching and learning, but they can also challenge academic freedom and intellectual property (IP) rights," according to this post. The authors point to their recent report (66 page PDF) outlining the risk and suggesting steps to be taken. "Responses to issues of academic IP and academic freedom in relation to edtech platforms are fragmented and context-dependent, with no sector-wide standards or rules, and minimal guidance for institutions on these matters when engaging in licensing or procurement." The risk I see here is that sector-wide standards or rules are more likely to be defined by platform companies than by the academic sector, which would entrench the challenges to academic freedom currently being faced today. Still, the right starting point is to "make contractual processes between universities and edtech vendors much more transparent" so people know where they stand.

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Top Tips for Designing and Managing a Public Engagement Laboratory
Martin McHugh, et al., Journal of Chemical Education, 2024/05/08

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The authors offer "key considerations and ideas pertaining to the design and implementation of a public engagement laboratory" to encourage engagement between the scientific community and the general public. The focus is on a physical lab but of course online facilities can be imagined as well. They hope "members of the community will push for these types of spaces within their own institutions" and argue that "a clear and logical approach to lab management can lead to a range of benefits to staff, participants, and your wider community."

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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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