Laden...
Stephen's Web ~ Link
OLWeekly
by Stephen Downes
Oct 21, 2016
Open Practices
Link
Oct 21, 2016
This post is a response to a request for my thoughts on the
value of open practices and methodologies for putting them
into practice.
Comment: Link
PubSub: W3C First Public Working Draft 20 October 2016
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
From the World Wide Web Consortium, something interesting:
"The Social Web Working Group Link
has published a Working Draft of PubSub
LinkThis
specification describes an open, simple, web-scale and
decentralized Publish-Subscribe protocol; and HTTP-based
profile which requirements for high-volume publishers and
subscribers are optional." According to the protocol page,
"As opposed to more developed (and more complex) pubsub
specs like Jabber Publish-Subscribe [XEP-0060
Link
this spec's base profile (the barrier-to-entry to speak it)
is dead simple."
Comment: Link
Direct Link: Link
Digital Defenders
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
I'm not really a fan of the game-fiction-as-learning
format, but I agree that it's a useful effort to provide
information to children about online security and personal
privacy (11 page PDF
Link. But
if you have to use superheroes couldn't their powers be
something other than 'mystical powers'? (That's what
bothers me about Netflix programming - every time I see
something remotely interesting, it turns out that the
character has some sort of mystical power; it gets boring).
Also, I found it odd that the otherwise very useful list of
privacy and security tools and plugins on the last page
didn't include any ad blockers. That would be the first
tool I'd recommend.
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
Embedding is the new linking
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
Some not-so-surprising aspects to this story: first, people
want to see resources from other sites right on the page
they're looking at (within reason; there's nothing worse
than a page full of embedded YouTube videos), and second,
Twitter and YouTube lead the way while Facebook is a
distant last. If you want to embed this post anywhere just
use the following (the https is necessary in many
environments to support security standards):
<iframe
src="https://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=65961&format=summary"></iframe>
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
Learning Analytics Webinar
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
Michael Feldstein recommends
Link
this webinar (66 minute YouTube Video) on xAPI
Linkand Caliper
../search/caliper. Good discussion, though I wish Silver's
audio quality were better. We mentioned ../post/65890
earlier this month that discussions are being held between
proponents of the two specifications on interoperability.
"I suspect that more than the usual care is being
taken to make the conversation officially unofficial," said
Feldstein. No doubt; there's a lot of overlap. The value
propositions look very similar, but there's a "design
philosophy difference" (according to Silver) between the
two. The second slide looks a lot like the old personal
learning environment diagrams. There's a reference to the
use of Apereo
Links
open source LRS technology to support the JISC Learning
Analytics infrastructure. Caliper, meanwhile, is "rewriting
our spec from top to bottom".
This appears to be one of the new Recommended Reading (or
in this case, Viewing) series announced today
Link
from the e-Literate blog. It's always nice to see a new
source of good reading material in our field and let me be
the first to welcome O’Neal Spicer
Linkto the
edublogosphere (yeah, it's still a thing).
Comment: Link
Direct Link: Link
Analysing ORCID coverage across repositories through CORE
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
ORCID http://orcid.org/ (Open Researcher and
Contributor ID) is a system that "provides a persistent
digital identifier that distinguishes you from every other
researcher... in key research workflows such as
manuscript and grant submission." This article looks at a
study of how widely ORCID identifiers are used through a
survey of listings in CORE Linkan open
access research paper aggregation service. In a nutshell:
16 percent of the 5.5 million records listed in CORE use at
least one ORCID. Not bad, not great. You can study the CORE
database yourself by obtaining the most recent dataset
download
Link
If you're wondering: yes, I have an ORCID number (it's
0000-0001-6797-9012 Link,
but not all my papers list my ORCID.
