By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. A Single Cell Hints at a Solution to the Biggest Problem in Computer Science
Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, 2018/12/31
This post is a bit technical but it's pretty interesting. In essence, scientists use slime mold to solve a hard mathematical problem. What's special is that the problem is NP-Hard - that is, it gets exponentially harder the more possibilities you add - but the slime mold solves it in about the same amount of time each time. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Why I Wish I Hadn’t Gone to College
Keri Savoca, The Ascent, Medium, 2018/12/31
Joanne Jacobs links to this post by Keri Savoca. The gist is that university didn't prepare her for a career, and left her in debt, so she should have done something else instead. But her alternatives (start a business, build a recording studio) are unrealistic. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. 35 years ago, Isaac Asimov was asked by the Star to predict the world of 2019. Here is what he wrote
Isaac Asimov, Toronto Star, 2018/12/31
35 years ago, I had already read dozens of Asimov's science fiction works and was a fan. I may well have read this article. 35 years later it still rings true, with one caveat: the time scale is too brief by about half, a common failing of predictions. The world changes more slowly than we realize. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Product management learning list - for government, open to all
Canadian Digital Services, 2018/11/09
This is a low-tech way to distribute what is essentially a self-paced course on product management. It came to me via the Canadian Digital Services newsletter, part of an ongoing program to modernize digital services in the Government of Canada. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is here, and it is changing everything
Colleges and Institutes Canada, Desire2Learn, 2018/11/09
Desire2Learn has updated and published a Canadian edition of its report on the future of learning (28 page PDF) (and you don't even have to give them information to read it; well done D2L). The premise is that the nature of work is changing and that therefore "societies must embrace new or hybrid learning models to allow individuals and economies to thrive going forward." A challenge is coming from automation and AI, "putting cognitive jobs at risk." There's also the rise of "the gig economy". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Plan S for open access is far too risky, say researchers
Brendan O'Malley, University World News, 2018/11/09
Journal publishers have struck back against Plan S, the requirement that researchers publish findings of publicly funded research in open access journals. According to this article, "700 researchers from across Europe and beyond have signed an open letter criticising Plan S." It's currently 870 researchers, mostly from Europe, and overwhelmingly from chemistry departments. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. China's Xinhua agency unveils AI news presenter
Chris Baraniuk, BBC News, 2018/11/09
This item is for those people who think that the teacher can never be replaced. Watching the AI announcer, I like many others felt the delivery was a bit flat. But we see that from a lot of human anchors. And it was funny to read the criticism. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Learning Together, Learning on Their Own
Allison Rodman, Educational Leadership, ASCD, 2018/11/06
This article presents personal professional development for teachers from the stance of "what if?" and seems to suggest that it's a radical new idea. "Teachers, rightfully, have begun to speak out against this one-size-fits-all system and form their own professional learning networks (PLNs), using tools like Twitter and Voxer, edcamps, massive open online courses, and blogs." From where I sit, this mode of personal learning is well-entrenched. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. For the Web
Tim Berners-Lee, World Wide Web Foundation, 2018/11/06
Tim Berners-Lee has launched a petition-pledge website calling on people to endorse a set of principles for the open web. I find that the principles he is asking people to sign fall far short of the web he is trying to support. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Vision 2030: Redesigning Education for the Future
Stephen Downes, Nov 06, 2018, Asbar World Forum 2018, Riyadh, Saudia Arabia

In this presentation I outline three ways education needs to adapt to the future, by becoming more relevant, engaging and personal, and then describe the technologies and approaches we will need to develop and use in order to support this. (Note that long portions of the video are blocked by a camera operator sitting down in front of my camera and doing nothing in particular).

[Link] [Slides] [Audio] [Video]. More...