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...
What is an Empirical Educator?
Michael Feldstein, e-Literate, 2018/04/11
I think the phrase 'empirical educator' is clever marketing and a not-bad attempt to capture the ideas of "efficacy, evidence-based, research-backed, data-informed, etc." under a single rubric. Philosophically, I am also an empiricist, in the classical sense (as compared to, say, 20th century empiricists, also known as logical positivists, or even its 20-21st century alternative, constructive empiricism). More...
Humans Wanted
Royal Bank of Canada, 2018/04/11
The gist of this report (44 page PDF) is that while technology is eliminating a lot of jobs, it won't eliminate work. But we have to be aware of what new skills and abilities the future workplace will require. Among the skills considered most important: active listening, speaking, and critical thinking. More...
DNA tests for IQ are coming, but it might not be smart to take one
Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review, 2018/04/10
This is another one of those education technologies where we might want to review the ethical implications before launching widespread deployment. More...
Securing the bava
Jim Groom, bavatuesdays, 2018/04/10
I went through a similar exercise last week, and for similar reasons, switching from the unencrypted http format to the encrypted https. It was a pain, to say the least. I didn't go into static files and change all the existing http links from 20 years worth of web sites (nor will I, probably). More...
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