My 9yo coworker is taking a chatGPT #outschool class.

Second playtest of "Ninja Grandma", a board game I'm designing with a group of 11 year-old-kids in my Creative Thinking & Board Game Design class on Outschool.

#boardgames #gamedesign #outschool #creativity

I recently spoke with a #journalist with #The74Million about #homeschooling. Article came out today and it focuses on an #Outschool "study" about why families #homeschool and the increase of this #SchoolChoice option.

https://www.the74million.org/article/the-new-face-of-homeschooling-less-religious-and-conservative-more-focused-on-quality/

If you read the 74M piece, please be sure to also read through my old 🧵 about the OS #research and how they initially misrepresented publicly available data.

https://mstdn.social/@alessa_ed/109555693991725438

#Edutooter #EdPolicy

I am running another iteration of my online class in Creative Thinking/Problem Solving & Board Game Design for children aged 11-14 on Outschool. It's a 6-week class beginning on Tue 31 Jan (US time)/Wed 1 Feb (AU time).
https://outschool.com/classes/creative-thinking-and-problem-solving-lets-design-a-game-Dt0t2YOT?sectionUid=cab4a911-727f-4635-b3e2-142207703e67&showDetails=true

#creativity #problemsolving #boardgames #design #outschool

@futurebird

Earlier today, #Outschool changed their supplemental research document, which now includes this slide. The SES levels reported here ONLY apply to the 662 families who pay to use Outschool classes and completed their survery. I don't think you can extrapolate much to the wider #homeschool population.

@amirnathoo
#Outschool responded to a version of this #homeschool #statistics thread over on the birdsite. The screenshotted slides I shared in this toot-thread have been removed and replaced with some demographic data from their actual survey.

No comment or explanation was offered on why they posted such eggregiously incorrect data in the first place.

@amirnathoo
#Outschool responded to a version of this #homeschool #statistics thread over on the birdsite. The screenshotted slides I shared in this toot-thread have been removed and replaced with some demographic data from their actual survey.

No comment or explanation was offered on why they posted such eggregiously incorrect data in the first place.

Just as importantly why is no one else questioning these “facts”? Eventually some junior #journalist is going to find these files and think, “Oh goody! That just streamlined my research. #Outschool is a reliable source. I’ll just cite this even though it lacks documentation.”

And we all know how provocative #FakeNews fires up the masses and takes on a life of its own. /7

Just as importantly why is no one else questioning these “facts”? Eventually some junior #journalist is going to find these files and think, “Oh goody! That just streamlined my research. #Outschool is a reliable source. I’ll just cite this even though it lacks documentation.”

And we all know how provocative #FakeNews fires up the masses and takes on a life of its own. /7

What really bugs me about this sloppy research is why would a private company inflate state statistics by more than 3x the actual number, in some cases?

Is #Outschool peddling for more venture capital funding?

Are they angling for state funding as a potential partner in hybrid school options?

Are they trying to recruit more teachers to buld their portfolio of classes?

Or, is it really just sloppy work by a former employee that had nominal oversight?

What really bugs me about this sloppy research is why would a private company inflate state stats by more than 3x the actual number, in some cases?

Is #Outschool peddling for more venture capital funding?

Are they angling for state funding as a potential partner in hybrid school options?

Are they trying to recruit more teachers to buld their portfolio of classes?

Or, is it really just sloppy work by a former employee that had nominal oversight?

Maybe CEO @amirnathoo can chime in. /6

… when I took a closer look at the shared Google Slides that focuses on fancy graphs from Outschool's survey results. Take for example Slide 11 which lists the top 10 #homeschool kids by state and includes #Maryland at #6 with 139,000 #homeschoolers. This is utter nonsense.

I’ve been tracking #homeschool statistics and trends in Maryland for 15+ years and as of June 2022 #MSDE had just under 45,000 homeschool kids. That's more than just an oopsie typo by #Outschool. /3

In Sept 2022, #Outschool announced findings from a small scale survey they conducted about #homeschooling. This is a🧵about a company valued at $3 billion reporting bad research.

Outschool’s survey “interviewed” 662 families using SurveyMonkey. The press release offers nothing terribly groundshaking, though the header “New reasons families are choosing to #homeschool is a bit misleading. /1 #Education #SchoolChoice #EdPolicy #Edutooter

https://outschool.com/articles/changing-homeschooler-demographics-post-covid

@watzon I've consulted with 3 startups who've wanted to market educational technology to #homeschool families. From what you've described, it sounds like you're looking to create something that blends #OutSchool with what #TeachersPayTeachers already offer. I think the "credentialing" part will be critical to your plan. Just because a parent has successfully homeschooled their own kids doesn't mean they know how to write curriculum or teach an online class.

Hello mathematicians, puzzlers, and other curious people!

I'm Avrila, migrating from the same handle at That Bird Site. I'm a #professor for my local junior college, as well as #tutoring and teaching privately such as on #Outschool. Also, I'm finishing up a second Master's degree (my first was in #MathEducation, but I burned out on K-12 teaching) and probably #ShouldBeWriting on my #thesis about the history of #LieAlgebra right now.

Calc You Later!

#Introduction