Comments for ed@edc

Comment on Possible topic: What’s the matter with data-enhanced learning? by Ed Guzman

Ed Guzman — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 11:29:45 +0000

Thanks Sian. I haven’t started on a lit review yet, so I’ll try to see if my focus changes. Thanks for sending the link to the journal article. The process of institutionalising use of data in education is quite revealing, especially because the questions being raised about analytics now seem to clearly echo the issues that were already there at the start.

Incidentally, the authors are from the Uni of Geneva, which is only a few minutes walk from my place. What a strange coincidence!

Comment on Possible topic: What’s the matter with data-enhanced learning? by sbayne

sbayne — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 15:40:45 +0000

I do like the sound of this Ed. I think it's perfectly reasonable to take a wider view of 'data' in education than learning analytics alone. For example, you might want to take a look at some work on data and the governance of education (this paper by Borer and Lawn is open access and gives some sense of the history of this). This may be a little broader than you'd like to try for what is after all quite a short piece of work. If so, I think just focusing on 'What's the matter with learning analytics' would be more than respectable! Your sketch notes are great, so I can see that working really well in terms of form.

Comment on Possible topic: What’s the matter with data-enhanced learning? by mprowse

mprowse — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 08:20:26 +0000

Ed, Great outline and concept for the final assignment (theres a breadth here but a distinct focus too). I particularly like your note that ‘creating a multimodal artefact is its own learning’, inspirational and highly relevant for my own final assignment (work in progress) idea.

Comment on Possible topic: What’s the matter with data-enhanced learning? by Ed Guzman

Ed Guzman — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 06:10:53 +0000

Thanks PJ! Not sure about being ahead, I really just wanted to catch the idea before it flew away.

Comment on Playing with algorithms by Ed

Ed — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 06:08:23 +0000

Hi Sian,
I hadn’t thought of searching for the more contentious topics. The re/mapping of the border I think is a great example of how algorithms, though they may not call attention to it, are really entangled in a socio-political web of negotiations. What I tried to show in the video is how algorithms influence the information we access even without user logins. Search results influenced by geolocation is a good example. There is also a tension in the specific example of top searches for headache remedies. While a page on homemade remedies ranks as the top organic or non-paid search result across four countries, ads for over-the-counter medicines featured prominently in some of the countries’ search results, pushing the other search results downwards, where they are less likely to be seen or clicked. The different search results show how commercial interests conflict with what people look for.

Comment on Possible topic: What’s the matter with data-enhanced learning? by PJ Fameli

PJ Fameli — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 12:51:01 +0000

Ed, sounds like a good concept plan. I think you’re ahead of the ‘power curve.’ Cheers, PJ

Comment on Playing with algorithms by sbayne

sbayne — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 11:12:10 +0000

This is interesting Ed and I like the approach you’ve taken to the task. I wonder what results would have looked like if you’d taken more contentious topics for your search (I guess you explicitly decided not to do this)? It reminds me of the way in which Google’s mapping of the Crimean border was in the news last year – in Russia it showed Crimea as part of Russian territory via a solid line; elsewhere it indicated the Crimean border as contested, with a dotted line (and still does). Fascinating stuff. (see http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/04/12/302337754/google-maps-displays-crimean-border-differently-in-russia-u-s)

Comment on Week 6 summary: ethnographic artefact by PJ Fameli

PJ Fameli — Sat, 07 Mar 2015 14:20:12 +0000

Ed, check out YouTube videoclip on MOOC buddies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlRhX_EJ_U0. The video itself is a bit tedious and tiresome, but I think the concept of ‘MOOC buddies’ is interesting, as it relates to ‘coaching circles’ and MOOCs. Cheers, PJ

Comment on Week 6 summary: ethnographic artefact by sbayne

sbayne — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 10:05:57 +0000

This is really interesting Ed, and thanks for the further explanation. One issue you raise for me is whether it’s possible to really analyse and critique the algorithms driving textisbeautiful without knowing much more about how they work – I think it’s fascinating the way you foreground their description of all this complexity as “our technology”!

There’s a great paper by Introna and Hayes which interrogates the algorithms driving the plagiarism prevention ‘service’ Turnitin, which raises exactly this point. They argue that once we understand how that algorithm operates, we can then understand how Turnitin works to define and label particular kinds of students as ‘plagiarists’ – well worth a read. The additional issue they raise is that many of these algorithms are not available to analyse because they are proprietary and therefore not visible.

Comment on Week 6 summary: ethnographic artefact by Martyn

Martyn — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 04:25:10 +0000

Ed, amazing visuals, reading through the further explanation above it’s really clear what you set out to do. I also think the way you reported the discussions has protected the participants and is a very ethical approach. It’s something that I definitely had issues with when trying to report my findings on the learning community.