OLDaily

Welcome to Online Learning Daily, your best source for news and commentary about learning technology, new media, and related topics. 100% human-authored

Support OLDaily. A paid subscription keeps OLDaily free and open for all. We're now at 29% of our fundraising target. A big thank you to our supporters. Click here to support OLDaily.

End Over End
Audrey Watters, Second Breakfast, 2026/07/13

---

This is an honest post from Audrey Watters exploring the following question: "It sure seems that as long as we’ve believed everyone should read, we’ve fretted that everyone doesn’t (or at least The Atlantic sure has worried) -- they don’t read enough, and even if they do, they don’t read the right kinds of material." I say 'honest' because she says this: "It's not that I don't worry about reading... I do. I worry because I love reading... And I love reading because without it, I could not write and I could not think. Not well. Not clearly. Not intelligently."

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post][Share]

Maximizing Enterprise Learning Effectiveness
Craig Weiss, 2026/07/13

---

Craig Weiss knows his stuff, even if the quality of his writing isn't the greatest. In this overview post he captures the current state of enterprise training in a few cogent - and perhaps controversial - points. First: minimal staffing. Three admins for maybe 50K learners. Second: buy content directly from a source that will stand by the quality. Third: do more than just assigning learning - foster and ongoing relationship, and offer training that speakers e not only to current needs but also employees' potential future plans.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post][Share]

Three unconventional responses to the AI assessment challenge in higher education
Neil Mosley, Neil Mosley Consulting, 2026/07/13

---

I'm not sure I would endorse any of the three solutions to assessment in the AI age proposed here by Neil Mosley, but I appreciate the creative thinking involved. The three: first, twi-tier degrees, one with unlimited AI use, one without; experience-only assessment, showing you had the experience but not making claims about competence; and finally, collective visibility in assessment.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post][Share]

Moving Beyond the Hero Leader: A Strategic Blueprint for Sustainable Leadership
Eric Sheninger, A Principal's Reflections, 2026/07/13

---

This article isn't exactly on Ed Tech, but it follows a theme from a few recent posts. Eric Sheninger writes, "For decades, the dominant narrative in education has romanticized the myth of the "'hero leader.'... While it makes for a compelling story, this model of leadership is not only an illusion, it is a dangerous recipe for institutional instability and catastrophic educator burnout." Now Sheninger still depicts the leader as someone who is in charge, so he isn't completely committed to decentralization. But he's on the right track.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post][Share]

Why I Stopped Arguing With People
Cong Wang, A Geek's Page, 2026/07/13

---

Some time in the 1990s I stopped arguing and started explaining. It was no longer about convincing other people, it was about explaining why I was doing what I was doing (now to be clear, I am not perfect, and often relapsed, but that was the intention). My reasoning was essentially exactly what is stated in this article. We are mostly led by sentiment, not reason (as Hume would say), and arguments rarely sway someone's point of view.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post][Share]

History of JavaScript: Browser wars, ECMAScript, Node.js, TypeScript, and React
Valeriii Filatov, PVS-Studio, 2026/07/13

---

This is a great overview of the 30 year history of JavaScript, one of the most fundamental innovations underlying web browsers. I remember the early days of Mocha and more or less many of the developments that followed, though I admit some things - like React - weren't really for me. And I never did approve of the renaming to ECMAscript just for copyright reasons. Still, great read.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post][Share]

The Governance of Belief
Carlo Iacono, Hybrid Horizons, 2026/07/13

---

Good article, generally correct, and sufficient to make many people rethink how they come to believe what they believe. Carlo Iacono rests heavily on the need to rely on evidence for belief, which is fair enough, and which to few people do, but there is also room for explanation as to why we arrive at beliefs without evidence, how reliable they are, and what we should do when the evidence is lacking.

Web: [Direct Link] [This Post][Share]

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.

There are many ways to read OLDaily; pick whatever works best for you:

• Read in your web browser on this web page, updated weekdays
• Receive a daily or weekly email newsletter by subscribing here
• Subscribe to the RSS feed using your favourite feed reader
• Follow @OLDaily@mastodon.social on Mastodon or elsewhere in the fediverse
• Follow @OLDaily on Bluesky
• Read OLDaily as a LinkedIn Newsletter
• Integrate the open API using the JSON feed