Distance Learning Challenges

Power Platform developers take note: There is currently a bug on the platform that is causing you a lot of trouble when you create custom tables and want to release them to another environments. You get the message that there are missing dependencies (exactly, all your custom tables). This is not correct. How to solve this/workaround: Export the solution as unmanaged and save it. Then import this unmanaged solution back into the same environment from which you just exported it. After importing, choose publish all customizations. After this, you can successfully export the solution as managed to other solutions. It is a known issue, Microsoft is working on it and expects to have this resolved within a few weeks.

The UK government just acknowledged something most digital transformation programmes quietly ignore. Technology is not the constraint anymore. Access is. Published on 24 March 2026, the Digital Inclusion Action Plan One Year On outlines progress on the government’s commitment to digital access. It aims to ensure everyone, regardless of their circumstances, can get connected and go online safely and with confidence. But 1.6 million people have no internet connection at all, and many more do not have the right device or the skills to use the internet at work and in life. People who are not online are often also disabled, older, or have lower incomes. Without internet access and digital skills, they end up paying more for bills, trapped earning less, or unable to easily get the support they need. That is a structural inequality being reinforced by every service that moves exclusively online without asking who gets left behind. The plan is doing something other digital strategies rarely do. It explicitly commits to ensuring online services are simple to use with offline options too, and to putting in place more trusted local help. That second part matters enormously. Most digital transformation programmes treat non digital access as a temporary concession until everyone catches up. This plan treats it as a permanent design requirement. The plan highlighted groups more likely to struggle, including low income households, older people, disabled people, unemployed people, and some young people not in employment, education or training. These are precisely the groups who most depend on government services. Building services that work beautifully for connected, confident users whilst excluding the most vulnerable is not digital transformation. It is digital displacement. The real test of this plan is not whether it reaches the people already online. It is whether it changes how departments design services for the people who are not. How many of your services assume digital access that your most vulnerable users do not have? #DigitalInclusion #GovTech #PublicSector

India just rolled out the world’s cheapest Wi-Fi starting at only ₹6. PM WANI Free WiFi Scheme is a turning point. Connectivity is not comfort anymore. It is survival. The Government has taken one of the strongest steps by enabling free and affordable WiFi access across the country through initiatives like PM WANI, BharatNet, and the National Broadband Mission. India has more than 1.4 billion people, and a large part still struggles for stable internet. Without access, talent cannot grow. Students lose chances. Small businesses stall. Dreams stay locked. This move can change that reality. Key impact areas that matter • Digital Inclusion Internet access now aims to reach both metros and remote regions. More than 2.7 lakh Gram Panchayats are already connected to high-speed broadband through BharatNet. This means study material, healthcare, banking and government services are becoming reachable for everyone. • Economic Growth PM WANI allows local shops, tea stalls and small businesses to become Public Data Offices without license fees. This gives them a new income stream and opens the digital market for rural and semi-urban areas. • Education and Skill Access Students preparing for competitive exams and online classes in small towns need stable connectivity. With plans to scale millions of public WiFi hotspots, learning will not depend on financial ability. • National Broadband Mission NBM 2.0 The target is a minimum of 100 Mbps internet speed across the country and fibre connectivity to lakhs of villages between 2025 and 2030. This upgrades the entire digital backbone. • Public WiFi Expansion RailTel already provides free WiFi at hundreds of railway stations. People can access 30 minutes of free internet daily and pay small amounts for more usage. Areas we must stay alert about Cybersecurity must be strong because public networks can be misused if protection is weak. Awareness must grow so people can use the internet safely. Infrastructure should not slow down, and policies must ensure sustainability for providers so projects do not collapse. The real opportunity This is a chance to create an equal field. Where a child in a village competes with a child in a metro. Where startups grow from small towns. Where skills build careers. Where connectivity becomes dignity. If delivered with commitment, PM WANI can become one of the most powerful decisions for the next decade. Because the real revolution is when opportunity reaches everyone. A connected citizen becomes an empowered citizen. An empowered citizen builds a stronger society.

