# santa claus (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 3 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover santa claus. Page: Feed: --- ## [Learning centricity vs Learner centricity: some thoughts on Dave Cormier’s human-centred model for discussing AI in assessment](https://jondron.ca/learning-centricity-vs-learner-centricity-some-thoughts-on-dave-cormiers-human-centred-model-for-discussing-ai-in-assessment/) _2026-06-12 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ I don t think I ve ever read any published article by Dave Cormier that I didn t like, and I ve read quite a few. This latest blog post, A human-centred model for discussing AI in assessment is no exception. In it, Dave describes his framework for discussing AI in assessment with teachers and other course designers, revolving around 3 questions: Did they do it? Have they learned? Are we helping? I… ## [Paper: “Redefining Educational Technology: A Critical Collaborative Inquiry”, now available via Open Praxis](https://jondron.ca/paper-redefining-educational-technology-a-critical-collaborative-inquiry-now-available-via-open-praxis/) _2026-06-02 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ I am fifth of 26 authors, led by the remarkable Aras Bozkurt, of "Redefining Educational Technology: A Critical Collaborative Inquiry," published in Open Praxis this month. It's a great paper. The result is not the ultimate definition of "educational technology" and it is certainly not the simplest but, as a snapshot of where we are now, I reckon it works pretty well, and the analysis leading up… ## [Paradigm shifts, bricoleers \[sic\], and other animals](https://jondron.ca/paradigm-shifts-bricoleers-sic-and-other-animals/) _2026-05-06 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ In this post I discuss a new paradigm for building plugin-based social applications (e.g. with Elgg or Wordpress) that is grounded in the fact that LLMs are better at creating a plugin from scratch than modifying one that already exists. We don't need to build code, we just need good specs, and LLMs are pretty good at helping us create those, too. This is already very useful, saving thousands of… ## [Edison’s Infinite Workshop: Innovation and education in the age of Cognitive Santa Claus Machines (slides from my keynote for IFERP’s EdInnovate 2026)](https://jondron.ca/edisons-infinite-workshop-innovation-and-education-in-the-age-of-cognitive-santa-claus-machines-slides-from-my-keynote-for-iferps-edinnovate-2026/) _2026-04-27 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ I ve just finished giving a brief keynote for IFERP s 3rd EdInnovate conference in Tokyo (sadly, because I love Tokyo in the Spring, I was online). Here are the slides. The conference was great: they put all of the keynotes and invited talks on a single day, with a very international and cross-disciplinary bunch of thought leaders (and me), and many of us were talking about very closely related… ## [More than a game: some thoughts on David Wiley’s “Random Audits as a Scalable Deterrent to Cheating”](https://jondron.ca/more-than-a-game-some-thoughts-on-david-wileys-random-audits-as-a-scalable-deterrent-to-cheating/) _2026-03-28 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ Source: Random Audits as a Scalable Deterrent to Cheating: Using Game Theory to Design Fair and Effective Academic Integrity Systems for the AI Era by David Wiley Though not particularly common, the general principle of only assessing a sample of work with oral exams (viva voces) is well established, and is common practice in a number of institutions (e.g. UC Berkeley or UC London). What s smart… ## [Is higher education broken? Not exactly.](https://jondron.ca/is-higher-education-broken-not-exactly/) _2026-03-04 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ What does it mean for higher education to work? The problem with claiming (as I sometimes do) that higher education is broken and needs to be transformed is that it begs the question of what it means for higher education to work, and that depends what you think it is for. From the name you d expect that higher education might be for well education, assuming that to be concerned with learning and… ## [Government strongly condemns activities of the so-called Santa Claus](https://webbhk.substack.com/p/government-strongly-condemns-activities) _2025-12-15 · Webb-site.com · Webb-site.com_ The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government today strongly condemns the activities of the so-called Santa Claus, a despicable foreign force whose conduct poses risks to the well-being of children and threatens the security and stability of our country. ## [Breaking: remand prisoners in HK reach new record high](https://webbhk.substack.com/p/breaking-remand-prisoners-in-hk-reach) _2025-12-03 · Webb-site.com · Webb-site.com_ Only 54.5% of HK prisoners are convicted ## [Tool-using tools – Perceptions and misperceptions of generative AI (slides from my keynote for the Global AI Summit, 2025, at Bennett University, India)](https://jondron.ca/tool-using-tools-perceptions-and-misperceptions-of-generative-ai-slides-from-my-keynote-for-the-global-ai-summit-2025-at-bennett-university-india/) _2025-11-24 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ Here are the slides from the first of my two keynotes last week, Tool-using tools Perceptions and misperceptions of generative AI. This one was for the Global AI Summit 2025, hosted at Bennett University in India. The talk covered ground that I ve already blogged about. My big point is that it is not just inaccurate but misleading to think of