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‘IDs don’t belong on the open web’: the pragmatic publisher’s case for privacy-first ads
“IDs don’t belong on the open web,” argues Insider Inc.'s Jana Meron. “I like seller-defined audiences and all of these different things, but really the ID belongs where you have to log in... Publisher data is the most valuable thing for an advertiser.” There's merit to this argument. You shouldn't have to hold your ID out for everyone to see as you browse the web. That's the problem with tracking cookies, and it's the problem with some of the post-cookie proposals. But it's not, I think, an argument for some other form of tracking either. We should be able to self-identify with a single click, but it should be a zero-knowledge sort of self-identification, where you don't actually share personal data with the website. And advertisements - and educational applications - should respect that.
Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]A whole new world: Education meets the metaverse
This is actually a pretty good report (14 page PDF) right up to the point in the last few pages; this is where the evidence thins and the article argues that children learn best from their parents. Even if this is true, it is orthogonal to the main point of the article, which makes it stand out as spin. Up to that point, though, the authors present a compelling scenario describing how VR could help students learn how we know about ancient Greece, offers some examples of projects, and offer a list of principles (learning should be active, engaging, meaningful, social and iterative) describing some good lessons from the study of apps created in the e-learning 2.0 era. It also describes a list of skills - creativity, critical thinking, etc) needed in a digital world. Via EdScoop, which with its headline (Education in the metaverse needs human connection, Brookings argues) made sure readers did not miss the spin.
Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]Micro-credentials: An interview with George Ubachs
In this interview George Ubachs defines micro-credentials in two ways: according to the European Commission, “Micro-credential’ means the record of the learning outcomes that a learner has acquired following a small volume of learning"; and according to the MICROBOL project, “A micro-credential is a small volume of learning certified by a credential." He also describes the European MOOC Consortium (EMC) Common Microcredential Framework (CMF). "CMF micro-credentials offer short, flexible, and scalable online education for working learners who need upskilling and reskilling," he says. "Unlike most certificates and badges, micro-credentials are a true qualification that provides transparency through evidence of learning outcomes achieved."
Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]Why e-learning requires Wi-Fi optimization
For me the internet's great leap forward happened in 1998 in Brandon when I got always-on cable internet after years of doing dial-up. Forward 20 years and a move to rural Ontario and I'm still on cable internet and my office in Ottawa is in a wireless dead zone. Connectivity was and is the major hurdle. So though the topic of this article may seem obvious, I would say that in practice it's not realized. Think of it like lighting; you can't have lights that are too dim or that are always flickering. Before the learning management systems, before the pedagogy and best practices, the money needs to be spent on always-on rock solid internet access.
Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]¿Funciona la semana laboral de cuatro días?
Semana Laboral 4 días. Foto: Istock/sinseeho
La crisis sanitaria llevó a las empresas a reevaluar sus prácticas de trabajo en favor del cuidado de la salud de los empleados. Un ejemplo de esto es la normalización del trabajo remoto. Antes del inicio de la pandemia, era impensable que compañías completas trabajaran en un esquema a distancia como su modo por defecto. De acuerdo con un estudio realizado por Owl Labs, 16 % de las compañías a nivel mundial trabajaron completamente a distancia durante el 2021.
Cambios de esta naturaleza abren camino a cuestionarse más aspectos de la cultura laboral, como los horarios y la productividad. La semana laboral de cuatro días comenzó a probarse en diversos países como un programa piloto en 2018, mucho antes de la pandemia. La firma fiduciaria Perpetual Guardian, en Nueva Zelanda, fue de las primeras compañías en implementar esta nueva agenda de trabajo. De acuerdo a un estudio interno realizado por la empresa y monitoreado por la Universidad Tecnológica de Auckland, se registró un incremento en el compromiso y el empoderamiento del personal. Los niveles de estrés bajaron de 45 % a 38 % y el puntaje de balance trabajo-vida se incrementó de 54 % a 78 %. Según informó Andrew Barnes, fundador y ejecutivo en jefe de la empresa para The Guardian.
“La preocupación más grande desde el punto de vista de un empleador es asegurar que la introducción de tiempo completo de esta política pueda llegar a la complacencia, con el riesgo de que la productividad de los empleados vuelva a bajar”, agregó Tammy Barker, gerente de rama de Perpetual Guardian para el periódico inglés. Explicó que para evitarlo es necesario asegurarse que cada persona en cada equipo tiene un plan de trabajo definido de acuerdo a sus tiempos, capacidades y responsabilidades. Para que la productividad se mantenga, esta debe ser la norma siempre.
El experimento de la semana laboral de cuatro días también se está realizando en otros países como Islandia, España y Japón. Entre 2015 y 2019 en Islandia se efectuaron pruebas de semanas laborales de cuatro días analizados por la Autonomía y la Asociación por la Sustentabilidad y Democracia. Tras el éxito de las pruebas, el 86 % de la fuerza laboral en el país ha cambiado a la semana laboral de cuatro días.
