Category: Education
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Do language models threaten the economic viability of universities?
Recent developments in generative AI – not least the notorious ChatGPT – offer opportunities to stimulate long-overdue reforms to assessment practices. But these reforms need careful thought and principled implementation within an already hard-pressed sector. Carless, D. (2023). How ChatGPT can help disrupt assessment overload. Times Higher Education Campus Note that the article I link…
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Generative AI will never be as bad as it is today
Google Scholar citations (yes, I know that this is a flawed metric, but it’s a useful heuristic nonetheless) support the first two of these recommendations (I didn’t check the 3rd, to be honest). But a month ago, we all felt smug because ChatGPT was inventing citations. If you haven’t realised it yet, generative AI will…
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Generative AI in higher education – HELTASA conference
This is a recording of a presentation I gave at the HELTASA conference, on the topic of generative AI in higher education. The focus of the talk was on ChatGPT but I tried to think about generative AI more broadly, including image generators like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion. I also tried to avoid making this…
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What if the endpoint for teachers is to serve AI?
The posts I read about AI in education tend to fall into two main categories: I don’t find either of these arguments compelling but will only respond to the second one in this post. We have a long history of incorrect assumptions that technology will free us from the mundane tasks that no-one wants to…
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The seductive appeal of measuring outcomes in edtech research – SAAHE SIG webinar
In this SAAHE webinar, I discuss the limitations of comparative study designs in education technology research, which often fail to control for confounding variables and focus too much on specific outcomes. Instead, I propose decoupling teaching from learning, suggesting that research should consider whether observed student behaviours align with established good learning practices, rather than…
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OpenPhysio podcast: Considering the precariat
Earlier this month I finally managed to publish an episode of the OpenPhysio podcast that’s been on my to-do list for about a year. I’ve been wanting to get the journal podcast series up and running for a while but for various reasons I haven’t been able to work on it as regularly as I’d…
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A critical perspective on technology-enhanced education – World Physiotherapy webinar
In a 2020 World Physiotherapy webinar, I discussed the Covid-induced shift to online and blended learning in physiotherapy education. I urged a critical review of this transition, highlighting its potential long-term implications on teaching practices and effectiveness. In addition, I suggested using technology to foster transformative learning experiences through critical pedagogy, enhanced collaboration, and increased…
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Making websites feel more welcoming
My take is that the web could feel warmer and more lively than it is. Visiting a webpage could feel a little more like visiting a park and watching the world go by. Visiting my homepage could feel just a tiny bit like stopping by my home. Webb, M. (2020). Social attention: a modest prototype…
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Building a hackable, open-source, curriculum with version control
It’s possible to use distributed version control to create professional curricula that all students can edit and use for personally meaningful learning. This brief presentation discusses the major components of what would need to be in place to implement this project.
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Using email as a learning management system
First of all, we should stop calling things like Moodle and Canvas “learning management systems”. At best they’re content, or student management systems. Pet peeve out the way? Tick. I’ve been advocating for low-tech solutions to the problem of remote teaching and learning ever since I noticed how many people seemed to be pushing for…
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Resource: Low Tech Remote Teaching Principles
Keep it simple and low tech. Accessibility is core, not optional. Provide structure. Use what is available. Keep learning active. Scaffold learning by chunking content. Have a clear course outline. Be visible and contactable. Help keep students on track. Be kind to yourself and empathic to your students. This collection of Low-tech remote teaching principles…
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Universal principles of learning task design. Crisis edition.
It seems that everyone has decided to move teaching, learning and assessment online with a massive focus on synchronous, video-based lectures as the primary means of “delivering” the curriculum remotely. It’s as if we don’t have about 100 years of experience with distance learning to draw from and that there are no lessons to be…
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Now might be a good time to stop “teaching students”
There’s a lot of anxiety among health professions educators right now as they try to move classes and entire courses online. They weren’t trained to do this, have little experience doing this, and many may not even want to do this. Hardly an inspiring thought. And I found myself agreeing with them. They didn’t sign…
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For students: The Learning to Learn project
Earlier this year I launched a small project in my department, called Learning to Learn. The aim of the project is to share and discuss with students a range of evidence-based techniques that improve their ability to learn. I realised that, for many of my students, learning was something that they were simply expected to…
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Resource: Creating an online community, class or conference – A tech guide
Are you creating an online course, event or conference? If you’re not a programmer, and if you don’t have a lot of money to spend, this guide will get you started. Read it from top to bottom to get a step-by-step guide to what you can do to set up your course or event. Then…
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Resource: Online learning in a hurry
Dave Cormier has provided an excellent series of short (5 minute) videos called Online learning in a hurry, for teachers who are now expected to move their teaching and assessment online. What I really like about this collection is that it’s not a list of [insert service here] for remote teaching and learning. For example,…
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Why I think that AI-based grading in education is inevitable.
A few days ago I commented on an article that discusses the introduction of AI into education and why teachers shouldn’t worry about it. I also said that AI for grading was inevitable because it would be cheaper, and more reliable, fair and valid than human beings. I got some pushback from Ben on Twitter…
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Podcast: Are the kids alright?
In this anxious era of bullying, teen depression, and school shootings, tech companies are selling software to schools and parents that make big promises about keeping kids secure by monitoring what they say and write online. But these apps demand disturbing trade-offs in the name of safety. This is a great episode of the Rework…
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Resource: Elements of AI course.
The Elements of AI is a series of free online courses created by Reaktor and the University of Helsinki. We want to encourage as broad a group of people as possible to learn what AI is, what can (and can’t) be done with AI, and how to start creating AI methods. The courses combine theory…