OLDaily

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

Does Diversity Trump Ability?
Peter Niesen, Kai Spiekermann, Lisa Herzog, Charles Girard, Frieder Vogelmann, Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 2024/07/04

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This contribution (21 page PDF) consists of five short essays. In his introduction Peter Niesen frames the issue: the question is whether diversity confers an epistemic advantage - that is, does a diverse group make better decisions than a non-diverse group of experts? Kai Spiekermann looks at the mathematical arguments for and against (the theory, presented as the "diversity trumps ability" (DTA) theorem by Hong and Page in 2004, was first presented as a mathematical theory). Lisa Herzog points to the difficulties in assessing such a result: who counts as an expert? Does diversity mean participants are drawn from the general public? Etc. Charles Girard looks at how the meaning of 'epsitemically good' varies in contexts like search, deliberation, and voting. And Frieder Vogelman offers a 'negativist appraisal': "histories of actual epistemic communities illustrate the epistemic worth of diversity by showing the epistemically problematic consequences of homogeneous scientific communities." Readers will note that over the years I have also argued for the epistemic value of diversity (as a part of the 'semantic condition') and offered a mathematical proof in co-authorship with Daniel Lemire and Seb Paquet.

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The AI Revolution Will Not Be Monopolized
Daniel Dominguez, InfoQ, 2024/07/04

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Open source results in better AI, for a variety of reasons - transparency, robustness, portability. So there's no reason to expect that artificial intelligence will be dominated by proprietary technology owned by large corporations, argues Ines Montani in this talk. Unless, that is, regulatory measures favour monopolistic practices, which is always a concern. Daniel Dominguez summarizes the talk in this article.

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Would having an AI boss be better than your current human one?
MaryLou Costa, BBC, 2024/07/04

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This article quotes Paul Thurman as suggesting that AI replace managers. Maybe not a bad idea? It even has the support of managers (presuming they have not lost their jobs): "Mr Rauma says that the shift towards an AI manager has not only reduced his stress levels, but has enabled his employees to work faster and be more productive. "I'm able to focus on the growth of the company and all the positive things. It's added years to my life, I'm sure," he says."

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Strategic approaches through education: A response to the Khan Review
Heather Marshall, BERA Blog, 2024/07/04

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This article offers a review of a recent government report on the role of education in society "through the theoretical lens of Michel Foucault as contextualised by the scholarship of Farrell" which, says Heather Marshall, "reveals a nuanced understanding of the power dynamics inherent within educational institutions." The report argues that "the current winds of extremism, polarisation and democratic disruption combined with social and economic issues may cause even more unrest" so "how we build and deliver social cohesion must be overhauled." I'm not sure 'cohesion' is the right word, but I digress. The Foucault-based analysis reveals "the potential for educational policies not only to convey knowledge but also to serve as mechanisms of power that shape individuals' understanding of themselves, their values and their place within society." In other words, education works.

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High ceilings linked to poorer exam results
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Education Research Report, 2024/07/04

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I have to pass this along, even though I'm rolling my eyes as I do it. Here's the study (this is the real title): Elevated ceiling heights reduce the cognitive performance of higher-education students during exams (7 page PDF). If you read the paper, you see the authors acknowledge that it could be because the large rooms are cold, crowded, strange, and harder to cheat in. To me, all this raises the question once again: what is it exactly that we are measuring when we assign and grade exams? Each study like this shows that it's less and less likely to be what they actually know.

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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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