Why Your Advice for Ph.D.s Leaving Academe Might Be Making Things Worse
Erin Bartram, Chronicle of Higher Education, 2018/04/13
This is a follow-up to the Erin Bartram story, the history PhD who couldn't find a position and left the field, writing a letter about her departure that everyone read. I wrote about it back in February. The Chronicle also published a short abridged version of her article. The original is much better and we know this because the comments that follow from the academic crowd that reads the Chronicle are, well, brutal and unsympathetic. More...

Why I Left Academic Philosophy
Rachel Williams, Medium, 2018/04/13
My own observations about academic philosophy - and academia in general - are similar to those offered here by Rachel Williams. "Academic papers usually end up popularity contests, a game of who’s-who where the goal is to develop incestuous citation networks so that your impact factor will look better for hiring and/or tenure committees." But to be honest, I probably would have stayed. I'm not going to kid myself. More...

Love, Faith, Hope & Charity – the future of the OU
Martin Weller, The Ed Techie, 2018/04/13
This was an interesting read, which is why I posted it. It's also noteworthy how similar this story is to that so so many others, including my own. More...

Publishers Win Big in Fake-Textbook Lawsuit
Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed, 2018/04/13
I haven't been hearing the term 'fake textbook' used in copyright coverage, so I'm wondering whether its use here signals a change in strategy. It certainly leaves me wondering what makes a face textbook fake. I assume it's not like fake news, which is news that's not true. The facts in fake textbooks are presumably the same as the ones in the original textbooks, otherwise they wouldn't be accused of copyright infringement. More...

How Dark Patterns Trick You Online
Nerdwriter, YouTube, 2018/04/13
Pattern recognition is a critical literacy. This video makes it clear why, with vivid examples of how hard it is to close your account, and how easy it is to pay money. Companies use tactics like 'roach motel' and acculturation in order to persuade you to take actions that work against your best interests. The term 'dark pattern' was coined by  in 2010. Here's a Hall of Shame from Harry Brignull's 'Dark Patterns' website. More...

Designing Projects so Students Have High Quality Project Based Learning Experiences
Jamie Back, Getting Smart, 2018/04/11
This post begins by referencing some different types of project-based and design-based learning and then in the main body lists "the six criteria outlined in the recently-released Framework for High Quality Project Based Learning (HQPBL) — Authenticity, Intellectual Challenge and Accomplishment, Public Product, Collaboration, Project Management, and Reflection." These are to me mostly reasonable. More...

YouTube and Facebook Are Losing Creators to Blockchain-Powered Rivals
Camila Russo, Bloomberg, 2018/04/11
The idea of blockchain-enabled alternatives such as DTube is that viewers can pay for content directly through tips or subscriptions, thus avoiding the tracking and advertising pervasive on platforms like YouTube and Google. But a quick look at DTube shows the risks as well - scam links in the comments, for example, or unsavory videos on the home page. Yes, it can be worse than YouTube out there. More...

How to Host a Student Media Festival
Vicki Davis, Cool Cat Teacher Blog, 2018/04/11
I love the idea of a student media festival. We read "We tell people, 'It’s in Hollywood! It’s coming to accept awards, and it’s the Oscars for kids,'" which I guess is good marketing, but the big difference between a media festival and the Oscars is that the photos are actually shown and the videos are actually viewed. The main point here is that students are acting as creators and are sharing their media with each other and with Festival attendees. More...