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Success Porn in EdTech
Glenda Morgan, On EdTech Newsletter, 2023/10/05

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"We have a success problem in EdTech, we really do," writes Glenda Morgan, "And no, I don't mean that there is too much winning" The problem is that while we report on the successes, we're less likely to report on the failures. "Too often in EdTech we seize on the success of some projects, but we ignore or shut out the downsides or the limitations.  The promising small N results are exaggerated to make it look like they were achieved at scale, and the challenges associated with implementing the project are minimized or hidden from view." I think this is true, but there's a caveat: at no point over the last thirty years has there ever been a shortage of critics pointing this out. From the days of Digital Diploma Mills to today's AI scepticism, ed tech has been dogged by its critics.

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Mobile learning revisited
Philip J. Kerr, Adaptive Learning in ELT, 2023/10/05

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The lesson here is that "Mobile learning changed things for the better for some learners in some contexts: claims that it was the future of, or would revolutionize, language learning have proved somewhat exaggerated." To be sure, the impact of mobile technology generally wasn't exaggerated; ownership today is in the billions, and in wealthier countries, ubiquitous. But these devices aren't always used for learning, and the learning design using them has proven to be, well, substandard. "Indeed, the proliferation of badly-designed language learning apps suggests that much mobile learning reinforces the conventional past of language learning (drilling, gamified rote learning, native-speaker models, etc.) rather than leading to positive change." The same, suggests Philip Kerr, may well prove true of AI.

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The little-known blockchain firm behind Southeast Asia's digital payment systems
Shaun Turton, Bopha Phorn, Rest of World, 2023/10/05

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I know it's not fashionable these days to write about blockchain, but readers should be aware that the technology continues to chug along behind the scenes. A case in point: "Soramitsu, a Japanese company riding the wave of blockchain-based products supporting digital payments, has landed several deals with central banks.... The Japanese blockchain startup Soramitsu worked on Cambodia's Bakong digital currency, and is now working with the central banks of Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines." This technology will play a role in learning resources and records, especially those used by AI; it's only a matter of time.

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Using causal models to bridge the divide between big data and educational theory
Kirsty Kitto, Ben Hicks, Simon Buckingham Shum, British Journal of Educational Technology, 2023/10/05

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I'm not sure of the wisdom of this, but this article describes "how we can link educational datasets to theoretical constructs represented as causal models so formulating empirical tests of the educational theories that they represent." After all, "we might ask if the data being collected are fit for purpose." I get the idea - if you want to test your theory, you need a way to show whether and how data would confirm or disconfirm that theory. But I'm less sanguine about the utility of the theories themselves; why now just (as they say) follow the data? That said (and with more subtlety) "Arguments about the relative value of statistical-versus-theoretical modelling have arisen in many fields, under a wide range of guises, but fundamental to this debate is a difference in understanding about the purpose of our models. Are they for predicting system behaviour or for providing a causal understanding of the system being studied?" This paper is good grist for the mill, rich with examples, and deserving of a careful read and reply.

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Open Source: What It Is and How to Contribute
Jan Pearce, Runestone, 2023/10/05

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What I like about this resource is that it goes well beyond the traditional 'introduction to open source software (OSS)' (part 1) and licensing (part 5) and looks at deeper subjects, including a discussion of the OSS community and how it communicates, a look at the OSS development environment, an a useful outline of the Git version software sharing and version control system. These are the sorts of things people getting started with open source actually need, and it's good to see them put together like this.

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BBC Gives Up On Threads (By Instagram), Sticks With Mastodon
Darnell Clayton, Seize the Day, 2023/10/05

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I don't use X or any Meta project, but I have accounts on LinkedIn, Mastodon (several instances), Post, Bluesky, Threads, and maybe a few others. I'm still mostly focused on Mastodon, as are (I suspect) most others. This now includes the BBC. "Why would the BBC abandon Threads while maintaining a presence on Mastodon as well as other social media platforms? There are three possible theories: BBC might be wary of posting content to Threads... BBC prefers to control its social narrative... (or) Threads lacks a public API to help automate posting news to their account." In a nutshell, these boil down to lack of control over commercial social media, a failing that usually comes back to bite news publishers in the end. Via Ben Werdmuller. See also: New York Post.

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Building Learning Communities with Mattermost
Ian Linkletter, BCcampus, 2023/10/05

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This article introduces Mattermost, "an open-source team chat tool that facilitates communication and collaboration. It's similar to Slack and Microsoft Teams, but because it is open source, it has advantages over vendor-controlled options." Ian Linkletter writes, "students can benefit from a low-bandwidth way to synchronously or asynchronously communicate in writing with their instructor and other members of their learning community." I haven't worked with it, but I'll give it a try at some point in the future. Via Clint Lalonde.

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Going Beyond Digital Literacy: Fostering Readers as Learners
Kristine Seale, TechNotes Blog, 2023/10/05

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This article offers a quick and very traditional approach to teaching digital literacy. It's based on the idea of 'gradual release of responsibility', which features direct instruction at first, but gradually allows students to assume more control of their learning. It offers a blend of online and offline, teacher-led and collaborative learning strategies. And "we can't just teach students how to do these things. We must model and continue to scaffold these strategies (both in print and digital) so students can transfer them into their everyday reading and thinking habits." It's a good article for beginners, but would require much more substance to be useful to more experienced instructors. Via Miguel Guhlin.

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We publish six to eight or so short posts every weekday linking to the best, most interesting and most important pieces of content in the field. Read more about what we cover. We also list papers and articles by Stephen Downes and his presentations from around the world.

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