genAIs as tools: it grants us too much agency. If you… ## [Generative vs Degenerative AI (my ICEEL 2025 keynote slides)](https://jondron.ca/generative-vs-degenerative-ai-my-iceel-2025-keynote-slides/) _2025-11-24 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ I gave my second keynote of the week last week (in person!) at the excellent ICEEL conference in Tokyo. Here are the slides: Generative AI vs degenerative AI: steps towards the constructive transformation of education in the digital age. The conference theme was AI-Powered Learning: Transforming Education in the Digital Age , so this is roughly what I talked about Transformation in (especially… ## [Stop CI/CD & Supply-Chain Attacks (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/Ne95Y8cXcsyk) _2025-11-24 · **Sponsored**_ Per-PR: 17 CI/CD checks and package malware scans with inline Check Run findings. ## [The cost of HK's unfair 2-tier profits tax](https://webbhk.substack.com/p/the-cost-of-hks-unfair-2-tier-profits) _2025-10-25 · Webb-site.com · Webb-site.com_ Scrapping it would recover HK$6.5bn per year of lost revenues ## [Breaking: HK's tobacco duties have collapsed](https://webbhk.substack.com/p/breaking-hks-tobacco-duties-have) _2025-10-20 · Webb-site.com · Webb-site.com_ And what the Government should do about it ## [The HK$2 Joy-Ride scheme in action](https://webbhk.substack.com/p/the-hk2-joy-ride-scheme-in-action) _2025-10-16 · Webb-site.com · Webb-site.com_ Or how not to spend HK$5bn per year of public money ## [Paper: Cognitive Santa Claus Machines and the Tacit Curriculum](https://jondron.ca/paper-cognitive-santa-claus-machines-and-the-tacit-curriculum/) _2025-09-26 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ This is my contribution to the inaugural issue of AACE s new journal of AI-Enhanced Learning, Cognitive Santa Claus Machines and the Tacit Curriculum. If the title sounds vaguely familiar, it might be because you might have seen my post offering some further thoughts on cognitive Santa Claus machines written not long after I had submitted this paper. The paper itself delves a bit into the theory… ## [New open journal from AACE: AI-Enhanced Learning (with a paper from me)](https://jondron.ca/new-open-journal-from-aace-ai-enhanced-learning-with-a-paper-from-me/) _2025-09-25 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ The Journal of Artificial Intelligence Enhanced Learning (AIEL), a diamond open-access journal published under the auspices of AACE and distributed worldwide through LearnTechLib has just launched its inaugural issue, which includes a paper from me (Cognitive Santa Claus Machines and the Tacit Curriculum). This inaugural issue is a great start to what I think will come to be recognized as a… ## [Educational technologies and the synecdochic fallacy](https://jondron.ca/educational-technologies-and-the-synecdochic-fallacy/) _2025-08-09 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ For a few minutes the other day I thought that I had invented a new kind of fallacy or, at least, a great term to describe it. Disappointingly, a quick search revealed that it was not only an old idea but one that has been independently invented at least twice before (Berry Martin, 1974; Weinstock, 1981). Here is its definition from Weinstock (1981): a synecdochic fallacy is a deceptive,… ## [Cognitive Santa Claus machines](https://jondron.ca/cognitive-santa-claus-machines/) _2025-06-17 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ I ve just submitted a journal paper (shameless plug: to AACE s AIEL, of which I am an associate editor) in which I describe generative AIs as cognitive Santa Claus machines. I don t know if it s original but the idea appeals to me. Whatever thought we ask for, genAIs will provide it, mining their deep, deep wells of lossily compressed recorded human knowledge to provide us with skills and… ## [Democratech: reflections on the human nature of blockchain](https://jondron.ca/democratech-reflections-on-the-human-nature-of-blockchain/) _2025-04-30 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ At short notice I was invited to be guest of honour and keynote at Bennett University s International Conference on Blockchain for Inclusive and Representative Democracy yesterday. I was not able to attend the entire conference my opening keynote was at 9:30pm here in Vancouver and I eventually needed to sleep but I made it for a few hours. I was impressed with the diversity and breadth of the… ## [Just a metatool? Some thoughts why generative AIs are not tools](https://jondron.ca/just-a-metatool-some-thoughts-why-generative-ais-are-not-tools/) _2025-03-27 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ Many people brush generative AI aside as being just a tool. ChatGPT describes itself as such (I asked). I think it’s more complicated than that, and this post is going to be an attempt to explain why. I’m not sure about much of what follows and welcome any thoughts you may have on whether this resonates with you and, if not, why not. What makes something a tool I think that to call something a… ## [We are (in part) our tools and they are (in part) us](https://jondron.ca/we-are-in-part-our-tools-and-they-are-in-part-us/) _2025-03-07 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ Here s a characteristically well-expressed and succinct summary of the complex nature of technologies, our relationships with them, and what that means for education by the ever-wonderful Tim Fawns. I like it a lot, and it expresses much what I have tried to express about the nature and value of technologies, far better than I could do it and in far fewer