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by Stephen Downes
May 05, 2017
Still Blogging in 2017
Tim Bray, Ongoing, 2017/05/05
I liked this short post from Tim Bray. "I'm still blogging," he says, noting that it's a bit of an exception these days, an exception not only to write (as fewer and fewer people are doing it) but also to be read (as more and more the internet is being taken over by commercial publications). "The great danger," he writes, "is that the Web’s future is mall-like: No space really public, no storefronts but national brands’, no visuals composed by amateurs, nothing that’s on offer just for its own sake, and for love."
How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Interactive Edition
et.al., Brad Miller, 2017/05/05
At a certain point this online text reverts back into being an ordinary textbook, but the premise was interesting. It has often been said that to learn how to become something - a computer scientist, say - is to be able to think like that kind of person. And so that's what this guide sets out to do. Alas, computer science also involves an awful lot of small things like string methods, GUI and recursion, so you get less of the 'think like a' and more of the detail.
The New Skeuomorphism is in Your Voice Assistant
Bert Brautigam, UXDesign.cc, 2017/05/05
Our new word for the day is "Skeuomorphism", which means "using real world references and metaphors on interfaces to enhance their comprehensibility." For example, "A skeuomorphic button looks like a physical switch, a skeuomorphic canvas can have a wood texture." The point of this post is to examine the concept as it relates to audio input devices, such as your voice assistant. Currently, these resemble human voices - they have gender, they make jokes, they express emption. None of these is core to the function of the voice, however. The suggestion is that, as we become used to voice assistants, we will be more inclined to let them be featureless automatons.
How to Prepare for an Automated Future
Claire Cain Miller, New York Times, 2017/05/04
Why are we preparing students for jobs that won't exist? Consider this: "We don’t know how quickly machines will displace people’s jobs, or how many they’ll take, but we know it’s happening — not just to factory workers but also to money managers, dermatologists and retail workers." As this Times article says, "The question isn’t how to train people for nonexistent jobs. It’s how to share the wealth in a world where we don’t need most people to work." Thant's not to say that we no longer need education. But the sort of education we need isn't skills upgrading, particularly. It's more like helping people become self-reliant and personally capable, not because they need to work in order to survive, but because they want to work to help society progress.
Students to colleges: Please use our data this way
Meris Stansbury, eCampus News, 2017/05/04
The Ellucian survey cited is presented as nothing more than an infographic and so we learn very little about how it was conducted (other than that it was an online survey of 1,000 U.S. students conducted last October). We are told that "62 percent of surveyed students said they believe institutions should use their personal data to improve their graduation requirements, 59 percent for course selection and registration, and 53 percent for advising." The eCampus News story also has a couple of case studies. The survey also says that students do not want their data used for non-academic purposes.
Have You Heard: Education Canât Fix Poverty. So Why Keep Insisting that It Can?
Jennifer Berkshire, National Education Policy Center, 2017/05/04
This is Harvey Kantor is professor emeritus in the Department of Education, Culture and Society at the University of Utah, making sense: "One of the consequences of making education so central to social policy has been that we’ve ended up taking the pressure off of the state for the kinds of policies that would be more effective at addressing poverty and economic inequality. Instead we’re asking education to do things it can’t possibly do."
Building on Open Educational Resources â Whatâs Next?
TeachOnline.ca, 2017/05/04
The focus of this article is on "three particular developments to shape the future of OER (quoted):
Developing replicable, scalable models for institutions and faculty members to adopt. Adopting and Adapting New Approaches to Assessment and Flexible Degrees Sharing The Tools for Generating Simulations and GamesAs the authors say, "he key is not so much making new OER products, services and processes available but stimulating their adoption and use. What is needed are powerful examples of the adoption of OER models, practices, assessments and new approaches to credentials making a real difference to outcomes, performance and costs." The question I have is whether depending on a system that has depended for the last eight centuries on closed access is the best course of action to promote open access. See also: Making the Most of OERs.
