By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Commoditization of Deep Learning
Geoffrey Bradway, Medium, 2016/10/07

'Deep Learning' is the use of neural networks to do smart things, like grade papers or make recommendations. This article addresses the "commoditization" of deep learning, that is, the trend toward making the data and algorithms available for free. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. An ethnographic interview with an AI
D'Arcy Nor, man, D'Arcy Norman Dot Net, 2016/10/07

This is a video of a presentation by Genevieve Bell from Intel at O’Reilly’s AI Conference. D'Arcy Norman comments, "I don’t think of AI as trying to invent an artificial human, but it’s extremely important to think about the cultural, moral, racial, and gender biases that get baked into code through histories of projects." More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. An Interview With an Educational Realist and Grumpy Old Man
Megan Smith, Learning Scientists, 2016/10/07

I'm no fan of Paul A. Kirschner but I was curious as to what a guest post featuring an interview with him would look like (those of us who write blogs are quite familiar with the never-ending stream of 'guest posts' being offered by this or that source - they're always trying to promote something). More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Effects of Captioning Videos on Academic Achievement and Motivation: Reconsideration of Redundancy Principle in Instructional Videos
Muzaffer Ozdemir, Serkan Izmirli, Ozden Sahin-Izmirli, Educational Technology & Society, 2016/10/07
Cognitive load theory tells us that presenting the same message in different modalities reduces students' ability to learn. This is known as the 'redundancy principle'. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Comparing the Effectiveness of Self-Learning Java Workshops with Traditional Classrooms
Kiran L. N. Eranki, Kannan M. Moudgalya, Educational Technology & Society, 2016/10/07
One of the longstanding criticisms of self-managed learning is that students are unable to generate the motivation or technique to accomplish their goals. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Younger adults more likely than their elders to prefer reading news
Amy Mitchell, Pew Research Center, 2016/10/07

One of the things proponents of internet media have long said is that people will read more than they ever have before. More...