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
A Network Theory of Power
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
I revisited this article recently while looking up some
references. Manuel Castells has a history of activism
infused with a deep knowledge of networks and
communications. Here he defines network power and
counterpower - "Counterpower is exercised in the network
society by fighting to change the programs of specific
networks and by the effort to disrupt the switches that
reflect dominant interests and replace them with
alternative switches between networks." Reading it brings
to mind my own work in Hacking Memes
Link
Here is a video of him
Linkexplaining his
thoughts (I especially appreciate his opening remarks on
the role and utility of theory).
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
2016 Student Textbook and Course Materials Survey
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
This large (22,000 participants) report (35 page PDF
Link
makes the impact of textbook costs clear: "The findings
suggest that the cost of textbooks is negatively impacting
student access to required materials (66.6% did not
purchase the required textbook) and learning (37.6% earn a
poor grade; 19.8% fail a course)." There's no end to the
efforts to improve course quality in order to improve
outcomes, yet so little effort to address really obvious
problems like this.
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
Peter Thiel and the Future (and Funding) of Education
Technology
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
Audrey Watters on Peter Thiel: "At the core of the
companies that Thiel has founded and funded is
surveillance. Palantir. Facebook. AltSchool. The regime of
data collection and analysis is framed as
'personalization.' But that’s a cover for compliance
and control."
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
Use of Technologies at #IWMW16
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
If you haven't been watching it must seem like the entire
world has changed. Here's the list of technologies used as
described by Brian Kelly: Slack, Lanyard, Whova. The last
is completely new to me. Whova Link
(which sponsored the event) "allows your event to go
mobile, and supercharges your attendee engagement and
networking experience." It provides things like agendas,
check-in, maps and links.
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
Why is Twitter no longer No 1 on the Top Tools for Learning
list?
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
I was watching a item on the news this morning tracking
Twitter reaction to some televised events and I thought to
myself, "why track this if all the traffic is bots?" And
that's part of the answer to the question in the title of
this article. And as Jane Hart writes, "over the years the
dark side of Twitter has emerged – in the form of the
trolls – and this is something that has put off new
users signing up to Twitter. In fact, now that
Twitter is up for sale, we can see that this is one of the
things that is deterring potential buyers."
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
Rangatiratanga: How Tapping Into New Zealand’s Indigenous
Concepts Sparked New Educational Gains
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
Rangatiratanga
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tino_rangatiratanga is a
Maori concept for taking personal and collective control
over your own future. It formed the basis for the treaty
creating New Zealand's unique society. According to this
article, it's also the basis for a school district renewal
project restoring Maori education. I wish the article had
focused more on how Rangatiratanga was practiced by the
district, but the author talks mostly about paying for
their educational costs and passing tests.
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
Robin DeRosa’s great Ignite Talk DML2016 on open
education.
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
Clint Lalonde highlights a talk by Robin DeRosa on the
relation between open education and public education. "In 5
short minutes she connects the various strands of open
education (open access, open educational resources, and
open pedagogy) to the broader societal mandate of our
public institutions, which is to serve the public good."
Short (as promised) video arguing we should make a case for
public education using the case for open education.
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
K–12 Computer Science Framework
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
A document called the K–12 Computer Science Framework
Link
(307 page PDF
Link
led by the Association for Computing Machinery, Code.org,
Computer Science Teachers Association, and the Cyber
Innovation Center. The frameworek "promotes a vision in
which all students critically engage in computer science
issues; approach problems in innovative ways; and create
computational artifacts with a practical, personal, or
societal intent." It organizes the discipline into a set of
'core concepts' and 'core practices' (pictured).
Interestingly the framework also weaves four major themes
through the concepts:
Equity. Issues of equity, inclusion, and diversity are
addressed
Powerful ideas... can be used to solve real-world problems
and connect understanding across multiple disciplines
Computational thinking practices such as abstraction,
modeling, and decomposition
Breadth of application: physical systems; the collection,
storage, and analysis of data; and the impact of computing
on society.