The Knowledge and Learning Transfer Problem
Charles Jennings, Workplace Performance, 2017/05/03
Charles Jennings is right at the outset of this post. "Learning takes place in our heads. We alone make it happen... The same could be said of the phrase ‘knowledge transfer’. We can’t and don’t transfer knowledge between people." Quite so. But then he says, "We transfer information.... We can share information in the form of data and our own insights." But if the idea of the transfer of knowledge is a fiction, so is the idea of the transfer of information. How do we know this? Because what counts as information depends on the receiver. Any artifact - a printed page, a thermometer, an old woman saying "Beware the Ides of March" - any artifact becomes information only if it is recognized as such by the receiver. And recognition is a property of the person, not the artifact. This, of course, changes the nature of what we are doing when we design learning. We don't ask, "how can I transfer information to people?" We ask, "what would count as information to this person?" and then arrange our artifacts accordingly.
Using Fetch
Zell Liew, CSS-Tricks, 2017/05/03
The idea of web pages that send and receive data without reloading has been around for a while now, but the ability to do this easily has always depended on JavaScript libraries like JQuery. This article describes a new method called 'Fetch', which is supported by recent browsers (though not, of course, by Internet Explorer). The article is rich with code examples showing data retrieval and uploading with error checking. It won't be useful to you if you don't write JavaScript code, but all readers should at least be aware that this functionality exists.
Shared Agency
Abraham Sesshu Roth, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2017/05/03
This excellent revision of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's (SEP) article on shared agency is a must-read for anyone working on theories of applications of collaboration in learning. "Shared activity is distinguished from a mere aggregation of individual acts by a structure of appropriately related participatory intentions across different individuals. It is a structure that has a distinctive normative significance for those individuals, with an impact most immediately on each individual’s intention-based practical reasoning." The article discusses different accounts of shared action, mechanisms for structuring interrelated intentions, mutual obligations, and the group-mind hypothesis. See also: collective intentionality. Image: Idle no More, APTN News.
The death of the smartphone is closer than you think. Here's what comes next
Steve Ranger, ZD Net, 2017/05/03
The word 'death' in this post is about as exaggerated as you can get. After all, many people still own and use traditional hand-set phones that are now several generations obsolete. Not everything that rises must fall; we still use the wheel, fire and shoes. But sure, Silicon Valley must invent something new in order to survive. Is it, as the author suggests, virtual and augmented reality glasses? "Smartglasses will in turn be a stepping stone to smart contact lenses or even the mind-reading tech that Facebook announced last week" Sure. But these are a decade away.
OpenAIRE survey on open peer review: Attitudes and experience amongst editors, authors and reviewers
Tony Ross-Hellauer, Arvid Deppe, Birgit Schmidt, Zenodo, 2017/05/03
I think people interested in open pedagogy could draw some insight from this discussion of open peer review. There's not one single dimension to open publishing (or open science generally) but multiple dimensions, including open identity, open participation, and open reports. The idea isn't just to license openly, but to draw what is currently hidden into open view. Note that while open peer review may require open access, this isn't its defining characteristic. 'Open' isn't just about sharing resources (though this is a bit part of it) it's about making processes accessible and participatory. Read this document (39 page PDF) as a PDF rather than in the user-hostile viewing port on the web page.
Indonesia needs to revive interest in reading books
Zita Meirina, A. Saragih, Antara News, 2017/05/03
It's easy to forget that Indonesia is the sixth largest in the world in number of internet users, and the fouth largest in terms of Facebook users. This isn't a country known for its literacy rates, coming in second-last among ASEAN member countries, with a low demand for books and newpapers. The result is that people believe what they read on the internet. "A survey showed that Indonesian people believe in 65 percent of internet information. This is bad. The percentage is quite high in comparison with people in many other countries," says Informatics Ministry official Samuel Abrijani Pangerapan. The problem is, the needed investment in traditional media would cost billions. Indonesians need to make their internet better - because at least it is reaching the people - instead of trying to replace it.
