Blurts

I stumbled across this post from a sixth-grade teacher about how she handles tough topics in her classroom. The issue of what teachers at all levels should discuss in their classrooms seems under added scrutiny as some politicians make claims that institutions of higher ed should hire more conservative-leaning faculty members. What about elementary school?

The author’s point is that learners of all ages are observant and pick up on what is going on around them and part of her job is to teach critical literacy and prepare students for the future. She offers some suggestions describing tactics she uses. She proposes that one of the best approaches is to respond to students with questions rather than offer a personal opinion that could easily be interpreted as biased.

Not to be cynical, but I doubt any approach no matter how neutral the position taken will irritate some. I am certainly aware of my perspective which some would without engagement assume to be biased if for no other reason than I teach of about the process of education and consider some topics such as inequity. No matter the data I can offer to argue for the reality of inequity, some will label the approached as biased. I try to avoid going beyond offering the data, but when asked a direct question I am very willing to respond. I guess we all find our own way trying to deal with actual problems and honest opinions.

This post from Amy Ahean offers a futuristic view of higher education. She sees a three-tier model – basic education likely to be free, credentialed skills focused education, and enhanced residential education.

As I understand her model, the reference to iTunes mostly focuses on the middle tier. She cites Lynda.com, SkillsShare, and Ed2Go as present examples. I used Lynda.com for years mostly to develop programming and technology skills – I completed multiple courses focused on PHP, MySQL, CSS, and Dreamweaver. I paid $25 a month for an “all you can eat” approach. Some months I consumed a lot and some nothing at all.

I had not considered what it must be like to create content for these platforms. Is is kind of like teaching online, but your presentations are recorded and there is no actual interaction with students. Perhaps it would be more like authoring a textbook which I do understand. The EdSurge columnist compares more to what a musician experiences when their products are available via iTunes. The platform makes most of the income.

I am out of higher ed now and still teach a course now and then as an adjunct. I understand the feeling of being at the whims of the platform, but I am sure teaching by the course is better than being recorded once and then receiving a compensated based on views. If this is the future of higher education, I am glad I am watching and commenting from the sidelines. No way to make a living even if you already have the income to be comfortable.

I have been an advocate for the Brave browser and ecosystem, but I admit there are a few things about the business model I can’t quite grasp. I like Brave because it seems to solve the independent issues of compensating content creators and providing privacy protection for web users. What I don’t get is why the system has to be based on a cryptocurrency (BAT).

The money to be distributed across the sites of registered content creators is generated in two ways. Content consumers can put in BAT after converting traditional currency to cryptocurrency and consumers can generate BAT by viewing ads through the Brave browser that does not require that personal information be shared. OK. I put in $50 because the generate a contribution by viewing ads was not available when I joined. I also generate a few BAT from allowing ads to appear (not nearly enough to meet the minimum monthly distribution, but still something). Why am I working in BAT and not allocating a few dollars a month and receiving a few cents per ad viewed?

This article seems to offer an explanation, but I am still not certain I understand. I think the explanation is that Brave, ad providers, content creators, and content consumers are all isolated from each other as far as personal information goes. The consumers will see relevant ads without Brave or the ad producers being able to identify them. I hope this is it as putting money into the system is not a task for the casual user/a