Knowble – a review
Philip J. Kerr, Adaptive Learning in ELT, 2018/04/20
Nice review of a language learning app providing a needed dose of scepticism. The app is called Knowble and is a browser extension that purports to improve English-language vocabulary. The problem is, it relies on Google Translate, so it often offers incorrect vocabulary advice. More...
Open Invitation to Contribute to the Draft OER Recommendation Text
UNESCO, 2018/04/20
According to this website, "A draft UNESCO Recommendation on Open Educational Resources (OER) text is currently being prepared. This open invitation is to call for inputs on the above-mentioned draft text." You can read the draft on the website (7 page PDF). More...
OER18 Open to all
Phil Barker, Sharing and learning, 2018/04/20
Phil Barker argues that we should not be recommending Eric Raymond's work. Raymond authored, if you may recall, the enormously influential The Cathedral and the Bazaar paper recommending distributed open source organization. Barker argues that Raymond is a libertarian, a gun nut, and has regressive views regarding women and gays. " I do not think we should be recommending this person’s work to the OER community," says Barker. Now I personally find Raymond's politics reprehensible (assuming the Wikipedia account is correct). More...
This Tsinghua University-backed company wants to revolutionize the classroom
Linda Lew, TechNode, 2018/04/19
This article is about a Chinese e-learning application called Rain Classroom. "Services (rain) made possible by big data analytics (the cloud) are utilized in classrooms or for self-learning (rain irrigating the soil). More data on teaching and learning is generated and collected then uploaded to the cloud again (evaporation), completing the cycle." It's used in more than 2,300 universities in China. More...
Pearson Embedded a 'Social-Psychological' Experiment in Students' Educational Software
Sidney Fussell, Gizmodo, 2018/04/19
According to this article, "Pearson is drawing criticism after using its software to experiment on over 9,000 math and computer science students across the country." The experiment was disclosed in a paper presented on Tuesday (not Wednesday, as was incorrectly reported by Gizmodo). More...
Uncited Research
Simon Baker, Times Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, 2018/04/19
The argument documented here is familiar, but it's still a point of frustration for researchers working in the humanities and social sciences when they are compared with peers in technology, engineering and mathematics. Simply, the former receive much fewer citations because citations, and papers themselves, play a different role in those disciplines. More...
Why collaboration is a bad idea for developing personalized learning teachers
Thomas Arnett, Christensen Institute, 2018/04/19
According to Thomas Arnett, "the 'collective action' approach will likely flounder at creating the pipeline of excellent personalized learning teachers that the field needs." This is because "when new innovations are still stretching to meet our expectations, the best strategy for pushing a product’s performance forward is for a single entity to control all the interdependent pieces of the solution." He draws a parallel between the development of teachers and the development of touchscreens. More...
The Future of College Looks Like the Future of Retail
The Atlantic, Jeffrey Selingo, 2018/04/18
The suggestion here is that "similar to e-commerce firms, online-degree programs are beginning to incorporate elements of an older-school, brick-and-mortar model." I would comment that the e-commerce physical storefront is a novelty, not a trend, but let's continue. More...
Open the Gateless Gate: OER and Open Education
Geoff Cain, Brainstorm in Progress, 2018/04/18
I love how Geoff Cain mixes a new spirit of optimism and positivity with a couple of 'get off my lawn' moments. The positivity he finds in the Open Pedagogy Notebook created by Robin DeRosa and Rajiv Jhangiani to “support community sharing of learning materials and ideas around access to knowledge and knowledge creation.” I've added the feed to my reader. More...
New Education Marketplace Development Funded by Crypto Coins
Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology, 2018/04/18
The script for the On-Demand Education Marketplace (ODEM) reads like it came straight from the Christensen playbook: "The platform reduces costs and improves access to premium education by directly connecting educators with students and eliminating inefficient and costly intermediaries." The idea is that you have to buy cryptocurrency to do this. More...
/https%3A%2F%2Fprofilepics.canalblog.com%2Fprofilepics%2F1%2F0%2F1076071.jpg)
