[Xmca-l] Re: A new-ish learning platform that may be a way to save adjuncts?

Fri Mar 23 05:33:01 PDT 2018

Hi Annalisa,

Just a bit of pushback on your pushback. Honestly I don't think I'm a skeptic.  I've been exploring the possible role of the Internet in education for the last fifteen years. Sat down and wrote a book on it. I honestly thing the Internet has the opportunity to revolutionize education.  But the penetration of social spheres by Internet technologies has been incredibly fast and we really need to try and understand much more quickly than we have had to do with any other change in humanity.

What is really, really important is that we not get caught up in what some have called tech utopianism. That the technologies will solve our problems simply because it is there as technology.  I think of two presentations that have had an enormous impact both on these new information technologies and the way we think about them.  The first was by a person (a lab) that invented almost everything you use today in information technologies. You probably don't know his name, maybe you do, Douglas Engelbart.  In his aptly named mother of all demos he presented work that his team at the Augmentation Research Center had been working on for more than five years.  If you watch it (you can find it on Youtube) he was incredibly careful and humble. He understood how much work would follow.  The second was by Steve Jobs introducing the McIntosh.  The McIntosh wasn't much of a breakthrough really but Jobs introduced it as the greatest thing ever in a breathless performance. Of course we remember Job and not Engelbart, but I feel we would be much better off if Engelbart was our guiding spirit - not much of a Hollywood hero.

The importance of being hopeful but very careful is obvious in another venue of Internet technology, Facebook.  What could be bad about Facebook. We are finding out what could be bad and perhaps it is only going to get worse.  I worry we are going to go through something similar with autonomous vehicles. And I think as academics we have an important responsibility for being circumspect and humble in implementation of technologies.  Especially important because I believe, if we are careful, it is going to be revolutionary.  One of the big problems though is that even many academics (especially university presidents) are forging ahead based on Steve Jobs type presentations, what they hear at cocktail parties, and warnings that if they don't move immediately (often without thoughts) they are luddites (and of course the fact the technologies can save money, because we want education as cheap as possible - don't believe me look at the white paper out of Columbia on MOOCs).  So in the spirit of Engelbart,

"For real niche classes it's possible to create innovative coursework because the constraints are simply not there."

Of course this type of technology also creates constraints.  Why in balance do you think that technology would help make these classes better. I mean yes, they are cheaper, but is it a good thing to make the argument that education should be cheaper.  (Let's also remember that currently education isn't expensive for students because that is its natural state, it is because our society currently refuses to invest in it).

On your "offering learning in a different package."

Yes, I agree.  But why are LMCs good packages (I know you are ambivalent about LMCs later, but in general why would any package be a good package for education. I am especially concerned when people have an economic advantage in a particular package.)

 I looked at GCAS and read some on it.  In some ways they look interesting, but I couldn't quite figure out their model.  I don't think it's blockchain. That's kind of gibberish using the hot new word in technology which they may be using without understanding it because it helps them sell, which worries me.

I guess I could go on. But I think the focus of my answer is we need to be hopeful, but we also need to be humble and careful.  Let's use theory and empirical evidence to move forward when we can.  We should be especially wary of Steve Jobs type presentations (the biggest thing since WWII!!!), and especially wary of anybody who uses the phrase blockchain.

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Annalisa Aguilar
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2018 1:31 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: A new-ish learning platform that may be a way to save adjuncts?

Hello skeptics and venerable others,

Advocating for ignorance is one thing, but let's not get up on our high horses, shall we?

It is really easy for people to dismiss changing paradigms, and then the tide comes in and increases to a depth where one is caught unawares. I would say this is the moment you might be paying attention and watching what is happening and make your own connections. This is the only reason I made the post.

Namely: make your own connections. Play with the tools, see what they can and cannot do. Study them. Improve them. Discuss their merits and their shortcomings. But be involved!

Thomas Edison once thought that motion pictures would end the traditional forms of teaching and instruction, and he ended up being wrong, but there is something that enriched learning by having media like film available to classroom instruction. Or just being exposed to worldviews through the eyes of another.

If you do not mind, I would push back to the push back that we actually do know how to make learning happen on these platforms, and we are learning what works and what doesn't. People have been doing that for a long while now. It's likely different. I never said it was the same or better. I don't need a degree to sort out that this isn't the same as a core college-lecture-hall-delivered course, or a tutorial with a one-on-on tutor, or anything on that spectrum.

I do not see it replacing classroom teaching, like Edison did; I see it as *different*. That's all. Offering learning in a different package. There is no one way of learning.

Here's the thing: For real niche classes it's possible to create innovative coursework because the constraints are simply not there.

