1. First up this evening, two webinars next week:
The first is an ECML event at 16:00 UK time on Tuesday, 21st May, Exploring the potential of action research in language education: Opportunities and challenges in local and global contexts. More info and registration here https://www.ecml.at/Resources/Webinars/tabid/5456/language/en-GB/Default.aspx Don’t worry about ‘first come, first served’ any more – the ECML has had such a good response they’ve decided to stream the event on YouTube – but it would be helpful if you registered.
Our interactive webinar will explore the potential of action research in language education.
- Why action research?
- How does an action research methodology support language education both in terms of research and practice?
- What are the opportunities and challenges that arise in conducting action research in the sphere of language education?
- How might I go about integrating action research into my practice as a language educator?
The second is an ETS event at 12:00 UK time on Friday, 24th May, Humanizing AI for Learning and Assessment. More info and registration here https://join.clickmeeting.com/elt-virtual-seminar/
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been transforming education in many ways, a testament to its extraordinary power. With its seemingly limitless capabilities, it affects the way we learn, teach, and assess English language proficiency today. As educators, we have learned to embrace change. The AI revolution, however, can also be a source of doubt and concern. How can we ensure that AI truly contributes to improved teaching and learning? Does the use of AI put academic integrity at risk? Is it possible for assessments using AI capabilities to remain both reliable and fair?
2. Jamie Clark offers Professional Learning Insights and Digital Content for Busy Educators https://www.jamieleeclark.com/ and produces free posters on key teaching ideas https://www.jamieleeclark.com/graphics
Here’s his poster on Feedback https://tinyurl.com/53c59fnb
and another on Why Don’t Students Like School? https://tinyurl.com/mks9w88s
PDFs of both below.
3. Thanks to Rob Gibson for drawing my attention to this article from Nature, Worldwide divergence of values by Joshua Conrad Jackson & Danila Medvedev from Chicago University https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-46581-5 PDF below.
Social scientists have long debated the nature of cultural change in a modernizing and globalizing world. Some scholars predicted that national cultures would converge by adopting social values typical of Western democracies. Others predicted that cultural differences in values would persist or even increase over time. We test these competing predictions by analyzing survey data from 1981 to 2022 (n = 406,185) from 76 national cultures. We find evidence of global value divergence. Values emphasizing tolerance and self-expression have diverged most sharply, especially between high-income Western countries and the rest of the world. We also find that countries with similar per-capita GDP levels have held similar values over the last 40 years. Over time, however, geographic proximity has emerged as an increasingly strong correlate of value similarity, indicating that values have diverged globally but converged regionally.
4. Here’s a gift article from The New York Times with a quarter century of reading recommendations, The Book Review’s Best Books Since 2000, all 3,228 of them https://tinyurl.com/4e2kffds Be sure to click on the ‘Show all notable books’ link for each year.
And if that makes you want start writing, here’s On How to Start a Short Story from Ali Smith via Toby Litt’s blog, https://awritersdiary.substack.com/p/on-starting-a-short-story-from-scratch
Seductively simple!
5. And finally, from Engelsberg Ideas, Celebrating a century of the red telephone box by Clive Aslet https://engelsbergideas.com/notebook/celebrating-a-century-of-the-red-telephone-box/
Roy Cross's Blog 