Ed/Tech must-reads

What shall we do with a contract cheater? From Twitter (Sorry “X”, ugh)

There has been a lively discussion bubbling along over the last couple of days about the proportion of students in HE who are believed to be here with no intention to learn. It was kicked off by a rather innocuous tweet from Tim Fawns (@timbocop) reminding educators that part of the job involves sparking a desire to learn in our students. Prof Cath Ellis (@cathellis13) and Kane Murdoch (@CCguerilla) - who are currently touring the country running Contract Cheating Masterclasses for TEQSA - quickly jumped in, pivoting the discussion to those students who are unwilling to learn. Ellis going so far as to say that they should leave the learning community. There is a certain amount of following threads back and forth to get the whole discussion but in exploring visa rorts, the desire to be better educators, compliance measures, and unit modularity, it traverses some pointy issues.

Is some degree of cheating inevitable and should we focus our energies on better education for the students who want it or should universities invest more time and people into the problem?

(For my two cents, short of external factors like a change to the student funding model, new accreditation requirements or concerns about reputational risk, many unis will likely feel that they are doing as much as they can already)

Using Custom Instructions in ChatGPT to beat originality checking - WordsAtScale (YouTube)

While GenAI detection tools are not generally considered reliable yet, many users believe that they are, and the new wave of GenAI/tech influencers are is happy to show people new ways to use the tools. This video explains how a combination of clever prompting and the new ‘custom instructions’ functionality added to ChatGPT recently apparently makes it possible to beat the Originality.ai detection tool. By ‘clever prompting’ I mean telling ChatGPT that you want its responses to pass AI detection. Nonetheless, it is at least a pointer that non-tech solutions are still the best approach to dealing with academic integrity when it comes to GenAI

Gamified e-learning platform Kahoot gets acquired in a $1.7B deal led by Goldman Sachs, Lego and more from TechCrunch

Kahoot is a wildly popular (if basic) gamified polling tool, so it isn’t particularly surprising to see it snapped up in this way as a money maker. The involvement of Lego is less expected but I kind of like them moving into education.

Investing in imagined digital futures: the techno-financial ‘futuring’ of edtech investors in higher education from Critical Studies in Education

In much of the discussion about education technology, there are many concerns expressed about profiteering from learning and the motivations of people behind the big companies. This article from Williamson (Edinburgh Uni) and Komljenovic (Lancaster Uni) uses concepts from economic sociology to do a decent job of exploring exactly what they expect to get out of it (beyond big stacks of cash). Given that this is not going away, there is value in how education gets ‘assetised’.

Enhancing digital equity: a shift in learning & teaching perspectives - TELedvisors Network webinar recording

On a cheerier note, the recording of this webinar last week from Justine Maldon, Michelle Pedlow and Daniel Gilogley of Edith Cowan University offers a wonderful holistic approach to developing digital literacy capabilities in students at an institutional level at a fairly granular level.