OLDaily

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

If AI Can't Stop a Student From Cheating, How Can It Ever Be Safe?
Marc Watkins, Rhetorica, 2025/12/23

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My first thought was that this is kind of a dumb question, but there's better logic behind it than it may seem: "If AI companies are honest and say that they cannot build guardrails into their models that stop students from taking quizzes, completing assignments, or writing essays, then why would we believe they are capable of making AI safe or responsible?" The implication (since AI companies all say they can make their products safe) is that they are not being honest when they say they can't stop students from using AI. That's why the second part of the article focuses on how instructors can clamp down on students. But as I've said before: it's disappointing to see academics resort to authoritarianism in the face of the challenge from AI.,

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Backing up Spotify
Anna's Archive, 2025/12/23

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This is as remarkable as it is illegal. Anna's Archive reports that "We backed up Spotify (metadata and music files). It's distributed in bulk torrents (~300TB). It's the world's first 'preservation archive' for music which is fully open (meaning it can easily be mirrored by anyone with enough disk space), with 86 million music files, representing around 99.6% of listens." It's represents part of their effort to catalogue and preserve all music, and though Spotify doesn't quite have that, "it's a good start". It's also notable that over the last few years it has become impossible to say how much music is being produced because "the amount of procedurally and AI generated content makes it hard to find what is actually valuable." So this might be the best, last and only comprehensive collection of human-authored music. See also: Billboard.

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Why AI-driven education must replace an outdated learning model
Dr. John Johnston, eCampus News, 2025/12/23

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Educators should know that this argument is being repeated in tech and political ciricles worldwide: "The failures of STEM education are particularly glaring in its cost inefficiencies. Running STEM programs requires expensive lab facilities, high-cost materials, and specialized faculty, which ultimately drive up tuition and student debt. Meanwhile, the rise of AI and automation in the workplace has rendered many traditional STEM skills obsolete before students even graduate... it is clear that STEM education, as it currently exists, is unsustainable. Its rigid, costly, and outdated model does not serve the needs of a world driven by AI, automation, and rapid technological change." Of course, this has often been said in the past (because it's a valid criticism). The question is, will we see a real alternative rise in the future? (Answer: probably.)

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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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