Microsoft unveils next wave of collaborative products for educators
Wyatt Kash, EdScoop, 2017/05/02
Just in time for the education buying season, Microsoft has launched a new education suite, "introducing $189 laptops, 3-D and collaborative apps, new Windows 10 S and tools for managing devices." Here's the Microsoft page with the news. The 'S' stands for 'security' (not 'server', as I had hoped (Windows servers are here)). More (as Richard Byrne says) "Windows 10 S will restrict users to installing only apps that are approved through the Windows Store." We read "Windows 10 S integrates with OneDrive so files are saved to the cloud, in sync and accessible from your devices." Sadly, I find it hard to share OneDrive files - I wanted to embed my PowerPoint slides on OneDrive in web pages, but OneDrive offers no way of doing that (even though Microsoft owns LinkedIn, which owns SlideShare).
I'm sure this will be popular too: "an app called Set Up School PC in the Windows Store that enables educators to set up of entire classrooms of devices with customized experiences using a USB stick, in as little as 30 seconds per device." Though what we need is something like XAMPP on a USB to allow students to have their own server and share resources directly with each other. (p.s. EdScoop blacks out the screen for ten seconds when you access the site so click on the link and then go read some email). See also: eSchool News, Richard Byrne, How-to-Geek.
This Week In Webo-plasmosis
Michael Caulfield, Traces, 2017/05/02
In what might be the worst-but-most-compelling analogy ever, Mike Caulfield draws a parallel between a parasite that spreads from cat to cat by infecting mice and making them less fearful of cats, and social media that spreads from site to site by infecting people and making them less fearful of advertising. How can you tell if you have webo-plasmosis? "Do you retweet headlines you agree with to help Facebook build a profile of you, while not reading the articles?" asks Caulfield. "Do you join Facebook groups that best express who you are?" These and eight other symptoms may be signs that you are infected by web-parasites. P.S. this is the third issue of Caulfield's new newsletter, to which you can subscribe here.
How do Saudi youth engage with social media?
igel Stanger, Noorah Alnaghaimshi, Erika Pearson, First Monday, 2017/05/02
Interesting paper that reminds us (not that we should need reminding) that online behaviour can vary widely from culture. This report, which strikes me as fair-minded and relevant, makes the case by showing how Saudi Arabian youth use social media. "Saudis tend to respond better to social and online media messages addressed to the group, or to group leaders in the hierarchy, rather than to individuals. Saudis, including social media users, will also be strongly swayed by the opinions and instructions of those higher in the social power structure. Furthermore, online messages and content targeted at Saudi culture should refrain from imagery and content, such as photographs of women, that may be at odds with both cultural norms and personal interpretations of haya or 'shyness'."
Who Are You? The Importance of Identity in Higher Ed Research
Tanya Roscorla, Center for Digital Education, 2017/05/02
This article doesn't discuss identity in the theoretical sense, but rather, identity in the technical sense, with respect to system security. How do you manage access, for example, for Jenny, a person who changes campus but who needs to continue collaboration with the same team for her PhD research? The article describes a five-level maturity model presented by identity expert Ian Glazer from Salesforce at the recent Internet2 conference, beginning with the idea of basic identity management, then protection from internal users, then bulk attacks, focused 'single-row' attacks, and finally, transparency of data access.In the case of Jenny, above, Internet2's InCommon identity management federation links 600 universities together, and last year, InCommon joined eduGAIN, a collection of some 40 identity networks worldwide. Meanwhile, Glazer and colleagues are forming an association for identity professionals called IDPro, which will deal with these and related issues.
