OLDaily

Welcome to Online Learning Daily, your best source for news and commentary about learning technology, new media, and related topics.

The Promise of American Higher Education
Harvard University, 2025/04/14

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This is the one good thing about being a private university: the ability (and the right) to say 'no' to demands from an over-reaching government. Harvard's lawyers write, "The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government." This, frankly, should be the response of any university, whether publicly or privately funded, because the creation of a university, as opposed to (say) a department of education, is the creation of an institution where those specific rights and freedoms are necessary in order to create the benefits we all, as a society, enjoy.

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12 Factor Apps in Plain English
Will Koffel, 2025/04/14

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This post dates from 11 years ago (see also Wikipedia and 12Factor.net) but the concept was new to me (how often have I said that here!) though the actual advice isn't - and that's how I know it has good general applicability despite its age. I arrived on it while considering how to modernizing my web presence while at the same time making sure it's based in Canada. So of course I was looking at a service based in Finland where I found the reference. It's all the stuff I've struggled with over the years - having a single codebase, for example, using environment variables (Apache makes that a challenge), being clear about config, etc. This is the real stuff computer science programs teach, not just 'how to code'.

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The Dark Forest and the Cozy Web
Maggie Appleton, 2025/04/14

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I'm not really into the Cozy Web, though as suggested by Alan Levine's comment, it's a haven for many. It's because I don't believe in "gatekeeper-protected enclave communities comprised of like-minded folks around niche interests, run through chat streams like Whatsapp, Slack, Discord, Snapchat, etc." No judgement here: if they work for you, great, go crazy. But me, I've always been the outsider (which is why High School was so miserable for me). I prefer digital gardens - lovingly cultivated places (like my newsletter and website) where everybody is welcome, without any attempt to monetize you or prompt you for likes.

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Integrating a News Publication Into the Fediverse
Sean Tilley, deadsuperhero, 2025/04/14

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This is an interesting exploration into the publication's attempt to integrate into the fediverse. The author writes, "we're finding new ways to blur the lines between publishing, social networking, and federation. Projects such as Ghost (which I now use for my personal blog) are taking a similar approach with their own code. They're just doing it in a more holistic fashion." In my case, with OLDaily, I'm relied on using APIs to existing platforms, like Mastodon and Bluesky, so people can follow me there; I haven't built any communication to OLDaily from the fediverse because, after 25 years of not getting very many comments, it didn't seem to be worth the effort - though that all changes with CList. Via Ben Werdmuller.

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2025 Students and Technology Report: Shaping the Future of Higher Education Through Technology, Flexibility, and Well-Being
Nicole Muscanell, Kristen Gay, EDUCAUSE, 2025/04/14

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I've never been a big fan of student surveys because it's such an unrepresentative survey; you're talking only to people who have gained admission, paid their fees, and been successful at least to some degree in their programs. The survey also reflects the general demographics of students: wealthier, better supported, and less likely from marginalized groups. Obviously the system as it is works for them. So to me it's no real surprise to find support for online learning slipping as the successful student surveyed returns to their natural environment: the classroom. We also see similar trends with respect to AI: they don't use AI, and don't think it should be used (that's a bit of an extrapolation from the study, but not much of one). I think 'student surveys' should include people who would like to be students but can't for some reason, and people who tried to be students but failed. But what university wants to do that?

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Canadian universities increasingly relying on admissions test which experts say lacks evidence
Erica Johnson, Ana Komnenic, CBC, 2025/04/14

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This CBC report focuses on where the Casper test - administered by a private company called Acuity - can accurately predict future performance as a medical professional, and therefore, whether they should be used to determine who can be admitted to medical schools in Canada. But there are deeper issues here. Should private companies be involved in this decision at all? Should be be allowed to demand you accept terms of service allowing assessments "using artificial intelligence ("AI") technologies (that) may include, but are not limited to, machine learning algorithms, natural language processing, automated decision-making systems?" Should be be allowed to demand biometric data biometric data? I don't think we've reached a social consensus (much less legislation) on all this yet. There's also the nature of the questions, which probe the applicant's sense of empathy, morality, and approach to the 'big' questions in life. Is it appropriate to conduct a values test for entrance to a school? Much less to use AI to make this sort of recommendation? Arguments can be made, but according to the CBC report, Acuity hasn't exactly been forthcoming, which doesn't speak well for their credibility. But who am I to judge credibility - I need an AI for that!

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5 things to know about AI model cards
Anokhy Desai, IAPP, 2025/04/14

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This is an item from some notes shared at an IEEE study group meeting I attended on Friday (I'm more of an interloper than a participant but I do try to contribute). The concept of an AI 'model card' was new to me (I know, I can really lag behind the times sometimes) so I'm including it here. More: Gemma 2 (Google) model card. Imagen 3 Model Card. Model Card Guidebook from Hugging Face. Kaggle Model Cards (with more examples).

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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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