OLDaily

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

How Cell-Based Architecture Enhances Modern Distributed Systems
Erica Pisani, Rafal Gancarz, InfoQ, 2024/10/14

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What the authors call 'cell-based architecture' is a decentralization strategy that "has emerged as a response to many challenges associated with distributed systems." This article describes the strategy in some detail; there are definitely ways it could be applied to learning technology. "It employs the bulkhead pattern to isolate failures to a fraction of the affected infrastructure footprint and prevent widespread impact. Cells can also help organize large architectures into domain-bound deployment and delivery units, which provides essential sociotechnical benefits." 

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The Aesthetic Dimension of Education and Learning
Miguel Angel Escotet, 2024/10/14

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There are two ways to think of aesthetics with respect to learning: one, which is the teaching and promotion of aesthetics as learning content; and the other, which is the incorporation of aesthetics in learning design and development. Alas, this article speaks only of the former sense.

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Revisiting Known
Ben Werdmuller, Werd I/O, 2024/10/14

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Ben Werdmuller describes an application he built a number of years ago called Known (it has since been acquired by Medium). It supported multiple users and allowed them to publish to any site that supported the Micropub open web standard (W3C Recommendation) and API for creating, editing, and deleting posts on websites.

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Student use of LLMs can inhibit learning
Learning Engineering, 2024/10/14

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I link to this discussion on the Learning Engineering discussion list with a somewhat misleading title. It's based on a LinkedIn post from Ethan Mollick stating "AI can help learning... when it isn't a crutch." Mollock cites three papers which I reviewed for this post: first, AI Meets the Classroom: When Does ChatGPT Harm Learning? which states "Using LLMs as personal tutors by asking them for explanations improves learning outcomes whereas excessively asking LLMs to generate solutions impairs learning." Second, Generative AI Can Harm Learning says "students attempt to use GPT-4 as a 'crutch' during practice problem sessions, and when successful, perform worse on their own" though "These negative learning effects are largely mitigated by the safeguards included in GPT Tutor." Third, Effective and Scalable Math Support says "chat-based tutoring solutions leveraging AI could offer a cost-effective and operationally efficient approach to enhancing learning outcomes for millions of students globally." All these results are, at worst, mixed, and at best, show genuine promise in AI for improving learning.

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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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