No, machines can’t read better than humans
James Vincent, The Verge, 2018/01/19
This is a counter to a post published earlier this week suggesting that robots can now read better than humans. Technically, the headline wasn't wrong, but the problem lies in the test. "The test is actually a dataset, compiled by a group of Stanford university computer scientists," explains the author. More...
Twitter EDU
David Truss, 2018/01/19
David Truss has published an eBook on using Twitter in education. According to the blurb, "If you follow along and tweet as you learn, this book will make your entry into Twitter much easier, and enjoyable! It has best practice tips, tricks and explanations that will assist you in building a great network much faster than you could do on your own." The book can be downloaded for free. More...
Why I Left Silicon Valley, EdTech, and “Personalized” Learning
Paul Emerich, Inspired, 2018/01/18
This is a post describing a teacher's experiences "opening a brand new micro-school and to work on technology tools that were intended to personalize my students’ learning." It was AltSchool, the Silicon Valley startup where Emerich worked for three years, leaving last June. The company changed course last year from running schools to selling software. More...
The Promise of Performance Assessments: Innovations in High School Learning and Higher Education Admissions
Roneeta Guha, Tony Wagner, Linda Darling-Hammond, Terri Taylor, Diane Curtis, Learning Policy Institute, 2018/01/18
"Like doctoral candidates with university dissertations," write the authors, in performance assessments "students often defend their projects and papers before panels of judges, who rigorously evaluate them against high standards; students typically revise their work until they meet the standards." The suggestion in this report (42 page PDF) is that performance assessments can (and should) replace more traditional (and test-based) assessments of high school graduates. More...
Adaptive Learning: The Premise, Promise, and Pitfalls
Petr Johanes, Larry Lagerstrom, American Society for Engineering Education, 2018/01/18
This is a review paper intended to "explain what adaptive systems are and what kinds of data they require,... to categorize the main use cases and possibilities of adaptive systems [and] to outline the current limitations and concerns surrounding adaptive systems." In two paragraphs it deftly summarizes the landscape, listing new companies (Acrobatiq, Knewton, CogBooks, Cerego, Realizeit, LoudCloud, Smart Sparrow) as well as the work of publishers, LMS companies and universities. More...
2018 Map of the Complexity Sciences
Brian Castellani, 2018/01/18
This is a great visualization of the major streams of thought in the field of complexity theory. I like the way it shows the links between the different strands, and also that ti is an interactive graphic - click on an area and be taken to the relevant Wikipedia page. More...
No Way, JOSE! Javascript Object Signing and Encryption is a Bad Standard That Everyone Should Avoid
Scott Arciszewski, Paragon Initiative Enterprises Blog, 2018/01/17
I have no position on the issue described in this post because it's all new to me. But because it's all new to me it's inherently interesting, and the discussion perhaps points the way to the future of signing and encrypting Javascript objects (such as data or executable code). The argument here against Javascript Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE) is that it is often abused, and that it makes forgery trivial. More...
What Oberlin reveals about higher ed’s vulnerable business model
Alana Dunagan, Christensen Institute, 2018/01/17
This post almost makes me feel sorry for a university that has an $800 million endowment and charges $70K tuition per year. Almost. The argument is that if the school falls even 2.8 percent short on enrollments, it leads to a $5 million budget gap. Lowering prices or lowering spending threaten the school's prestige status. More...
American Views: Trust, Media and Democracy
Gallup, Knight Foundation, 2018/01/17
According to the Knight Foundation and Nieman Report summaries, "Americans say greater access to news sources is actually making it harder to stay informed." The analogy in education would be that greater access to educational resources makes it harder to become educated. More...
A New Impact Investing Model for Education
Rahil Rangwala, 2018/01/17
This post describes a funding model for private schools in India where owners can get loans and, if the students achieve certain educational outcomes, they can get rebates on those loans. More...
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