(For example check out GCAS)

see: <https://thegcas.org/> https://thegcas.org/welcome

They have Alain Bardieu as their university president.

https://thegcas.org/alain-badiou

The founder is Creston Davis:

https://thegcas.org/creston-davis

This online university is a very intriguing innovation because they are starting centers all over the world. The online presence is a way of connecting them together.

They have also begun a new concept called a blockchain university:

"GCAS is forming a Blockchain University in Ireland so students can earn money pursuing their degrees and when they graduate they become co-owners."

These are great ideas! Will they work? I don't know. But can't you admire these innovators for trying to get out from under the neoliberal yoke that has dominated so many universities?

I want to make clear that I'm not saying this is the ultimate bread-slicer. I'm saying here is evidence of people putting their careers on the line and making something happen, and trying to do something else for the very reason they are upset with where university education is going.

Will it work? How should I know. Typically in evolutionary processes, experimentation and imagination are critical to moving forward and enabling new paradigms to develop. What is wrong with that?

Study the experiment and make it better.

Just because Open Source MOOCs show a hokey rendition of online learning doesn't mean online learning does not work and should be totally dismissed. I'm really surprise to hear so much skepticism.

I do agree that the marketing is silly (particularly with the idea of an business entrepreneur living on a yacht in the carribean! That is just dumb marketing from a low-imagination vantage point). Don't get so caught in those details. Try to consider the implications. Or don't.

The idea is this: This absolutely can be a way for an educator to be innovative and fund one's own research using existing know-how and expertise in teaching. If course material is created with video lectures, homework, and quizzes, the learning involved can ultimately reach many people all over the world. No traditional university has ever been able to do that.

Once a curriculum is created, that can be online in perpetuity, and people can purchase the access to the course as long as it is current. Or it can be distributed free, or with a request for a donation to pay what you want to pay.

Imagine if Vygotsky had done effective online learning using his theories, and we could access his original lectures 100 years after he is gone. Imagine that the rights to the material could continue to his estate or to the public. It certainly couldn't have been banned.

The point is there are better choices today (than say 10 years ago) and a wider distribution when it comes to online learning.

The problem with most online platforms is that the designers and programmers typically do not confer with instructors, tutors, or teachers, when they design the platform software. From what I have seen, Blackboard being the absolute worst, Academy of Mine is effectively removing the complexity of putting courses online and providing instructors a revenue stream. I'm still learning about it, but it's actually pretty good. It is effectively cutting out fat-cat administrators and the university's demands for a lion's share of research funds or other forms of financial support.

What if you all could be funded by your students tuition directly to do the research that you wanted? And your findings could be produced as online lectures that go directly to the public at large? It starts a virtuous cycle upwards. It's a different form of publishing your work.

Would you want to be an independent researcher? Or do you need to have the security blanket of an established university who will not allow you to teach the topics you want in the way you want to teach them?

There are 7.6 billion people on the planet, and they say half of them are on the Internet. That's 3.8 billion. What if you had an audience of 200,000 for your well-produced online course? If they paid you $1.00 that would be $200K going to you, with a small percentage of that going to your production costs, and payment acquisition. Even if 25% went to that, that's still $175K to you, far better than the typical university salary. And this is just for one class.

Isn't THE POINT of tenure track positions to ensure academic freedom? Tenured positions are disappearing, they likely aren't coming back. I am sad about this, but what can be done if the paradigm is dying? Universities are replacing tenure track professorships with adjuncts, didn't you know?

This possibility might just be a way to push back, by just doing your own school, or an academy of yours. Just like you would write your own book. What if you could design your own curriculums, isn't that the freedom that you want? What would that look like?

With regards to an LMS vs learning. I didn't say that the LMS was learning. It's just a publishing tool, and it's up to the educators to find a way to use them. What is wrong about that?

That's like saying a book isn't learning. Who doesn't know that? And a big book isn't more learning than a small one. The book is simply a tool for distribution and the book is one component used to aid in learning. Why can't the same be said for an LMS? Why couldn't it be a way that makes it easy for instructors to ensure payment for their hard work? Like publishing a book?

I'm not really surprised by the negativity. I am surprised by the lack of imagination.

Put your thinking caps on!

How could this actually work and be rewarding for all involved? You can't tell me there is no way?

Is that what you are saying?

Kind regards,

Annalisa

________________________________
From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> on behalf of Greg Mcverry <jgregmcverry@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2018 9:21:14 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: A new-ish learning platform that may be a way to save adjuncts?

Advocating for ignorance always seems to be a strange position to take.
Though it is a position those in power have often adopted through out history.

