OLDaily

Presentation
Propgress to Date on gRSShopper
Stephen Downes, Mar 12, 2018, OEWeek 24-Hour Web-a-thon, Online, viz Zoom

Filling in a gap in the 24 hour OER marathon I presented viewers with a quick update of where development on the gRSShopper PLE has progressed to date. No slides, just a live unplanned demo (complete with some debugging popups).

[Link] [Audio] [Video]

Building a Blockchain
Stephen Downes, Half an Hour, 2018/03/12

We've all heard about blockchains, but what are they? It can be a complicated concept. The best way to learn, of course, is to roll up your sleeves and build a blockchain engine. That's what I did. (See also: Enterprise blockchain projects on GitHub).

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Toward a Sustainable OER Ecosystem: The Case for OER Stewardship
Lisa Petrides, Douglas Levin, C. Edward Watson, The CARE Framework, 2018/03/12

"The scarcity of affordable, high-quality resources in specific subjects and for select populations has too often been presented as a fait accompli," write the authors. "Yet, this is a future that OER stewards reject." They recommend a four-stage 'CARE' framework promoting the idea of OER stewardship (quoted):

1. Contribute: OER stewards actively contribute to efforts, whether financially or via in-kind contributions, to advance the awareness, improvement, and distribution of OER;
2. Attribute: OER stewards practice conspicuous attribution, ensuring that all who create or remix OER are properly and clearly credited for their contributions;
3. Release: OER stewards ensure OER can be released and used beyond the course and platform in which it was created or delivered; and
4. Empower: OER stewards are inclusive and strive to meet the diverse needs of all learners, including by supporting the participation of new and non-traditional voices in OER creation and adoption.

There's more context in this IHE article.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]

The web is under threat. Join us and fight for it.
Tim Berners-Lee, World Wide Web Foundation, 2018/03/12

Tim Berners-Lee has released a statement for the 29th anniversary of the World Wide Web. "I remain committed to making sure the web is a free, open, creative space — for everyone," he writes, "That vision is only possible if we get everyone online, and make sure the web works for people." He outlines some key areas where work needs to be done, for example: " we must support policies and business models that expand access to the world’s poorest." But the web is less diverse than it used to be and a few platformes have monopolized much of web traffic. We need to challenge "the myth that advertising is the only possible business model for online companies, and the myth that it’s too late to change the way platforms operate." More: BBC News.

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There Is No Case for the Humanities
Justin Stover, Chronicle of Higher Education, 2018/03/12

This article and the dozens and dozens of comments that follow (I read them all) kept me interested, which is a sign to me that it's worth including in the newsletter. Ultimately we will read that there is no case for the humanities because there doesn't need to be one; " It is not the humanities that we have lost faith in, but the economic, political, and social order that they have been made to serve." But before we get to that point we get a thorough restatement of the argument against the humanities - that they're too obscure, that there's too much production, that teaching is ignored, and worst, that they serve a private elitist community. It's clever because it uses the language of the critics and not just the ideas, and it is this, I think, that resulted in such a productive discussion in the comments.

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Treasury Board Standard on Automated Decision Support Systems
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, 2018/03/12

This early draft version of a new Treasury Board standard (the Treasury Board is part of the Government of Canada) has been posted on Google Docs and is now receiving comments from the community. There's also a gcCollab group people can join to discuss the proposals. Interestingly, "The intention of this instrument is to allow the Government of Canada to harness machines to provide insights and recommendations on administrative decisions while ensuring that the data and systems that perform these functions are designed and operate responsibly and in compliance with national and international ethical principles." Image: TBS Information Management Strategic Plan 2016-2019.

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Will these four technology trends change education in India?
Shweta Sharan, LiveMint, 2018/03/12

The four technologies under discussion are virtual reality, learning communities (including MOOCs), AI tutors and big data. The four are obviously interrelated. “Today, the MOOC ecosystem has come a long way. We have active discussion groups, community meetups by the course, local hackathons, and hackathon tours by the course staff.”

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Crazy Microsoft Is The Best Microsoft
Mark Wilson, Co.Design, 2018/03/12

Back in 2010 EA released a hockey game for the Nintendo Wii that featured an actual hockey stick as a controller. It was the greatest thing ever, and I spent hours - days! - standing in the dining room developing my career from Peewee to Pro. They didn't support it the following year and I lost interest. But it was a glimpse into the future, which may soon arrive with these Microsoft controllers. Because it's the U.S. they're really focused on guns, but the haptic musical instruments and the cane begin to show the true potential of modern interfaces, especially when combined with virtual reality. Maybe one day I'll be able to play haptic hockey again.

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