Metaverse vs. employment law: The reality of the virtual workplace — from arstechnica.com by Kate Beoiley
It is unclear how employee protections apply in the universal digital realm.

Excerpt:

When it comes to employment laws, however, it is unclear what rules of engagement apply in a universal digital realm. What counts as harassment in the metaverse? Can an avatar be discriminated against, or worse? Will national legislation protect employees or does working in the metaverse require a new rule book altogether?

Lack of legal framework
But the metaverse takes hybrid working a step further and brings with it a host of thorny employment law issues. These range from practical challenges, such as how employees are paid, to more philosophical ones, like whether avatars have a legal identity. “The legal conundrums are about as diverse as the possibilities of the metaverse itself,” says Jonathan Newman, managing associate at law firm Simmons & Simmons.

 

Forbes Blockchain 50 2022 — from forbes.com; edited by Michael del Castillo and Matt Schifrin; reported by Maria Abreu, Nina Bambysheva, Justin Birnbaum, Lauren Debter, Michael del Castillo, Steven Ehrlich, Chris Helman, Katie Jennings, Jeff Kauflin, Javier Paz, Jon Ponciano, Marie Schulte-Bockum
Cryptocurrencies hog the spotlight, but blockchain’s biggest innovations are below the surface, saving billions each year for the world’s largest companies.

Excerpt:

You’ve come a long way, blockchain! Since our inaugural roundup of the Blockchain 50, published in 2019, the billion-dollar companies (minimum, by sales or market value) on our annual list have moved beyond test projects and now rely on “distributed ledger” technology to do serious work. A lot of the action is in the back office, verifying insurance claims or facilitating real estate deals. It has also become vital to supply chains, whether checking the provenance of conflict minerals like cobalt or tracking auto parts for Renault. Nearly half of the Blockchain 50 are based outside the United States; 14% are Chinese. New this year: venture capital firms, which as a group invested more than $32 billion in the sector in 2021.

 

Is there a skills gap in learning design? — from neilmosley.com by Neil Mosley

Excerpt:

Another deficiency in higher education has also been the dearth of support there is for learning design. Roles such as Learning Designer or Instructional Designer have been relatively niche in UK higher education, they have tended to exist only in online or distance education settings.

This seems to be changing a little and there’s been more of these roles created over the past two years. Hopefully, as a result of growing recognition of the design and planning work that’s needed in higher education as the teaching and study experience grows in complexity.

Whilst broadly positive, this has thrown up another problem – the inconsistency and variability of skills amongst those that might refer to themselves as a Learning or Instructional Designer.

From DSC:
Though this is from the UK, these perspectives and the issues Neil raises are also very much present here in the United States. Neil raises some important questions, such as:

  • Aare the Learning Designers and/or Instructional Designers getting the training that they need?
  • What’s expected of them?
  • Are they utilized properly?
  • How do you scale their work?
  • How do you get professors and teachers to think of *designing* their learning experiences?

Addendum on 2/19/22:

And if the last two years have taught us anything, it’s that this collective movement toward learning experience design will be essential to help striving students go on better, more productive, and personally meaningful educational journeys. Indeed, we must help spread the word that education is more than a collection of classes. It may include classes, but it is so much more. At its best, it is a carefully and thoughtfully crafted and curated family of experiences that can help striving students change their lives!  


 

Watching A Lecture Twice At Double Speed Can Benefit Learning Better Than Watching It Once At Normal Speed — from digest.bps.org.uk by Emma Young ; with thanks to the Learning Now TV Newsletter – February 2022 for this resource

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

So, a student could just watch videos at 2x speed and halve their time spent on lectures….Or, according to the results of other studies reported in the paper, they could watch a video at 2x normal speed twice, and do better on a test than if they’d watched it once at normal speed. The timing mattered, though: only those who’d watched the 2x video for a second time immediately before a test, rather than right after the first viewing, got this advantage.

 

How I use Minecraft to help kids with autism — from ted.com by Stuart Duncan; with thanks to Dr. Kate Christian for this resource

Description:

The internet can be an ugly place, but you won’t find bullies or trolls on Stuart Duncan’s Minecraft server, AutCraft. Designed for children with autism and their families, AutCraft creates a safe online environment for play and self-expression for kids who sometimes behave a bit differently than their peers (and who might be singled out elsewhere). Learn more about one of the best places on the internet with this heartwarming talk.

 

Below are two excerpted snapshots from Stuart’s presentation:

Stuart Duncan speaking at TEDX York U

These are the words autistic students used to describe their experience with Stuart's Minecraft server

 

These 3 charts show the global growth in online learning — from weforum.org by Johnny Wood; with thanks to Ray Schroeder out on LinkedIn

Example chart:

Also relevant/see:

The company has launched 13 new degrees with colleges since 2021, bringing the total number of bachelor’s, master’s and postgraduate degrees up to 38, according to Maggioncalda.

