Alex Enkerli

How could #OpenEducation and #OpenEdTech provide an alternative to #VCfunding and the #AcademiaIndustrialComplex focused on commercial #EdTech?

> "the explicit claim that VC-funded EdTech is all that stands between the failing “traditional model” of higher education and a blood-moon-lighted Ragnarök for American capitalism."

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/jason-wingards-edtech-griftopia/

/cc @openedtech

Los Angeles Review of Books

Los Angeles Review of Books
Mar 1, 2023 at 7:28pmWeb
Show thread@weblearningMar 1, 2023
@enkerli @openedtech Hi Alex. Good questions. I’d suggest that if you are really looking for answers to open’s contributions to education (globally), then these questions need to be asked in the global south, in countries of extreme inequality.
Show threadAlex EnkerliMar 1, 2023
@weblearning Interesting points.
For the part about extreme inequality, that sure is part of something we need to acknowledge. Including #GlobalInequalities (as per the title of a course by one of mentors). There's a lot to unpack, there. Depending how you measure it, the context for that article is as extremely unequal as one can fathom (especially since they measure life by wealth, over there).
Show thread@weblearningMar 5, 2023
@enkerli Hi Alex. Sorry for the delayed reply. Thanks for your thoughts. There’s so much unpacking to do, and I honestly don’t quite know where to begin. In this part of the world, I can see the benefits of both OER and for profit publishing. Lets’s take early reading books. OER’s make it possible to get multi lingual reading materials into children’s hands. Royalties on for profit text books, give authors a top up, and keep in the English children book chain alive.
Show threadAlex EnkerliMar 6, 2023

@weblearning At the risk of raising controversy: part of the point, for me, is that there's more to #OpenEducation than "Open Content" (OERs and such). And opening up EdTech is more than leveraging LibreTexts or Pressbooks.
Useful, to me in this case, is Paul Stacey's #LandscapeOfOpen (before he became Executive Director @oeglobal).
https://edtechfrontier.com/2018/02/08/starting-anew-in-the-landscape-of-open/

The #HowMightWe question then brings business models in a broader context. Especially if we overcome #OpenWashing.

Starting Anew in the Landscape of Open

Paul Stacey
Show threadAlex EnkerliMar 1, 2023
@weblearning As for #GlobalSouth, there's an emerging trend by scholars there who speak up, within the field of #OpenEducation more widely (usually beyond #OERs). Some of those voices were (all-too-briefly) heard during the conf @oeglobal in Nantes. And it goes all the way to #EpistemicJustice.
As with the two-pronged approach of #Decolonization and #Indigenization or with #a11y advocates' #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs, we have diverse roles. Mine is closer to allyship than asking their questions.
Show thread@weblearningMar 5, 2023
@enkerli @oeglobal Listening and support is always welcome. I went back to https://awards.oeglobal.org/2022-open-practices-awards/ and saw your challenge question. Thoughts and comments were helpful. Avoiding the “international development” paradigm is a knotty issue - perhaps especially for the open movement? Don't have many answers. But when I see some open oer advocated lauding LLM for OERs, I have epistemic justice questions too
2022 Open Practices Awards Winners – OE Awards for Excellence

Show threadAlex EnkerliMar 6, 2023
@weblearning @oeglobal There's been quite a bit of #AgendaSetting from the LLM craze of the past few months. Quite revealing as there's a stark contrast in the reasons we get involved in #OpenEducation projects. When it's about cost-savings, using LLMs sounds like a valid approach.
Show thread@weblearningMar 13, 2023
@enkerli @oeglobal Yes, I can see how proponents of OER, who are from a dominant language and work in data rich regions, can save money from chatgbt. ICTE amplifies privilege.If you have got all the gear, support, infrastructure, networks, language etc, then OER production benefits. But I don’t think that this cannot be generalized world over. Would be very happy to have my position shown to be wrong.
Show thread@weblearningMar 13, 2023
@enkerli @oeglobal Rob Farrow makes the point that “virtually no research has been undertaken, no guidelines have been agreed, no policies have been developed, and no regulations have been enacted to address the use of AI in education” Interesting paper exploring transparency and explicability in AI & education. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17439884.2023.2185630
The possibilities and limits of XAI in education: a socio-technical perspective

Explicable AI in education (XAIED) has been proposed as a way to improve trust and ethical practice in algorithmic education. Based on a critical review of the literature, this paper argues that XA...

Taylor & Francis
Show thread@weblearningMar 13, 2023
@enkerli @oeglobal I think that the Open Movement needs to be a bit circumspect about CHAT GPT.
Show threadAlex EnkerliMar 13, 2023
@weblearning Fully agreed. I get the impression that most people @oeglobal would agree as well. @cogdog has started some threads on LLMs as they pertain to #OpenEducation and #OERs. To my mind, the problem is that thoughtful and nuanced discussions require deeper engagement with the issues. We haven't created the "common ground" from which we could discuss these things. #PublicEngagement specialists are deeply aware of this issue in #ParticipatoryDemocracy.
Show threadAlex EnkerliMar 13, 2023

@weblearning
Thanks again for sharing. Acknowledging and everaging my bias: since my values as an #OpenEducation advocate typically align
@farrow, I'm predisposed to appreciate this article. And the very notion of #XIA as #ExplicableAI goes well with the #MontrealDeclaration for #ResponsibleAI that I keep in my bookmarks. https://www.montrealdeclaration-responsibleai.com/

There's nuance implied since it's about assessing risks, instead of banning or celebrating.

Declaration of Montréal for a responsible development of AI

The Declaration aims to spark public debate and encourage a progressive and inclusive orientation to the development of AI. 

respaideclaration
Show threadRob FarrowOct 2, 2023

@enkerli @weblearning

Hi! This conversation happened in March but I only just saw it now... I guess I have not yet integrated Mastodon into my flow! I

I definitely think we need to be circumspect about all this, but we still have to get involved. If we don't, commercial providers will fill the space and it will be harder to be heard.

In Europe the tone is likely to be set by the EU AI Act, but this is truggling with the pace of change and domains of application.

It could be years before norms are established, but I think this process goes quicker with more transparency and openness. Ultimately this is not what companies trying to make money want to see, so there is an interesting tension framing this going forward...

Show threadAlex EnkerliMar 13, 2023
@weblearning @oeglobal There was a brief discussion of global inequalities during Colin de la Higuera's discussion of LLMs with the OEG Francophone group. Apart from the access divide, there's an obvious bias in terms of whose content dominates. And that part's different from the frequently-discussed biases. It's more about #EpistemicJustice than about #CognitiveBiases, though they're deeply connected.