Cyborg patented?
Forbes reports that Microsoft has obtained a patent for a “conversational chatbot of a specific person” created from images, recordings, participation in social networks, emails, letters, etc., coupled with the possible generation of a 2D or 3D model of the person.
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Racial bias in algorithms
From the UK Open Data Institute’s Week in Data newsletter
This week, Twitter apologised for racial bias within its image-cropping algorithm. The feature is designed to automatically crop images to highlight focal points – including faces. But, Twitter users discovered that, in practice, white faces were focused on, and black faces were cropped out. And, Twitter isn’t the only platform struggling with its algorithm – YouTube has also announced plans to bring back higher levels of human moderation for removing content, after its AI-centred approach resulted in over-censorship, with videos being removed at far higher rates than with human moderators.
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Gap between rich and poor university students widest for 12 years
Via The Canary.
The gap between poor students and their more affluent peers attending university has widened to its largest point for 12 years, according to data published by the Department for Education (DfE).
Better-off pupils are significantly more likely to go to university than their more disadvantaged peers. And the gap between the two groups – 18.8 percentage points – is the widest it’s been since 2006/07.
The latest statistics show that 26.3% of pupils eligible for FSMs went on to university in 2018/19, compared with 45.1% of those who did not receive free meals. Only 12.7% of white British males who were eligible for FSMs went to university by the age of 19. The progression rate has fallen slightly for the first time since 2011/12, according to the DfE analysis.
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Quality Training
From Raconteur. A recent report by global learning consultancy Kineo examined the learning intentions of 8,000 employees across 13 different industries. It found a huge gap between the quality of training offered and the needs of employees. Of those surveyed, 85 per cent said they , with only 16 per cent of employees finding the learning programmes offered by their employers effective.
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Yeah!
Liked it a lot. Authentic reflection. Really liked the wrap up – great Hymn to change: Changing the culture in schools and in companies.
Can’t agree more.
Today I was thinking it is really hard for instance to squeeze a triangle inside a square. Have you eveer thought about that? It can be quite uncomfortable and cause stress, anxiety, lack of interest, because it doesn’t fit, but if someone tells you to try or else… You will do it!… And that is exactly what our education systems have been trying to do: to add something to the existing reality instead of re-thinking it completely. Educators might wnat to cahnge it but if they don’t get official support, most will struggle with it, some feel very frustrated, others will just try to ignore it, etc…
Only if we are able to replace the old frame work (the square) will there be a be space for the change (the triangle).
I can’t see a major change happening until the curricula are dramatically re-designed (maybe even cease to exist!), classrooms stop being organized in rows (maybe we even stop having classrooms as such) and until teachers are demanded not to assess according to unpersonalized criteria (maybe we have to ban the “teacher role” and convert them in storytellers and mentors!.
One thing is for sure: it has t be a dramatic change to achieve learning (r)evolution. We need to choose if we need the square or the triangle, or maybe even something else. We cannot expect teachers to follow national curricula, prepare kids to succeed national exams and do all of that using a 21st skill approach when certification, handbooks and curricula across the world have been developed to accommodate the chalk and talk methodology.
This takes us to another issue then: professional development: it is recognized everyone learns more outside the school, that networking and interacting as part of a CoP is a more efficient way of learning and further development. SO true. I know it. I have experienced it for years now. But we are still too few perceiving that and doing that that way!! And that is because most people have never experienced it, nor have they give it a chance because they don’t know better. Most time when they need to prove to their bosses they know something they enroll to this course which will grant them that certified paper. They go to boring classes, read those long papers, memorize stuff for their exams, and after that they try to keep away from those school walls till they need to prove something else. Then they will have to play the get-another-certificate-to-keep the-boss-happy- game again!
Thanks for that. You got me thinking here!
Hi Graham and all participants:
first of all congrats for the pod…;-)
Unfortunaly I had to leave on the fly…
Is there a follow up on the plattform you mentioned??
Kind regards
Uwe
PD: Great music, what is it??
Ah – the music – I should have credited it – it is Anas song – from a creative commons remix competition on the jamendo.com web site -= great site for free music.
Sorry being a bit late with the follow up material – hectic here at moment – but will be up soon – and don’t forget the Evolve on-line event on Friday -see my blog for details – will pick up some of the themes we talked about
Susan and I will be there – and we will be accompanying my daughter, Joan and her husband Jim.
One thing is for sure: it has t be a dramatic change to achieve learning (r)evolution. We need to choose if we need the square or the triangle, or m …. gred