ALT
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A mixed data tools diet
I was at ALT-C this week, and enjoyed Sian Bayne‘s keynote on using Yik Yak to explore ideas around anonymity, data privacy and ephemera. Sian made the argument that while abuses certainly happened on Yik Yak, the experience of Edinburgh students was largely a positive one, and one of the key aspects of this was the anonymity of the user. And non-persistent id anonymity in particular, so you didn’t have the same identifier every time, which adds to the ephemeral, temporary nature of the discussion. For students, and young people, (but hey, maybe for all of us), I can see how anonymity allows you to explore different aspects of your…
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Making dry biscuits tasty
Last week I had two experiences with forms of documents that can be a little, let’s say, dry. The first was writing learning outcomes on a new OU course, and for a MOOC on the bizMOOC project. The second was the launch of the ALT strategy document. It struck me that there was a similarity between these two types of document. They’re both potentially useful but often become mired in a particular vocabulary of their own that renders them largely meaningless to their intended audience. I don’t think I quite succeeded in breaking through this with the problem with the learning outcomes in question, but I do feel that Maren…
