Stephen's Web ~ Link
OLDaily - Text Edition by Stephen Downes Feb 16, 2017


Choose Science
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
Choose Science is a website recently created by the
Government of Canada to encourage girls to pursue their
interests (and may their careers) in science, technology,
engineering and mathematics - STEM. It was criticized
Link
by the National Post this week for perpetuating stereotypes
(featuring fashion, music and kittens) but after a quick
retrofit yesterday it is looking much better, though by no
means perfect. The activities for parents
Link
and for teachers
Linkare
drawn largely from Actua Linkand Let's
Talk Science Linkwhich are
private foundations with a lot of federal and industry
funding. The resources could be a lot deeper and could be
drawn from a much richer repository of actual work by
Canadian teachers and educators. And instead
of talking down
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRtPrOeD6fU&feature=youtu.be
to girls interested in science, we should invite them to
tell their own stories in their own voices. But hey - I'd
rather see them do this work imperfectly than not at all.
Comment: Link
Direct Link: Link

These 6 Chinese Tech Giants Are Ramping Up The Pace Of
Innovation For The World
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
Mobile applications that have merged transactions and
services have become stables in China. "Hundreds of
millions of Chinese consumers now depend on these
all-in-one apps to do, well, everything
https://www.fastcompany.com/3056721/most-innovative-companies/a-week-behind-the-great-firewall-of-china"
target="_self: interact with friends; pay for cabs and
utility bills; book hotels, flights, and even dentist
appointments; find love; and read news." On the hardware
side, innovation is similarly flurishing, with companies
like Xiaomi, BBK and Huawei taking the lead. "Huawei
recently announced its new Mate 9, the first smartphone
embedded with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant...
Xiaomi’s Mi Mix smartphone... features a stunning
edge-to-edge screen
https://www.fastcodesign.com/3065003/did-xiaomi-just-beat-apple-at-its-own-game"
target="_self.
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link

GE’s Bill Ruh on the Industrial Internet Revolution
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
Interesting discussion around the topic of internet-based
computational services in industry. "Every form of
large-scale machinery will be suffused with sensors and
software controls, all more and more interoperable.
Increasing productivity, raising profits, eliminating
waste, ensuring environmental quality, and improving
manufacturing processes will all be automated activities,
functions of a kind of ghost in the machine." What makes
the industrial market different from the consumer-based
market is the addition of physics-based modeling. "With a
cloud-based, physics-based model, you can run a million
scenarios simultaneously and pick one that is optimized for
what you’re trying to accomplish."
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link

The “Secret Sauce” to Scaling Up Quality Education in
Developing Countries
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
According to this article, "we know that large-scale
progress, in both getting children into school and
learning, is possible." It being Stanford, a certain amount
of scepticism is warranted (83 page PDF
Link.
The 'secret sauce' is actually a combination of "14 core
ingredients that appear to contribute to scaling quality
learning, with the right combination depending on the
context," grouped into four areas:

Design - "develop programs and policies that students,
parents, or teachers actually want—not ones that
governments, practitioners, or funders think they need
Delivery - "not new gadgets to replace teachers, but tools
to help overcome a specific barrier, such as poor roads or
a lack of reading materials."
Finance - "stability, flexibility, and predictability in
financing are critical for scale that leads to lasting
changes in children’s learning."
An enabling environment - "government must accept
responsibility for ensuring a quality education for all,
reaching out to a range of partners, and considering new
ways of improving learning."

It's hard to disagree with any of these points, but the
difficulty is always in the details. How do you determine
what learners actually want? How do you deal with the scale
of delivery problems? What are the mechanisms for stable
finance? How do you convince increasingly reluctant
governments to take responsibility for education?
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link

Archive Link
Discuss Link
Search Link
About Link
Options Link

This newsletter is sent only at the request
of subscribers. If you would like to unsubscribe:
Link

Know a friend who might enjoy this newsletter? Feel
free to forward OLDaily to your colleagues.

If you received this issue from a friend and
would like a free subscription of your own,
you can join our mailing list.
Link

Copyright 2017 Stephen Downes
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License
Link