I think it would be productive to compare this framework
with the various accounts of 'digital literacy' that
circulate through the educational community. Via and with
commentary from Mark Guzdial
Link
and Alfred Thompson
Link
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
College Students: 'Please Personalize My Learning'
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
This is one of those surveys
Link
(47 page PDF
Link
but you might have to sign up for spam) that I think puts
words in people's mouths. According to the report, 89
percent of respondents say "digital learning tech should
respond and adapt to my unique way of learning." What
students says "my unique way of learning?" And actually,
personalization isn't the big draw. 89% agree or strongly
agree that "Digital learning technology should respond and
adapt to my unique way of learning." (p. 29) But 65% of
them say "I like being able to study anytime, anywhere"
while only 21% say "I like technology that responds and
adapts to my unique learning style." (p. 27) The survey
plays fast and loose with the words and concepts here,
conflating between "learning style", "adaptive learning"
and "my unique way of learning". Campus Technology reports
what the report says, but should take a more critical
stance in its journalism.
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
Facebook’s Social VR Coming Sooner than you Think
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
It's easy to forget that Oculus Rift and Facebook are the
same company. We shouldn't. "According to RoadtoVR
http://www.roadtovr.com/facebook-plans-to-launch-social-vr-offering-as-soon-as-possible/"
target="_blank, Facebook’s Social VR platform for
Oculus Rift is coming sooner than you think... maybe not
this year, but 2017 sounds like a real possibility."
Basically the technology combines VR scenes and individual
avatars. The article notes "Quartz
http://qz.com/802835/facebooks-fb-social-vr-future-is-all-about-avatars-virtual-reality-selfies-and-oculus-rooms/"
target="_blank has a comparison of the avatars from F8 in
April 2016 and OC3 in October."
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
The Learner is the Winner
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
Short summary of the University of Pennsylvania’s
Business Education Online Learning Summit on September
19-20. "The key takeaway," writes Anne Trumbore, "is
that future of post-graduate business education is global,
micro-credentialed, accessible, individualized, and
empowering. And the learner is going end up the winner."
MOOCs get a lot of criticism - but they did open up a new
world of open online learning for students.
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
Immersive Virtual Reality: Online Education for the Next
Generation
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
A fairly light read with a decent number of links, this
short article touts the potential of virtual reality (VR)
to reshape education. Of course, if past experience is any
guide, instead of creating simulations of ERs and
submarines, educators will use VR to simulate the typical
college lecture theatre. Anyhow, some references to
projects here include: Project Sansar
http://www.lindenlab.com/releases/linden-lab-invites-first-virtual-experience-creators-to-project-sansar-testing"
target="_blank, a VR creation platform; High Fidelity
https://highfidelity.io/" target="_blank open-source VR
platform; Facebook’s social VR
http://mashable.com/2016/04/13/facebook-social-vr-analysis/#ytvG2jCsGOq0"
target="_blank, and much more. See also CBC, In VR and AR,
Computers Adapt to Humans
Link
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
Ria #29: Dr. Katie Linder On Grant Writing Basics
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
In this episode, Dr. Katie Linder answers a listener
question about grant writing and shares resources for
getting started with finding and applying for research
funding.
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
The Moodle ER Diagram
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
Back in May I gave a presentation on 'extending Moodle
Link and used an entity
relationship (ER) diagram of the software. Marcus Green,
who created the diagram, wrote to say that "I am continuing
to update diagram with each new version of Moodle and I am
currently working on the one for Moodle 3.1 with various
improvements in detail and content. The most complete
recent version can always be found here." So, here it is,
with thanks from the community to Marcus. More links: How
the diagram was created
LinkDiagram FAQ
LinkSee here
Linkfor an archive of
old versions.
