Don’t Let Bad Journalism Get in the Way of a Good Online Education
Henry Kronk, eLearningInside News, 2018/02/01
I am often critical of traditional media in these pages (a tough sell in the age of fake news on social media) but my scepticism of what I read and view in supposedly trustworthy sources is well founded. This article makes a case. It cites as an example a Vox article from a few days ago that states that " virtual students statistically perform much worse than traditional students" based on a single study from 2015 looking at statistics from only 17 states. Now I'm no fan of charter schools but this report is not credible. It also cites a Wired article that says "online education, which is accessible, affordable and relevant, hasn’t lived up to its promise." This is supported only by a link to a previous Wired article which in turn cites no sources. More...

The punk rock internet – how DIY ​​rebels ​are working to ​replace the tech giants
John Harris, The Guardian, 2018/02/01
Count me as being among the punk rock rebels on the internet - even though my punk anthem might be something like Walking on Sunshine. As Laura Balkan says, " I want to be able to be in a society where I have control over my information, and other people do as well." And she adds, "Being a woman in technology, you can see how hideously unequal things are and how people building these systems don’t care about anyone other than themselves." The story focuses a lot on the technical means being employed to create  the indienet - distributed data and blockchain, for example - which may or may not work. More...

Flipped Classroom Research: From “Black Box” to “White Box” Evaluation
Christian Stöhr, Tom Adawi, Education Sciences, 2018/02/01
Some realism: "There are no panaceas in higher education: interventions seldom work everywhere and for everyone." Because of this, according to this editorial, there is a need to shift from 'black box' modes of evaluation, also known as 'realist evaluation. More...