Does anyone here listen to podcasts? (silly question I hope). I for one would be keen to see more sharing of open education relevant podcasts or better specific episodes of interest.
Rethinking Africa in the Wake of a Technology Revolution features a thought-provoking discussion with Dr. Martin Dougiamas, Founder of Moodle and Head of Research at the Moodle Research Lab, as he delves into the profound impact of emerging technologies on the African continent. From reshaping social, economic, and political landscapes to redefining higher education, this podcast invites listeners to engage with the transformations sweeping Africa critically. Dr Dougiamas highlights how digital innovations influence the African digital humanities and the future of learning. This episode is produced in collaboration with Moodle Moot Africa and the Portfolio of Information and Communication Technologies at the University of South Africa.
Okay, I admit I shared this first before event listening! But I can tell from the description it will be interesting. If /when you listen to this episode, let us know what you think.
It was through this episode that I discovered the incredible Dr Carolee Clyne who I then immediately cold called (AKA LinkedIn stalked and messaged) to ask if I could meet her during my (yet to even be proposed and awarded ) fellowship trip to North America in 2022. She generously agreed and we went on to meet and fangirl about UDL and OER with each other in Vancouver
Tech AND Music. I always enjoyed KEXP. What is Armageddon Update? I could not find.
My regular general go to listens are:
This American Life- still the best to me in audio storytelling, consistent over time. My trivia is that Ira Glass graduated form my high school the year before my first year.
99 Percent Invisible: Wonderful cross section and broad look that design is
The Big Story - Canada news and focus
Twenty thousand Hertz - explores the world of sound
Tech Won’t Save Us - critical tech stories
Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 - “climbing the peaks of BS mountain” I am an Emily Bender fan
Song Exploder- such an interesting approach to understanding the making of songs, from the start to production. I sometime dreamt of doing an education focused version I’d call “Course Exploder”
But for more direct, I am a long time listener to Bonni Stachowiak’s Teaching in Higher Education. And I would also recipe d the Wiki Loves Women Inspiring Open podcast that my colleague @IslaHF contributes to https://podcast.wikiloveswomen.org/
Loving this collection, I will certainly be checking some more podcasts.
This one, curated by Mahara (open source eportfolio folk) is well worth exploring: Create, Share, Engage
Full disclosure, I shared my eportfolio experience here
Armageddon Update is the podcast of Christopher Titus, who once many years ago had a TV show called Titus. It’s 7 minutes of stand-up comedy followed by 90 minutes of free-flow news focused discussion with a comedic bent (it’s a bit like looking at how the comedy is made, behind the scenes).
I’m a huge standup comedy fan and watch a lot on YouTube during the day - the late night show standups, British shows, and individual shows. I also watch a lot of hiking and cycling videos on YouTube - they’re not really good for listening but really good for background while I work.
Thanks, Alan, for sharing the podcast with Martin Dougiamas. I’ve collaborated with him on Moodle for the past eighteen years. My focus has been on using Moodle in the classroom to organize and enhance teaching and learning with digital tools, sometimes online but mostly not. For the last two and half years I’ve been working with elementary teachers in Africa who are NOT connected via the internet and often deal with unreliable electrical power. The key tool we’ve been using is MoodleBox, the version of Moodle developed by Nicolas Martignoni for use in classrooms without the internet and only sketchy power.
I’m in full agreement with the general direction Martin talks about regarding reshaping things in Africa. I think, though, the discussion needs to look more toward elementary education which is even more important than higher education. Obviously, students spend thirteen years or more in education before higher education; that’s where the crucial transformation needs to happen.
In our work we’re experimenting with various AI applications to transform teaching and learning in Africa. We’re starting small by solving first for those not connected and who have very limited resources. To prevent those with power, money, and resources from hogging all of the capabilities of AI, we must focus first on those who lack power, money, and resources. We’ve used AI to translate R level books from English to isiXhosa ( in South Africa R level is what we call Kindergarten) which students read on WiFi only smart phones connected to MoodleBox. We’ve used AI to create R level math assessments in MoodleBox aligned to S.A. standards of learning which students access via MoodleBox. The built-in features of Moodle/MoodleBox enable the R teacher to provide voice, video, and graphic prompts in both the questions and feedback. All of the content is then sharable with teachers anywhere, not just South African teachers.
We’ve created both math and reading assessments used on MoodleBox aligned to Ghanaian standards of learning with a few different AI tools… Students in the Northern Region of Ghana are reading books in their first language, Dagbani, using MoodleBox. The books that are either original in Dagbani or translated contribute to the database of digital Dagbani text. That will enable the LLMs to get get better. We’re working, too, with AI developers on specialized language AI tools that will enable the translations to happen in a remote environment without internet access.
Maxwell Beganim, one of our MoodleBox in Ghana educators, posted on Linkedin today urgently expressing why we can’t count on the people controlling money and resources to share equitably. Maxwell was talking about water resources in his post, but the same dynamics apply to AI. Solve for those without first.
I keep stumbling across new podcasts. This sounds fun “Pop Pedagogy” from Nichole Saad and Melissa Guadalupe Huertas at the Open Learning Collective
Welcome to “Pop Pedagogy,” where we celebrate and critically examine the world’s most memorable educators in media. Every episode delves into iconic teachers from TV, Film, and books across the globe. We explore how these portrayals reflect educational philosophies, systems and cultural values.
) fellowship trip to North America in 2022. She generously agreed and we went on to meet and fangirl about UDL and OER with each other in Vancouver 