Comment: Link
Direct Link: Link
Equity, Resilience, and Achievements in High Performing
Asian Education Systems
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
Many of the leaders in recent PISA and other academic tests
have been from east Asian countries. Why? This
month's special issue
Linkof
Frontiers of Education in China explores the quantitative
results with a set of (mostly) qualitative studies. They
are all well-written and accessible. The editorial
summarizes them nicely, and the first paragraph especially
should be required reading (a task I've made easier for you
by extracting and reformatting
Link
that paragraph). But do read the articles themselves; they
address issues such as equity in Japan (made possible in
part by rotating teachers from school to school each year),
civics education in Hong Kong (where teachers are expected
to model citizenship), changing administrative structures
in Shanghai (and the challenges to equity created by
marketplace approaches), hidden racism in Korea, and much
more. Image: Peking University
Link
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
Labeling fact-check articles in Google News
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
I haven't been able to see this actually working yet, but
the promise of a 'fact check' option in Google News is
intriguing. For now, the actual fact checking will depend
on people, and it looks like fact-checking metadata (called
Claim Review Link will
have to be present in the news story. "Publishers who
create fact-checks and would like to see it appear with the
“Fact check” tag should use that markup in
fact-check articles." The Guardian reports
Link
"In Google News, fact check labels are visible in the
expanded story box on the Google News site, on both the iOS
and Android apps, and roll out for users in the US and UK
first." Presumably those are the places that need fact
checking the most. The Guardian also takes a swipe at
Facebook: "After sacking their trending topics news team,
the social media site was at the center of a storm when its
algorithm started promoting fake news
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/ug/29/facebook-fires-trending-topics-team-algorithm"
data-link-name="in body link." More on fact-checking in
Google's help
Link
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
XuetangX: A Look at China’s First and Biggest MOOC
Platform
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
XuetangX Linkis one of the world's top
MOOC platforms with more than 5 million registrations. The
service is a modified ExX platform, so look-and-feel and
navigation will be familiar, even if the overall appearance
isn't. This article highlights some of the modifications
XuetangX has made, most notable support for mobile
learning. Consider, for example, the 'rain classroom': "my
class instruction PowerPoint can be viewed on
students’ phones in real time.... from a
teacher’s viewpoint, if you can use PowerPoint and
WeChat, you can play around with Rain Classroom." Plans for
the future include a XuetangX cloud service for
universities and a microdegrees program.
Comment: Link
Direct Link: Link
So You Want to Learn Physics...
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
This is an outline of a physics curriculum from first year
to graduate studies. It's useful in its own right, but it
makes me wonder whether someone could use something like
this to actually learn physics. Yes, they would have to be
very motivated, persistent, and have a lot of time. But it
would have been perfect for, say, someone like me when I
was working as a security guard in my early 20s. Now the
textbooks in this guide are Amazon.com and therefore
expensive - you'd want to replace the material with open
content. And there's no community, but maybe one could be
made or found. Could it be done? Image: Khan, Physics
Linkinverted.
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
Online Learning Consortium Launches Courseware in Context
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
This could be really handy for a lot of people. The idea is
"to help postsecondary decision-makers make informed
selections of digital courseware products, and support
effective adoption and implementation of these solutions."
The Courseware in Context
Link(CWiC) Framework is not a
framework in the traditional sense, but is composed of the
following tools (quoted):
A product taxonomy designed to give educators,
instructional designers and administrators information
about courseware product capabilities and attributes;
A list of published research to help instructional
designers and administrators make connections between
courseware capabilities and related research; and
Guides to help administrators assess practices and policies
related to effective courseware implementation at the
course and institution level.
The resources are available as a PDF and Excel spreadsheet.
There are no company or product listings (you have to do
that yourself - the tools help you do this). An
interactive-web-based version is planned but not yet
available. You'll be required to provide name and email in
order to access the materials.
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
Ed-Tech as a Discipline
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
The idea has been making the rounds recently. This article
summarizes some comments in favour from Martin Weller,
opposed from Audrey Watters, and breezes through some
comments take take the discussion in all sorts of
directions. "I’m left with the feeling that maybe a
discipline isn’t what we need," says Tim Kapdor in
this post, "but we do need something." Right now PopEdu
gets all the attention - Sal Khan and the Gates megamoney.
