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Fait Accompli: Agentive Tech Is Here
Chris Noessel, A List Apart, 2017/05/09


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Today's new word is 'agentive'. Something that is agentive "handles tasks so that you can use your limited attention on something else. So this part of “acting on your behalf”—that it does its thing while out of sight and out of mind—is foundational to the notion of what an agent is, why it’s new, and why it’s valuable." This article looks at the concept, draws a very useful distinction between agents and tools, and makes the observation expressed in the title.

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Experiential Learning: It’s been happening for years
Joe Henry, It's Not Academic, 2017/05/09


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Experiential learning is not new, argues Joe Henry. It has been happening for years. " students have for generations, accessed and created a myriad of co-curricular, extra-curricular and work opportunities on campus that have allowed them to develop the skills necessary to think about their coursework in different ways or gain the experience necessary for that first job post-graduation." I agree. My experiential learning included five years as a staff member on the student newspaper, participation in academic conferences, and any number of other campus activities. But - and this is key - these almost all took place outside my courses. Which is why we need to think of an online education as involving a lot more than just a bunch of online courses.

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This is How Google will Collapse
Startup Grind, Medium, 2017/05/09


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The thesis of this post is that advertising placement will collapse as a revenue model, and when it does, so will Google's dominance over the marketplace. What will replace it? Native advertising (i.e., advertising that is actually a part of the content you want to read, as for example when I mention Tim Horton's Coffee in a post). We're seeing this play out now as websites demand people turn off their ad blockers and as people, not being crazy, refuse to do so. And we're also seeing actual online commerce increase, a market in which Google has virtually no stake. "Over time, the computer itself — whatever its form factor — will be an intelligent assistant helping you through your day. We will move from mobile first to an AI first world."

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Exploring Qualitative Displays and Interfaces – Architectures
Dan Lockton, Architectures, 2017/05/09


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"Much of how we construct meaning in the real world is qualitative rather than quantitative," writes Dan Lockton, "Yet, quantification has become a default mode for information display, and for interfaces supporting decision-making and behaviour change." Her's right on both counts, and this article illustrates part of the reason why. It's not exactly easy to create a qualitative interface, though he offers a number of intuitive examples: the movement of water as an indicator of acceleration, the swirling of leaves as a wind indicator, or wind socks. How would our understanding of learning and performance data change if we used qualitative indicators? If, for example, we could see skills development, rather than simply measuring them? Related: Design students explore landscape as a metaphor.

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Raise the Bar: Shooting and Editing Green-Screen Video
Mark Lassoff, Focus on Learning, 2017/05/09


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Although I have the green cloth I've never actually created a green-screen video. This is something that I'll have to try one day. Looking at the direction in this article, it doesn't appear to me to be that complicated. And maybe next I can try to create one of those videos where the handwriting appears over top of the image, as though someone is writing on the screen.

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Instagrim: Why Social Media Makes Students Miserable
Donna Freitas, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2017/05/09


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The gist of this article is that people can't be themselves any more on social media, that they have to edit their social media feeds and essentially 'professionalize' their online presence, and that this has in turn caused unhappiness in the student population. My own take is that the possibility of exposure on social media has made them clean up their act, and if this causes them stress and hardship, I'm sure they can learn to deal with it.

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Copyright 2017 Stephen Downes Contact: stephen@downes.ca

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