words. Some of it, though, feels like it… ## [Trade Bitcoin & Ethereum (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/pDuIHFVmOilf) _2025-03-07 · **Sponsored**_ Buy, sell and margin trade BTC & ETH with fiat currencies ## [Venturing into the Unknown: Critical Insights into Grey Areas and Pioneering Future Directions in Educational Generative AI Research | TechTrends](https://jondron.ca/venturing-into-the-unknown-critical-insights-into-grey-areas-and-pioneering-future-directions-in-educational-generative-ai-research-techtrends/) _2025-02-28 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ The latest paper I can proudly add to my list of publications, Venturing into the Unknown: Critical Insights into Grey Areas and Pioneering Future Directions in Educational Generative AI Research has been published in the (unfortunately) closed journal TechTrends. Here s a direct link to the paper that should hopefully bypass the paywall, if it has not been used too often. I m 16th of 47… ## [Slides from my TRU TPC keynote: “It’s a technology problem: How education doesn’t work and why we shouldn’t fix it”](https://jondron.ca/slides-from-my-tru-tpc-keynote-its-a-technology-problem-how-education-doesnt-work-and-why-we-shouldnt-fix-it/) _2025-02-18 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ Here are the slides from my keynote at Thompson Rivers University s Teaching Practices Colloquium this morning. I quite like the mediaeval theme (thanks ChatGPT), which I created to provide a constant reminder that the problems we have to solve are the direct result of decisions made 1000 years ago. There was a lot of stuff from my last book in the talk, framed in terms of Faustian Bargains,… ## [Understanding collective stupidity in social computing systems](https://jondron.ca/understanding-collective-stupidity-in-social-computing-systems/) _2025-02-14 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ Here are the slides from a talk I just gave to a group of grad students at AU in our ongoing seminar series, on the nature of collectives and ways we can use and abuse them. It s a bit of a sprawl covering some 30 odd years of a particularly geeky, semi-philosophical branch of my research career (not much on learning and teaching in this one, but plenty of termites) and winding up with very much a… ## [Published in JODDE – Learning: A technological perspective](https://jondron.ca/published-in-jodde-learning-a-technological-perspective/) _2025-02-01 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ Dron, J. (2024). Learning: A technological perspective. Journal of Open, Distance, and Digital Education, 1(2), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.25619/dpvg4687 My latest paper, Learning: A technological perspective, was published today in the (open) Journal of Open, Distance, and Digital Education. Methodologically, it provides a connected series of (I think) reasonable and largely uncontroversial… ## [How AI works for education: an interview with me for AACE Review](https://jondron.ca/how-ai-works-for-education-an-interview-with-me-for-aace-review/) _2025-01-02 · Jon Dron · Jon Dron's home page_ Thanks to Stefanie Panke for some great questions and excellent editing in this interview with me for the AACE Review. The content is in fact the product of two discussions, one coming from student questions at the end of a talk that I gave for the Asian University for Women just before Christmas, the other asynchronously with Stefanie herself. Stefanie did a very good job of making sense of my… ## [Stop calling Shakespearean English “Old English!” It’s not.](https://thequestingfeast.com/stop-calling-shakespearean-english-old-english-its-not/) _2024-12-26 · yuenmediaservices · The Questing Feast_ It’s early Modern English. Like my mother, it annoys me when people add a “thee” or a “thou” and think they are speaking Old English. Nope. Not. The Old English period (450-1100s) is followed by Middle English (1150–1500), Early Modern English (1500–1650) and finally Modern English (after 1650), and in Scotland Early Scots (before 1450), … Continue reading "Stop calling Shakespearean English “Old… ## [Visit to Hainan](https://thequestingfeast.com/hainan-island/) _2024-12-17 · yuenmediaservices · The Questing Feast_ I recently returned from Wenchang, Hainan. The trip was to attend the Galaxy Forum to discuss Lunar development and space exploration. We stayed at the Wyndham Grand Wenchang, which is not where Google Maps says it is, but rather just seaward of Qinglan Harbor. I very much enjoyed watching the fishing board going in and … Continue reading "Visit to Hainan" ## [Butter Chicken](https://thequestingfeast.com/butter-chicken/) _2024-12-02 · yuenmediaservices · The Questing Feast_ by D. Leilehua Yuen Apparently, there is a Great Butter Chicken Controversy complete with lawsuits and everything! The grandsons of the two men who founded Moti Mahal, possibly the first restaurant where Indian butter chicken was served, are in a battle over which grandpa created the popular dish. The suit has been filed with a … Continue reading "Butter Chicken" ## [Advent – Preparing for Christmas](https://thequestingfeast.com/advent-preparing-for-christmas/) _2024-11-30 · yuenmediaservices · The Questing Feast_ The word “advent,” in modern English, means the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event. In the Christian liturgical calendar it is the four week season leading up to Christmas. Each of the four Sundays in Advent is celebrated. While we do not know when Advent first was celebrated, some scholars believe that when … Continue reading "Advent – Preparing for Christmas"