Against this, "Ed-tech and using digital technology for
learning is something distinct and relatively new.
It’s not computer, neuro or information science, or
humanities or education – it sits outside the normal
traditions. It needs staking out, research, evidence and
practices in order to take a seat at the table." I get the
point - there needs to be a way to weed out the fads
Link
and fashions, the quacks and the cretins.
But pretending that we're physicists
Link
isn't the answer either. If there is to be a centre
to this discipline, it needs to be an open centre. Because
as Maha Bali says, "I don’t know how becoming a
discipline won’t again exclude certain people from
the table."
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
You Can’t Fix Education
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
Education, says Hank Green, is impossible to optimize. Hank
and his brother John are the creators of Crash Course
Linka YouTube
educational channel, now being touted on Patreon
Link"We create free,
high-quality educational videos used by teachers and
learners of all kinds," says the Patreon description.
"That's all we want to do. After 200,000,000 views, it
turns out people like this." In this article Green writes
about talking to rich people about the success of Crash
Course. "They get really excited really fast," thinking
they could scale it up and 'fix' education. But there's no
one-size fits-all. "Different schools face different
problems. There are no one-size-fits-all solutions. You
can’t innovate your way into the kind of traditional
cost-savings the internet brings." So instead "we keep
doing what we’re good at…making great content
about difficult subjects that help students and teachers."
And giving them away for free.
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
Why For-Profit Education Fails
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
This is an interesting discussion but actually very light
on the explanation it promises. A close reading reveals it
to be this: first, VCs confuse size and scale, preferring
to create large institutions in an industry that depends on
local impact. Second, scope and scale do not always mix.
They try to reform the entire education system rather than
focusing on a specific activity or domain. Why do theey do
this? Ego plays a role, but ultimately the cause is found
in their desire to do good (which runs counter to the need
to make money ("one cannot do good for very long if the
business does not do well enough to survive")). The
consistent failure of private institutions, argues the
author, gives ammunition to those who oppose privatization,
but "that sphere will always comprise public and private,
nonprofit and for-profit institutions, and for-profit
businesses play an essential role."
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
Spiraling Down Minuscule DS106 History Details
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
The assignment bank was one of those details that made
DS106 so innovative. Basically the idea was that people
submit suggestions for assignments, which other people then
browse, select from, complete and contribute. Some
of the earliest posts
Link00:00-08:00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=7
in my art blog
Link(now used for my
photos of the day, but always subject to change) are from
the DS106 assignment bank. The title is also from the DS106
course. Anyhow, this post reconstructs the history of the
assignment bank. It begins from a Michael Cauldfield
post Linkin which part of this
history became the subject for discussions. Alan Levine
drills deep into the historical archive and concludes "the
Assignment bank is totally the idea and prowess of Martha
Burtis." He also comments on the difficulties of doing
digital history. I can relate; I've been updating
my Presentations ../presentations.htm files recently.
When people tell you "the internet is forever" don't
believe them. So much has already been lost. Take some time
now and repair your archives. The future will thank you.
Image: one of my DS106 contributions, The Long Goodbye
Link
Comment: Link
Direct Link:
Link
Lucy Gray Presentation Resources for #GEF16
,
-------------------------------------------------------------
Link
In keeping with the learning communities theme from last
week have a look at these presentation resources
Link
shared by Lucy Gray on the Global Education Conference and
the Highly Connected Global Educator. There's a fair bit of
overlap between the two slide decks (the latter is the
better deck) but you'll see listings of learning
communities and networks, overviews of global education
projects, and related resources. The focus of these
projects, writes Gray, is not on the technology or the
content but on the people.
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 2016 Stephen Downes
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License
Link
Laden...
Laden...