2U saw $152.4 million from its degree segment in 2021’s fourth quarter, about 11 times the revenue Coursera brought in from its degree business over the same period. 

 

Both of the items below are from Sam DeBrule’s Machine Learnings e-newsletter:


Also see:

 

Turn L&D Teams into Performance-Driven Microlearning Masters — learningsolutionsmag.com by Robyn Defelice

Excerpt:

Over several articles, I have pinpointed challenges that many learning and development (L&D) leaders face when integrating microlearning into their organization’s learning ecosystem. These have mainly been strategic and operational in nature, covering topics such as having an agreed-upon purpose for adopting microlearning to ensuring that the L&D department has achieved a learning maturity and agility level that enables them to leverage microlearning.

What still hasn’t been addressed, and what is equally critical to success, relates to your L&D team capabilities and tools.

Addendum on 1/30/22:

 

 

Theater companies in the U.K., home to one of the world’s oldest and grandest performing traditions, are increasingly integrating digital technology into interactive theater performances. They’re even getting help from the government to do it, The New York Times reported.

Along these lines, also see:

 

A Crash Course in TAR: What Do You Really Need to Know? — from iltanet.org by Rachel McAdams, Andrew Lyons, and Kayode Okubanjo

Excerpt:

When embarking on a new project, the question of whether or not to use TAR is often near the top of the list, and most large projects won’t go ahead without some element of TAR to speed along the review. However, for those new to discovery or those not involved heavily in the technology of discovery, it can be difficult to work out exactly what is being proposed, or the difference between types of methods. This article will give a brief introduction of TAR and lay out the basics of what you really need to know to start taking advantage of TAR.

 

 

Wiki Loves Monuments 2021 winners — from commons.wikimedia.org

Excerpt:
Below are some of the pictures from Greece.

Monuments in Greece

 

Exemplar of successful implementation of tech in schools — from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com by Donald Clark

Excerpts:

It was impressive to find a school network that took technology as seriously as Curro, in South Africa. They had invited me to give a keynote on AI for Learning, based on my book and experience but I hung around as the teacher sessions were so damn good. This is what I learnt, as I think it is a recipe for success.

This was the big surprise. There were glowing testimonials from teachers about the power of adaptive learning, using AI, to personalise learning for students. It was described as a ‘gamechanger’ by the teacher who presented, with clear targeting, so that efficient and relevant, individual interventions could be made for students. It was clear that they knew why they wanted this technology, had implemented it well and were using teacher feedback to spread the word internally.

I was giving a talk as part of that process. The day’s activities were under the banner of ‘Imagining 2022’. It’s hard enough to Imagine what any year will bring these days but it was clear that this was a learning organisation, willing to learn from their mistakes and make the effort to plan forward.

Also see:

 

Inside Higher Ed Acquired by Times Higher Education — from insidehighered.com by Scott Jaschik and Doug Lederman
Our editors Scott Jaschik and Doug Lederman explain how this combination of publishing companies will improve global coverage of postsecondary education and better serve the higher ed community.

Excerpt:

As journalists, we often say that we want to report the news, not be the news. We are making an exception [on 1/10/22] to announce that Inside Higher Ed has been acquired by Times Higher Education (THE), the world’s leading provider of higher education news, data and insights.

 

From DSC:
As the article below clearly relays, MOOCs did NOT fail! In the last decade, they have reached 220 million learners worldwide!

I don’t know the total number of graduates from the Ivy League — throughout all of the relevant institutions’ histories — but I would bet you that MOOCs have reached far more learners. And MOOCs did so in less than a decade. 

And you’re going to tell me MOOCs have been a failure?!!!! Are you being serious!?!?!  You can talk about completion rates all that you want to (and that misses the point, as some people sign up for MOOCs without ever intending to finish the entire course). As with other things, people get out of something what they put into that thing.


A Decade of MOOCs: A Review of Stats and Trends for Large-Scale Online Courses in 2021 — from edsurge.com by Dhawal Shah

Excerpts:

Now, a decade later, MOOCs have reached 220 million learners, excluding China where we don’t have as reliable data, . In 2021, providers launched over 3,100 courses and 500 microcredentials.

Originally, MOOC providers relied on universities to create courses. But that dependence is declining as more and more of the courses are created by companies every year. These corporate partners in course creation include tech giants Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook.

…the majority of the new courses launched on Coursera in 2021 are not from universities anymore.

These mass online courses were born without a business model. Yet within a decade, MOOCs went from no revenue to bringing in well over a half a billion dollars annually.

 

Python, Java, Linux and SQL: These are the hot tech skills employers are looking for — from zdnet.com by Owen Hughes
Programming languages continue to dominate jobs specs, with employers keen to build up their tech teams and deliver on expanding digital programmes.

In Q3, job listings in the tech industry suggest that organizations are on the lookout for technology professionals “who understand the core concepts of software development and project management” and possess technical skills in Linux, as well as programming languages Java, Python and SQL.

 
© 2025 | Daniel Christian