Dr GangGang

Can you spare a minute to help this campaign? Provide protection for Iran’s women’s national football team

c.org/x2X5W5YMWq

AI fuels surge in Australian data centre emissions Lobby group claims data centres are 'energy efficient'.

Carbon emissions from Australian data centres have jumped 16 per cent in a year, with the country’s largest operators more than doubling their outputs since the start of the decade ia.acs.org.au/article/2026...

A snail with a striped shell climbing up a twig

A garden snail. Ink drawing from a photo I took
#inverts #invertebrates #snail #inkdrawing #sciart

always worth remembering that "the cloud" is actually just someone else's computer (or their many, many computers)

Storm Boy (1976). It was the first movie I ever saw, I think (I was six). It took an hour to get to Perth city from the burbs (no cinemas in the burbs).

Sounds about right. Also, this is funny! Love the subtitles 😅

Maybe put it in 'quotes'?

Happy Mardi Gras from Australia’s Eucalypts! They come in every colour of the rainbow and are the original supporters of diversity with over 800 species.

Have fun tonight if you’re celebrating! 🌈 x

That . . . is creepy and interesting. Olive and I are passing acquaintances but she has never gone off-piste.

Toxic Rat Poisons Found in 100% of Masked Owls - BirdLife Australia All tested Masked Owls in Western Australia carry toxic rat poisons new study finds.

Rethink your use of rat poisons. This is what is happening ...
birdlife.org.au/news/toxic-r...

No, turning over activities designed for your learning to a bot does not free you.

Undermining online learning hurts access to learning, especially for the not-wealthy.

Had a great discussion with @mjgault.bsky.social of @404media.co about Einstein and other online course autocomplete systems.

(424) LMS Killer Einstein Rebrands, In Hours, Then Dies Plus, universities in India to limit AI use to 10%.

open.substack.com/pub/thecheat...

This whole drama has utterly dominated my week. I'm wondering why it hasn't dominated the week of every instructor using Canvas. Still, this rounds out the latest lesson cycle nicely. For now!

Intense heatwaves directly threaten crops and native species. Here’s what we can do By: Owen Atkin, Australian National University; Adrienne Nicotra, Australian National University; Belinda Medlyn, Western Sydney University, and Michael Kearney, The University of Melbourne During Australia’s unprecedented heatwave in late January, air temperatures reached 50°C in inland South Australia. Days of sustained heat and hot nights did real damage. A flying fox colony was all but wiped out in South Australia, while Western Australian mango growers suffered major crop losses as fruit literally boiled.

'These increasingly extreme heatwaves are now posing a real threat to the crops and livestock on which we rely, as well as Australia’s wildlife and ecosystems.' #climatechange #auspol

It's a bit like going bankrupt, I guess - ie very slowly and then all at once.
With GenAI, we're definitely at an "all at once" moment, but maybe it might slow down a little? (that would be nice 🙏🏼)

'Cheating' has always happened, but I imagine most teachers feel as I do: it's less the cheating that concerns us as much as the lack of learning.
As a teacher educator I worry deeply abt sending unprepared trainee teachers into the classroom. I need to be able to accurately assess their readiness.

And of course investigative learning can happen online. I strive to set interesting, experiential and multimodal assessment tasks. That's why it's so deeply dispiriting when these assessments are completed by AI models paid for by disengaged students anyway.

It's a perfect storm, really - turbo charged by a pandemic and economic rationalism. Most educators are aware transmission education is not ideal pedagogically, but external market demands and regulators force them (me) back into performing 'top down' teaching anyway 🙄

Yes, but we're talking at cross-purposes a little. Self-paced online learning doesn't lend itself to a responsive teaching cycle, as the course is delivered in a pre-determined 'package.' 'Being in concert with others' is also not impossible, but difficult for a lecturer/convenor to facilitate.

The First Agentic AI LMS Killer is Here Einstein AI Companion promises to complete your Canvas classes

open.substack.com/pub/michelle...

That sentence has been taken down.
Interestingly.

Well ... when we're hurtling towards a higher ed sector where computers talking to computers is the norm, it's worth emphasing the human element 🤷🏻‍♀️
Agreed it's just telling teachers how to suck eggs.

"Human connection and 'teachable moments'". They're still important - but are they important enough?

This response from Instructure reminds me of how I used to think: if plagiarism is happening, something has already gone wrong with learning.

But many students are already under unbearable pressure just to get their qualification. (That said, the advice above might be the only sincere way forward).

This from Instructure early this morning ...

elmo from sesame street standing in front of a wall Alt: elmo from sesame street standing in front of a wall

D'ya think?? (Slop. Sooooo much slop)

If we want enough teachers in classrooms and we want free education for everyone, then teacher training will invariably look like 'mass production'. I can't think how else it could be done.