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

The Global Digital Compact is Here: What Now for Civil Society?
Anita Gurumurthy, Nandini Chami, Bot Populi, 2024/10/16

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This post discusses the Global Digital Compact (GDC) adopted by the UN Summit of the Future a few weeks ago and which calls for "an inclusive, open, sustainable, fair, safe and secure digital future for all." The need to address digital equity becomes all the more pressing in an era of want and war such as the one we are experiencing now. It's centered around human rights, includes calls for global governance of digital technologies such as AI, and underscore the need to funding to support access for the global south. 

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Are China and Russia amplifying hurricane misinformation? Early signs say yes
Jeff Cercone, Poynter, 2024/10/16

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From where I sit, there are four major sources of misinformation globally (China, Russia, the USA and India) and numerous minor sources. So it's no surprise to read that "foreign adversaries are amplifying false social media claims about the storms, as they did after other disasters," for a localized definition of "foreign adversaries". I think we've passed the point of no return on misinformation. The question is, how do we (as a global society) respond? I don't thing repression of the misinformation is either desirable or possible. That isn't to say there should be no controls on misinformation - we should act against it when we can. But this will be woefully inadequate. The only way to respond to misinformation is to increase resilience against it - to help people with skills and tools to draw their own conclusions. This is one of the major reasons I support free and open access to news, education and research. Democracy dies behind a paywall.

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"I love the whole atmosphere and can spend hours browsing": how did bookshops suddenly become cool?
Sarah Manavis, The Guardian, 2024/10/16

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According to this article, "A new survey suggests that young people are shunning AI algorithms and online retailers to experience the joy of visiting bookshops." Given the scarcity of bookshops in the community today, this must be a very narrow survey. In any case, I predict that their affinity for books will not last much longer than the first time they have to move to a new home. Books - or as we call them now, longreads - are useful as references or for quiet enjoyment, but are really better in digital form. And in my experience booksellers aren't going to spend much time with you discussing your book choices; margins are so slim they're focused on sales, not dialogue.

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The illusion of information adequacy
Hunter Gehlbach, Carly D. Robinson, Angus Fletcher, PLOS ONE, 2024/10/16

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This study looks at the idea that people "don't know what they don't know," and worse, don't take this into account. The authors conclude, "people presume that they possess adequate information—even when they lack half the relevant information or be missing an important point of view (and) they assume a moderately high level of competence to make a fair, careful evaluation of the information in reaching their decisions." This may seem to be a trivial finding, suggest the author, but the study helps understand how this phenomenon plays out in real-world situations. I often hear the phrase "students don't know what they don't know" used as justification for direction, control or explicit instruction. But perhaps such extreme methods are not necessary.

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Carnage
Alex Usher, HESA, 2024/10/16

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The cap on international student visas in Canada will have a significant impact on Ontario colleges, writes Alex Usher. "By 2025-26 the expected recruitment losses will mean an average drop of about 35-40% in total income." There will be similar, but smaller, impacts on higher education systems across the country. The losers will be, first, the international students expecting to study in Canada, and second, Canadian students, who will lose access or face higher fees, as international student revenue offset declining public support. "With, in total, probably something like 20,000 job losses. It's not going to be pretty. And it's deeply unnecessary: true, something had to be done about Southern Ontario's housing market. It's just not clear this was that something."

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Planning and delivery of active blended learning
QAA Scotland, 2024/10/16

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Good set of resources for active blended learning with sections on on different approaches, preparation, learners and examples. A sample: "support and guidance is critical for learners, especially when they are engaging in active blended learning. Personal support, above academic support, has tended to be of poor quality for online and blended learners. There is an expectation from learners for high-quality support beyond structured learning sessions, whether online or face-to-face, and learners value educators who are available and approachable. Learners see the combination of help with both subject-specific and personal issues supports them to achieve positive outcomes." Via Sheila MacNeill.

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Questioning Questions
Brynn Welch, Blog of the APA, 2024/10/16

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As someone who has previously taught philosophy, I found this post interesting. It's based on the idea a professor had whereby students would be challenged to raise an argument they thought irrefutable, and the professor would play "devil's advocate". Unsurprisingly, there were some topics that were off limits, as the professor did not want to be in the position of advocating some seriously bad positions. But how are these 'no-go' areas decided? "What I consider acceptable to discuss or off limits reflects my own values and blind spots, and the privilege of being the professor means that I get to decide what questions are fair game in a context where reasonable people may very well disagree with my decisions."

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Information Literacy Beyond Fact-Checking
Heidi Yarger, ACRLog, 2024/10/16

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Heidi Yarget seeks to "spend some time unpacking the concept of a literacy framework and what might be missing." The argument here is that information literacy ought to be about more than just fact checking. "Rather than considering whether these stories are true or false, we will closely read these personal accounts to consider what we might learn about values, identity, and power when we challenge ourselves to look at these resources with compassionate analysis." To this point I'm fine, though I personally draw the line when the expectation is that I treat such stories as true.

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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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