Map For Decision Making In Operating Distance Learning Systems: Research Results

English:This paper deals with decision-making aspects of the introduction of distance learning (DL) into university instruction and learning. Teacher/student interactions are examined and a model is suggested for the introduction of DL into the university teaching and learning arena whilst ensuring the realization of the potential of DL methodology both educationally and cost-effectively.

Francais: Cet article traite des aspects des prises de décision dans l'introduction des systèmes d'enseignement à distance a l'université. Les interactions enseignements-enseignés sont examinées, et on suggère un modèle pour l'ntroduction de l'enseignement à distance dans l'université tout en mettant à profit le potentiel de la methodologie de l'enseignement à distance tant au point de vue éducation qu'au point de vue coût-efficacité.

Deutsch:Dieses papier beschreibt aspekte der entscheidungsfindung für die einführung von DL für lehren und lernen an universitäten. Auf der basis von lehrer/schüler - interaktionen wird ein modell fur die einführung von DL im Universitätsbereich vorgeschlagen, das dessen möglichkeiten auf pädagogischem gebiet unter dem aspekt der kosteneffizienz sicherstellt.     

Is there an ethics of algorithms?

We argue that some algorithms are value-laden, and that two or more persons who accept different value-judgments may have a rational reason to design such algorithms differently. We exemplify our claim by discussing a set of algorithms used in medical image analysis: In these algorithms it is often necessary to set certain thresholds for whether e.g. a cell should count as diseased or not, and the chosen threshold will partly depend on the software designer’s preference between avoiding false positives and false negatives. This preference ultimately depends on a number of value-judgments. In the last section of the paper we discuss some general principles for dealing with ethical issues in algorithm-design.     

Stichwort: Umgang mit Wissen

Ohne Zusammenfassung      

Better beware: comparing metacognition for phishing and legitimate emails

Metacognition and Learning - Every electronic message poses some threat of being a phishing attack. If recipients underestimate that threat, they expose themselves, and those connected to them, to...     

Constructing and Consolidating of Algebraic Knowledge within Dyadic Processes: A Case Study

Studies of knowledge constructing often focus on the analysis of a single episode, without considering enough the history of the learners, or the future learners' trajectories with regard to the concepts learned. This paper presents an example of knowledge constructing within the context of peer learning. We show how the design of the task and the tools available to the students afford the constructing of conceptual knowledge (the phenomenon of exponential growth and variation, as it is expressed in its numerical and graphical representations). We trace the constructing of knowledge through a series of dyadic sessions for a few months in a classroom environment. We show that knowledge is constructed cumulatively, each activity allowing for the consolidating of previous constructs. This pattern indicates the nature of the processes involved: knowledge constructing and consolidating are dialectical processes, developing over time, when new constructs stem from old ones already consolidated, which gain consolidation through the new construction, creating a new abstract entity. We also discuss the potential of the tool the students used (a spreadsheet program) to such processes of learning mathematics.     

Students and society in the 2020s. Three future ‘histories’ of education and technology

ABSTRACT

As social science fiction, this paper imagines three possible futures for education and technology. Among the most important technologies emerging today are data-aggregating technologies such as AI, affective computing, adaptive or predictive software, clouds and platforms. The paper is not, however, directed at specific technologies, but at indeterminate sociotechnical configurations. Set in 2040, it offers three ‘histories’ of the 2020s. Might students become (i) ‘smooth users’, improving themselves in the pursuit of frictionless efficiency within a post-democratic frame created by large corporations, (ii) ‘digital nomads’, seeking freedom, individualism and aesthetic joy as solopreneurs exploiting state regulations and algorithmic rules while stepping out of the state and deeply into the capitalist new economy, or (iii) participatory, democratic, ecological humans embedded in ‘collective agency’ that see institutions as spaces for exploring more equitable ways of living? The paper reflects on the future research and the political, educational and technological decisions which would make each of these three fictional future histories more or less likely.     

“Wherever You Go,You Will Be a Polis”: Spatial Practices and Political Education in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Discussions

The aim of this article is to increase understanding of the development of spatial practices in virtual learning environments. The spatial change and development in 38 small-group e-discussions taken from a data set of a yearlong 8th-grade humanities course are described and analyzed. We show that the focus on spatial changes in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments enriches the scope of activities in virtual environments that are usually studied from the perspective of productivity and disciplinary knowledge building only. We argue that tracing spatial changes enables researchers to scrutinize the freedom to act and exercise power over others, something crucial for the development of political agency. We show that these developments are decisive for students to become competent citizens. Implications the study has for CSCL design and for political education are discussed.