OLDaily

We need to get online learning right before the next crisis hits
2022/10/14

This is the open access (OA) version of an op-ed George Veletsianos published in the Globe and Mail a few days ago. "Ditching online learning is myopic," he argues. "We will need it. It's not a question of if – it's a matter of when." I would be surprised if the current backlash against online learning is permanent. Once we start cramming people into classrooms again people will start to realize that online learning has its good points after all.

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AI tools fail to reduce recruitment bias - study
Chris Vallance, BBC News, 2022/10/14

The great strength of contemporary AI is that it can recognize patterns in data that we would not otherwise perceive. But that's also its greatest weakness, because these patterns can be the result of biased data, or spurious correlations. The latter case is especially pernicious. This article considers an example where an AI is used to "analyse the minutiae of a candidate's speech and bodily movements to see how closely they resembled a company's supposed ideal employee." The problem is that the "video and image analysis technology had 'no scientific basis', co-author Dr Eleanor Drage told the BBC News, dismissing it as 'modern phrenology', the false theory skull shape could reveal character and mental faculties." Here's the study by Eleanor Drage & Kerry Mackereth.

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The Dangers of Datafication
Axel Bruns, Snurblog, 2022/10/14

This is a summary of a keynote by Raul Ferrer-Conill on the datafication of everyday life. What does 'engagement' even mean these days? he asks. "Its meaning has shifted from political to civic participation, and from there to participation in social networks; and this has given rise to the creation of metrics of engagement. These metrics are defined differently on each platform, but ultimately always boil down to some 'shiny number' that is positioned as the ultimate goal for the platform and/or its users." The minute you've set your sights on a 'shiny number', you've lost, in my view.

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Mastodon: Should I Get Back On?
Helen Blunden, Activate Learning Solutions, 2022/10/14

I'm doing a talk next week on Open Learning in the Fediverse so you might think my response would be unambiguously affirmative, but it isn't really. I mean, it shouldn't be just the 'same old thing' again. Why would we just reproduce the Twitter experience? My own experience with Mastodon was of being able to find a relatively small community I could chat with without an inbox flooded with commercial messages and algorithmic selections, and where people who follow me can actually see the messages I post. But if like Helen Blunden you've found a different quiet place, why move? The advantage of Mastodon, and the fediverse generally, as I see it, is that we're not limited to one place or one application any more. We have our blogs, and our messaging apps, and our photo sites, and whatever - we decide what we want and need - and they can all interact with each other - or not, if that's what we choose.

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The Pedagogy of Crisis
Martin Weller, The Ed Techie, 2022/10/14

You could probably pick any word and make a 'Pedagogy of X' out of it; the trick is to pick a word that fits the Zeitgeist (and I'm claiming 'pedagogy of the zeitgeist' now). So we have 'pedagogy of oppression', 'critical pedagogy', 'pedagogy of hope', 'distance pedagogy', 'open pedagogy', 'pedagogy of care' and now 'pedagogy of crisis'. They all begin to blur. Consider the elements of the pedagogy of crisis, described here by Martin Weller: exercising care, resilience in course design, developing educator expertise, agile governance, and flexibility of delivery. Is there anything unique to 'crisis' here?

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