OLDaily

I made a list of educational YouTube channels
Reddit, 2022/02/02

I've argued in the past that YouTube is perhaps one of the best learning applications out there. This post substantiates that claim, listing dozens and dozens of educational YouTube channels. It makes the small list of 'educational' providers at the bottom of the list seem very sad.

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Top 10 Learning Systems for 2022
Craig Weiss, Craig Weiss Group, 2022/02/02

The value of this post is in the extended discussion of what factors didn't count (user base, market capitalization) and what did count (usability, support) in the rankings. That said, the list of entries of completely different from what you might see in, say, Phil Hill's LMS report. Part of that is because this list is focused on the corporate market. But there's no need for educational institutions to pick only from the top five educational LMS vendors. And if they expanded their horizons, they might get some suprises, like for example Fuse as described here: "the entire approach is wrapped around communities and groups. Thus the UI/UX looks far different than what you usually see in a learning system. To me, this is truly a human-centric/focused learning system." Yeah, can you imagine this at a university?

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Take Students Outside with a Free Guide to Teaching About Forests
Danika Strecko, Teach, 2022/02/02

This is a sponsored blog post in Teach magazine and is intended to lead readers toward the Forest Literacy Framework (48 page PDF) hosted by Project Learning Tree (PLT) Canada, published by the Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI), which includes CEOs of forestry companies like Irving, Canfor and EACOM on its board. There's nothing objectionable in the resource (and yes, I checked) though it does link to other PLT resources, not all of which were open access. And there does appear to have been some degree of consultation with Indigenous peoples. I really like that this sort of initiative is made available, but I really wish the production could be community-based, so those who are interested can see the source, create derivative materials, and be able to contribute to the context and accuracy of the presentation.

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Improving Cognitive Presence in Online Discussions in Large Enrolment Courses
Janet Zydney, Aimee deNoyelles, 2022/02/02

This article offers an accessible summary of an paper published by the authors in AJET (16 page PDF). "How can an instructor possibly facilitate meaningful online discussions in a class of 400 students?" they ask. The article describes a mechanism using 'protocols' for online discussions, where a "protocol identifies a clear purpose for the discussion, gives participants instructions on their roles within the discussion, describes how those roles interact with one another and provides specific timeframes for those interaction." They suggest that "iterative changes in the design of protocol-based discussions influenced students' cognitive presence." Methods included modelling exemplary posts, increasing required participation, and prompting peer questioning.

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npj Science of Learning Community: Digest #26
Gabrielle Ahern, Bold, 2022/02/02

This is a 'partner post' in Bold, a website funded by the Jacobs Foundation, based in Switzerland. It feels like they have an agenda, but I'm not sure what it could be over and above the official one stated here. The partner in this case is the Nature Publishing Group (NPG) Science of Learning journal. the article is a summary of the major findings; click the links to be taken to the outlines, and follow the outlines to the actual journal article, the bulk of which appear to be open access. What counts as 'science' in the journal appears still to be in need of some defining. Several articles are based on fMRI studies, which to me are the modern version of phrenology. Others are based on cognitive science and do things like semantic analyses of learned subjects in different conditions. There's even an article showing how parents' moral values impact children's EEG readings. Others are plain old statistical regression so commonly found in other education journals. But it's all interesting and probably better than reading the more popular press. Just remember that one article does not a generalization make.

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