Interview with Education Financial Analyst Trace Urdan
Mitch Weisburgh, PILOTed, 2017/05/01
Interview with education stock analyst Trace Urdan who, as I mentioned last week, has left Credit Suisse. Interesting stuff. For example, Urdan says, "There is no question that education is a public good and a public responsibility. We haven’t seen any indication that governments have been very good at investing and innovating in education. That’s something that private capital has been very good at, which the public sector can then adapt. I’m going to be provocative and say that anything that has been ground breaking and innovative in education, K12 and higher ed, has been capitalized and driven by private businesses. The kinks get worked out and then you see it migrating to the public sector and accruing to the benefit of everyone."
The next generation of jobs won't be made up of professions
Alina Dizik, BBC News, 2017/05/01
The sumamry says this: "To prepare for the future, we need to shift from thinking about jobs and careers to thinking about challenges and problems, reports Alina Dizik.... prepare the next generation for a career in the future, which for many will be made up of numerous micro-jobs aimed at well-paid skilled workers, and not a single boss and company." This seems right to me, but there's a caveat. We need to replace the security of jobs and careers with something if we're going to shift our focus to challenegs and problems. Nobody wants to survive hand-to-mouth depending on the next problem to pay the bills. We could be must more focused (and productive) as an economy, but not at the cost of becoming an underpaid zero-benefit gig economy.
Student privacy experts poke holes in Electronic Frontier Foundation report
Corinne Lestch, EdScoop, 2017/05/01
I reviewed the criticisms (there are two authors) and think that they are more like 'chipping around the edges' than they are 'poking holes'. The first, Jim Siegl, a technology architect for Fairfax County Public Schools and co-chair of CoSN's Privacy Toolkit, complains that he found 126 privacy policies, not the 118 found in the EFF report, and that more applications than stated use encryption, based on a survey of https URLs. The second, Amelia Vance, policy counsel for education privacy at the Future of Privacy Forum, cites the first and adds "the report only mentions three of the 106 student privacy laws passed in 39 states since 2013." I think Siegl is worth reading on this, though I think it adds up to far less than a refutation of EFF.
Reassembling Scholarly Communications: An Evaluation of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundationâs Monograph Initiative
Alessandra Bordini, John W. Maxwell, Katie Shamash, The Journal of Electronic Publishing, 2017/05/01
This is an engaging review of an NYU project to enhance open access monographs. "The close intertwining of scholarly communication, career advancement, and traditional publishing logic make for a powerful status quo that has, as note, managed to resist both the opportunities of digital media and the challenges posed by various apparent crises" What would have been interesting would have been to see NYU partner with Canada's Public Knowledge Project (PKP) to extract the best value from its funding. This is because PKP's Open Monograph Press has been up and running for years now, is widely use, and makes its source freely available on GitHub. Could it be improved? Of course, and that's where this collaboration could really help. And it makes a lot more sense than building a new system from scratch, and NYU press could do much more than to merely "enrich a corpus of books with semantic tags of critical concepts, names, and geographic locations." Maybe, as suggested by Adrian Hodge in an email, this: "an intelligent .zip file of sorts that the learner unpacks someplace, locally / networked that then pulls in the base set of relevant papers, journals, OERs, AND the individuals who are active or central to the area being studied."
Report questions effectiveness of New Brunswick's tuition access bursary
Jordan Gill, CBC News, 2017/05/01
New Brunswick's free tuition program for low-income families was only launched last year, but the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) is already criticizing it for not improving completion rates. It's just the latest in a series of unwarranted attacks on the program, including private schools demanding equal subsidies, allegations it reaches too few students (only 5100 of 7000 eligible), the obligatory attack from Irving's media arm, and even a constitutional challenge. The common thread to all this, though, is best summarized by Robert Burroughs, the executive director of the New Brunswick Student Alliance. "What I'm hearing is ... New Brunswicker taxpayers shouldn't be subsidising poor kids to go to school," said Burroughs. "That's the underlying message that I'm hearing here, which is fundamentally problematic."
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Copyright 2017 Stephen Downes Contact: stephen@downes.ca
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