I would also push back that we have no idea how to to make learning happen in these environments. What we might say is we have no way how to make learning happen in these ways that is both scalable and profitable with hockey stick growth.

There are many folks in Open Source communities who have long created classes nothing like MOOCs. What is StackOverflow but a large (and sometimes rude) learning community? Cormier's #Rhizo classes, #DS106, #walkmyworld are all small scale classes in the education and art spaces that have been researched (though more comparative case studies and autoenthographies).

I also think we need to stop the false distinction between our offline and offline learning environments. I think part of the reason hybrid learning comes out favorably in meta-analysis isn't just because of the role of the instructor but the computer aided yet tactile environment is an interesting artifacts of tools.

Finally the only way an app would help adjuncts would be if it had two buttons, "Pay me a living wage" and "create a "Tenure Track Position"

On Wed, Mar 21, 2018 at 2:44 PM Glassman, Michael <glassman.13@osu.edu>
wrote:

> Hi Annalisa and all others interested,
>
> Thanks for the link to the video, but I have to say it is pretty 
> problematic.  First it calls itself a learning management system when 
> it really has nothing to do with learning.  It is instead a course 
> management system.  So why do people use the phrase learning 
> management systems - because companies that sell learning management systems want them to.
>
> The distinction is important because while all this hardware and 
> software is really wowsa, we pretty much have little idea how to use 
> it to create actual learning experiences. We just think it will happen 
> because person A has knowledge, person B could use knowledge, transfer 
> knowledge, done and done.  I tend to think of the transfer model as 
> being not very good as a teaching learning model.  But there are a 
> whole bunch of other issues which we are just beginning to explore 
> like teacher presence in online situations, student relatedness (the 
> four walls actually do play a part), individual agency, 
> collective/collaborative agency, cognitive presences - the list just 
> goes on.  The guy on the boat (you have to watch the video) probably 
> isn't going to be that successful.  Who is going to be successful
> - why academy of mine will be!
>
> We went through this with xMOOCs. I'm old enough to remember when they 
> were going to be the new model for education.  I still have 
> discussions with people who say MOOCs do good things. They reach all 
> these people with information from experts.  I ask, is there a good 
> thing?  People say, of course it's a good thing.  I ask is there any 
> evidence of this? They say well it's better than not reaching them 
> with information.  I ask are you sure. There actually is some evidence 
> that it's not that good a thing from Participatory Action Research. I 
> think one of the things we have to question ourselves about is why this sounds so good to us.
>
> This is not to say the Internet is not going to have stunning effects 
> on the way we teach and learn.  We need to do the hard work of 
> figuring why and how.  But this....
>
>
> Michael
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:
> xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Annalisa Aguilar
> Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2018 12:56 PM
> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
> Subject: [Xmca-l] A new-ish learning platform that may be a way to 
> save adjuncts?
>
> Hello Xmcars,
>
>
> A few days ago I learned about this new online learning platform 
> "Academy Of Mine"
>
>
> I think that it portends what future learning might entail. It may be 
> a way of bypassing the calcified learning patterns that no one seems 
> to be able to escape, thanks to the neoliberalization of higher learning.
>
>
> This platform is also about doing business in education, but something 
> about it seems more palatable than paying presidents and other 
> administrators several hundred thousand dollar salaries to run a university.
>
>
> Here is an intro video for the platform, which I think is using 
> wordpress for its online architecture.
>
> https://vimeo.com/92334633
>
> [https://www.bing.com/th?id=OVP.rKgA__knRtrA5l2yfST4XAEsCo&pid=Api]<
> https://vimeo.com/92334633>
>
> All-In-One Learning-Management-System - Academy Of Mine< 
> https://vimeo.com/92334633> vimeo.com If you're going to be offering a 
> course online you'll need Learning Management System Software (LMS) 
> for your online educational environment. But if you're an ...
>
> This might be a way in particular for adjuncts to "hold on" to their 
> course material, and perhaps at some point monetize their courses in 
> such a way they can create another income stream.
>
>
> I've not really thought this through, but I think this could be 
> paradigm-changing because Academy of Mine seems to really address the 
> technology difficulties for non-technical instructors and teachers.
>
>
> I am curious what you think.
>
>
> I am not affiliated with Academy of Mine, but I have an opportunity to 
> use the platform and am just learnign about it. I was so impressed I 
> thought I would let you all take a look.
>
>
> It might make possible courses that are hybird in nature, and it could 
> possibly make experimental learning easier to set up, which would 
> allow educators to do the things they have always known works with 
> successful learning experiences, and just walk around the Maginot Line 
> of university hegemonies.
>
>
> Kind regards,
>
>
> Annalisa
>
>
>