OLDaily

For Some Reason, These Quantum Mechanics Toys Didn’t Catch On
Allison Marsh, IEEE Spectrum, 2018/08/03

These were aluminum blocks created by Costas Papaliolios in the 1960s to help students understand quantum mechanics; they were hollow and had polarized filters through which you would shine light. "The quantum toys were equivalent to the magnetic field of the Stern-Gerlach experiment and to Schwinger’s matrix. By reordering, adding, or omitting blocks, you could see the unique characteristics of calculations made with matrices." All very good, but nobody could understand how to use them. If you were given some guidance, then they helped, but you couldn't just figure out on your own. That's the thing with manipulables (and here I think all the way back to John Holt's Cuisenaire rods). They help, but they need context. Anyhow, this article tells a great story.

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The 2017 national survey of online learning in Canadian post-secondary education: methodology and results
Tony Bates, International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 2018/08/03

This article (17 page PDF) summarizes the process and results of the 2017 pan-Canadian survey on online learning. The main result: "Online learning and distance education were clearly alive and well in Canada in 2017." That said, "most institutions reported that lack of adequate resources was a major barrier to online learning. Nearly half the institutions identified lack of specialist learning technology support staff as a barrier." Same as it ever was. Also, "Far too many institutions covered by the survey were not systematically tracking developments in online learning." There is a web site for the survey if you need more details.

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My Face is Personally Identifiable Information
Eric Hellman, Go To Hellman, 2018/08/03

Good brief analysis. " The reason that face-identity is so scary is that it's a type of identifier that has never existed before. It's globally unique, but it doesn't require a central registry to be used. It's public, easily collected and you can't remove it." So what do we need to do? " We need to start by treating facial profiles and photographs as personally identifiable information. We have some privacy laws that cover so-called 'PII', and we need to start applying them to photographs and facial recognition profiles." Image: Stealth Wear.

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On the Concept of Context
Nina Bonderup Dohn, Stig Børsen Hansen, Søren Harnow Klausen, Education Sciences, 2018/08/03

This article approaches the definition of 'context' from a functionalist perspective. "We specify the role a context is supposed to play, while leaving open what might occupy this role." On the one hand, "context has a supplementary role: It is brought in, or added to, the understanding of a phenomenon—the focal object—that would not have been adequately understood had it been considered in isolation." And on the other hand, "context is determined relative to the focal object." That is, it "is not a neutral layout of things or properties near the focal object, nor is it a set of circumstances or an indefinite 'background'." There's an interesting discussion on the 'cost' of conext befor the article reverts to a (lazy) typology of context. The authors wrap up with a discussion of context in relation to knowledge transfer. Overall I appreciate the functionalist perspective but would have preferred a deeper discussion of its implication to educational theory.

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Hey, Alexa, Should We Bring Virtual Assistants to Campus? These Colleges Gave Them a Shot
Lindsay Ellis, Chronicle of Higher Education, 2018/08/03

I'm filing this under the heading of 'marketing' for the universities involved. It's a way for them to show that they're at the 'leading edge', whatever that is. Here's the story: "The Georgia Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, and Arizona State University last year provided students with Echo Dots, puck-shaped, voice-activated devices programmed to answer campus-specific questions about meal plans and business hours for campus buildings." Behind the story is a company called "n-Powered, a Boston-based start-up, can relay individual students’ data, including financial aid and grades." There is, of course, no chance that any of this information leakage would ever be abused.

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