Opción disponible, no solución absolutaA pesar de los resultados positivos en la mayoría de los casos en los que se ha probado este horario, no es posible decir que funciona para todas las empresas, ni para todos los rubros de trabajo, tampoco se trata de un remedio universal e infalible para el sobretrabajo y el estrés laboral.
El arreglo de un horario de este tipo tendría que ir de la mano con una distribución efectiva de las labores, la eliminación de las horas extras no pagadas como parte de la cultura de trabajo. Desafortunadamente existen centenares a millares de empresas que no tienen la capacidad de sobrevivir sin ejercer este tipo de prácticas. La normalización global de un balance entre la cantidad de personal, los objetivos de una empresa y la carga de trabajo correspondiente por persona y equipos, es indispensable antes pensar en una reducción de un día en la semana que posiblemente sería insostenible para muchos equipos de trabajo.
¿Crees que la semana laboral de cuatro días es una buena idea para mejorar la productividad en las empresas? ¿Qué desventajas piensas que pueda tener en comparación con los beneficios? ¿Consideras que hay otros factores más importantes dentro de la cultura de trabajo que habría que ajustar antes de implementar esta medida? Cuéntanos en los comentarios.
The Evolution of Micro-credentials and Short Courses
Alex Usher highlights the New Zealand Micro-Credential Framework, arguing "this approach is necessary if you think micro-credentials need to be both stackable and portable." In the New Zealand framework, micro-credentials need not only to be small, but also show strong evidence of need, not duplicate current approved learning, and be reviewed annually. Usher also notes that the Singapore Skills Future program "has done a truly ludicrous amount of work to try to standardize skills" and suggests that the European Framework "is pretty clearly thinking about how to graft a New-Zealand like attempt to put microcredentials into a national credential framework into a multi-national online platform."
Usher follows up with an article discussing criticisms of micro-credentials, including a response to Gig qualifications for the gig economy: micro-credentials and the ‘hungry mile by OISE’s Leesa Wheelahan and Gavin Moodie. Not only does the article not show that micro-credentials lead to gig employment, he writes, a approach like New Zealand's would address the criticisms. "Even if it was something bespoke for a particular industry or firm, the “value” of the credit could be objectively defined and understood." But I think there is a danger, as Wheelahan and Modie argue, that micro-credentials " accelerate the transfer of the costs of employment preparation, induction, and progression from governments and employers to individuals." Image: HEQCO, Making sense of microcredentials.
Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]Data Patterns on Edge
The misuse of capitalization and non-use of definite or indefinite articles make it impossible to know whether the author is referring to Microsoft's Edge browser, the RedHat Edge concept, or just edge computing in general (see? grammar is important). Edge computing is anything that happens outside the data centre, and most often on end-user computers. The rise of edge computing will be important when we start thinking about privacy-preserving data management and artificial intelligence. This article talks about three major data patterns in edge computing: synchronous data retrieval, subsequent data retrieval, and pre-fetch data retrieval. You can find these patterns in a lot of Javascript applications already, and the thought (however unlikely) of the Edge browser supporting edge data patterns (and hence, in-browser analytics and artificial intelligence) was for a moment alluring to me.
Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]The Great Resignation Hasn't Hit School Teachers Yet. Here's Why It Still Might
The Great Resignation during the pandemic resulted in a shortage of workers in low-paying and high-pressure jobs. And left unasked in the rush to return to the classroom, not just in the U.S. but everywhere, is how much of in-person learning depends on low pay and poor working conditions. This varies a lot by country. But it leads to the possibility, as this article suggests, that teachers may decide that the work is simply not worth it. "Beyond the TikTok viral videos and the agonizing news headlines, there seemed to be enough evidence to express real concern about a looming tsunami of teacher shortages and resignations," writes Antonio Ruiz Camacho. Depending on a low-paid underclass of unqualified teachers to teach students in person could have long term consequences, some of which we are arguably seeing today. Image: Wikipedia.
Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]Introducing the Remote Mentoring of Undergraduate Research Students (ReMentURS) Workshop Series: Initial Evaluation and Plans for Wider Implementation
According to this paper (11 page PDF), the purpose of ReMentURS "is to design a remotely available professional development training that will provide rigorous research concept and skills introduction to incoming undergraduate research students." This paper reports on a preliminary workshop where participants studied and evaluated the idea. I wish it had included references to some of the materials used, such as the 'choosing a graph' video (maybe it was this one? maybe this one? Or perhaps something completely different).
Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]Web3 is going just great
"Web3 is going just great...and is definitely not an enormous grift that's pouring lighter fluid on our already-smoldering planet" declares this website sarcastically. The image is titled "A sad-looking Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT monkey looks at a world engulfed in flames." Known as W3IGG to the web3 community and founded in December, this website highlights the continual (and sometimes hilarious) failures of the world of blockchain, NFT, web3 and crypto. Recent examples include a case where a DAO lost all its money after a 'hostile takeover', the convoluted efforts of the Canadian truck protestors to distribute bitcoin they've collected, the Coinbase outage during the Super Bowl, and many more. Via Platformer.
Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]Banyan Software Acquires School Data Analytics Provider DataDesign Solutions
U San Diego Nursing Students to Learn Clinical Skills in VR
10 Basics that Students Want from the LMS, and How to Help Faculty Implement Them
A Network of Fake Test Answer Sites Is Trying to Incriminate Students
The use of so-called 'honeypots' is well-entrenched in law enforcement, but this is the first I've seen of it in education technology. The idea is that agencies use a fake target to lure would-be thieves, or in this case, cheaters. The company, Honorlock, "provides a way to track cheating students through what Honorlock calls 'seed sites' or others call “honeypots”—fake websites that remotely tattle on students who visit them during exams." As in the case of law enforcement honeypots, critics are calling this sort of thing "entrapment" and arguing that it's like "a teacher walking around with the answer key and putting it on the corner of each desk and then penalizing students if they look over at it."
Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]The end of free Google storage for education
For Google, 'forever' ends next July. That's when the end of unlimited cloud storage for educational users is slated to end. The actual announcement was made a year ago, but as this article notes, there is increasing angst in the educational community as the date approaches. I think the major issue here isn't so much that Google is charging for storage - when you get to 100 terabytes, it seems pretty reasonable to charge real money - but that it started as free to attract data and then became something you had to pay for. Customers who don't pay face a lot of work. As Mike Barker of the University of Arizona commented, "I have been migrating TBs of data off Google for months now. SLOW."
Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]Referring to the World: An Opinionated Introduction to the Theory of Reference
It's not until you start looking seriously at what we think we are talking about that you begin to appreciate the complexities of reference in language. I was first exposed to this in Gareth Evans's seminal Varieties of Reference, and here we have a review of an equally interesting contemporary book Referring to the World, by Kenneth A. Taylor. The review discusses a number of the issues considered by Taylor, issues that arise by virtue of the fact that the words may actually refer to objects or properties, or be merely an "objectual representation", that is, a word that is “fit” or “ready” for the job of standing for something real, without actually doing so. Only the former can be said to actually assert some fact about the world, so when you say "Pegasus can fly", you are not actually asserting anything. The same, though, is true of statements we make in pure mathematics. It's not necessary to know everything about how a language refers, but it is necessary to know that it is not straight-forward and simple.
Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]"Facilitators" or "guides on the side"? No thanks
Terry Freedman dances around this point quite a bit, but my own reason for eschewing the role of 'guide by the side' or 'facilitator' is that there is not much reason for me to be in the room other for the expertise I can bring to bear on a subject. That doesn't mean I think I have a license to "stand at the front of the class and bore the kids into submission" but I do think my role is to actively engage with people on the subject matter, not stand by the side while they work it out for themselves. Freedman takes the tack of suggesting areas where students many need help, of criticizing the idea than non-experts can teach with the aid of learning packages, and arguing that students are not able to be fully self-managing. These all may or may not be true, but they're irrelevant. For me, I'm in the room for my expertise. That's why they asked me to be there. That's what I'm going to contribute.
Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]Coursera bets on degrees — a small but growing part of the business
As 2U expands from online program management into MOOCs with its acquisition of EdX, Coursera is expanding from MOOCs into degree programs, according to this report. "Maggioncalda said the company is still in the beginning stages of building its degree business. But this segment has recently seen major growth, with revenue from degrees reaching $13.3 million in 2021's fourth quarter — a 43% increase from a year ago."
Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]Universities must change or lose their place to alternative education providers: OECD education chief
This article is a mix of fantasy and reality and it's sometimes hard to separate the two. And it's hard to know exactly what OECD's education chief Andreas Schleicher is advocating here as he swing from saying "students go to university to learn from great professors, do ground-breaking research, collaborate with their peers on projects and experience the social life of campus living" to saying "the current model of studying four years for a degree and then going out to build a career, will not work any more." It demonstrates a tension, I think, between what universities actually do, and what OECD would like them to do. We see a very similar message in a report (behind a spamwall) from EY. "Universities must prepare for a future where students could demand degrees, low-cost options or asynchronous learning. Otherwise, institutions risk becoming obsolete."
Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]Massive List of Chinese Language MOOC Platforms in 2022
I found tbhis while looking for something else, and since it's pretty recent and quite comprehensive, I definitely don't want it to pass by without being mentioned. Most readers are probably familiar with the Chinese XuetangX MOOC platform, but this just heads a list of 24 Chinese MOOC platforms that offer over 69 thousand courses in Chinese.
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