◆ THE UNIX WAY ◆ Episode 02: The Compatibility Question You need a Linux binary on your server. Proprietary software. A vendor tool built for RHEL. That backup agent your client insists on. Spotify. Discord. How does it feel? ■ FreeBSD ––– sh sysrc linux_enable="YES" service linux start pkg install linux-rl9-base ––– Done. Linux binaries run. Natively. No emulator. No container. No VM overhead. The kernel translates Linux syscalls to FreeBSD syscalls. In real time. Near-zero overhead. Since 1995. ––– sh $ file /compat/linux/usr/bin/bash ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, for GNU/Linux $ /compat/linux/usr/bin/bash --version GNU bash, version 5.2.15 (x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu) ––– A real Linux binary. Running on FreeBSD. Without virtualisation. Steam runs. Zoom runs. That proprietary backup agent from the client runs. The door is open. ■ Linux You want a FreeBSD binary on Linux? Option A: VM. Install FreeBSD in QEMU/KVM. 2GB RAM overhead. Boot time. Network configuration. Maintenance. Option B: Container. FreeBSD userland in Docker exists, but it's cross-compilation or emulation. Not native execution. The kernel doesn't speak FreeBSD syscalls. Option C: Port the software. Recompile. Fix the libc differences. Chase the kqueue/epoll divergence. Good luck. There is no "FreeBSD Compatibility Layer" for Linux. The direction doesn't exist. ■ THE POINT FreeBSD can run Linux. Linux chose a different path: performance-hungry virtualisation and containers. Both work. Different philosophies. FreeBSD was designed with compatibility in mind. The kernel abstracts syscalls cleanly enough to support a second ABI. The userland and kernel are developed together. Integration is the default. Linux is a kernel with a thousand distributions around it. FreeBSD is an operating system with a clear design philosophy and solid guidelines. The difference shows here. You can work on FreeBSD and still use every Linux tool you need. Best of both worlds. Sometimes the question isn't "why switch?" It's "why limit yourself?" #TheUnixWay #FreeBSD #Linux #DevOps #Compatibility

Let’s talk about a topic that rarely sees the light of day: digital poverty. Despite our increasingly connected world, over 1.7 million households still lack internet access, leaving many disconnected from vital resources. For many, this means kids can’t do their homework, and people can’t book medical appointments or access important services. Older adults and low-income households are among the most affected, with financial barriers and limited infrastructure adding to the challenge. Digital Poverty Alliance defines Digital poverty as “The inability to interact with the online world fully, when, where, and how an individual needs to.” This isn’t just about having an internet connection; it’s about digital inclusion, ensuring that everyone has the tools, skills, and access they need to participate in today’s digital society. Digital inclusion means affordable internet, available devices, and the necessary digital skills for all, regardless of age, income, or location. By addressing affordability, expanding infrastructure, and building digital skills, we can bridge this gap and make digital access a right, not a privilege. Digital inclusion matters because everyone deserves a chance to thrive in the digital age. #digital #inclusion

More teachers choosing virtual schools for better work-life balance. And honestly, it didn’t surprise me at all. Teachers aren’t walking away from students. They’re walking away from systems that make it nearly impossible to teach well and still have a life outside the classroom. What the article got right is this: virtual teaching, when done with purpose and structure, can actually bring teachers back into the profession. Not push them out. But the key phrase there is when it’s DONE RIGHT. A lot of virtual models failed because they tried to replace teachers with recordings, platforms or auto-graded content. Of course that didn’t work. Kids need real human connection. They need certified teachers who can read the room, adjust in the moment and bring energy to a lesson. That’s exactly why I believe so strongly in LIVE virtual instruction. When a certified teacher is teaching students synchronously, face to face, it changes everything. Students stay engaged. Teachers stay present. Relationships still form. Learning doesn’t become transactional. We’ve seen this across so many of the districts we partner with. Students grow. Attendance improves. Classrooms feel more stable because there is a consistent, certified teacher leading instruction every single day. And for teachers, it’s even more powerful. Virtual teaching gives them flexibility without losing the heart of the work. They still get to build relationships with students. They still get to create those breakthrough moments. They just get to do it without some of the obstacles that pushed them toward burnout. The future of education isn’t about choosing between online or in person. It’s about designing systems that let great teachers stay in the profession and let students learn from the best, no matter where they live. When virtual instruction is built around real teachers, real interaction and real support, it works. We’ve seen it. And more districts are starting to see it too. #VirtualTeaching #TeacherWorkLifeBalance #LiveInstruction #TeacherRetention #EquityFor1MillionStudents

With new mobile devices constantly entering the market, ensuring compatibility is more challenging than ever. Compatibility issues can lead to poor user experiences, frustrating users with crashes and functionality problems. Staying ahead with comprehensive testing across a wide range of devices is crucial for maintaining user satisfaction and app reliability. I would like to share the strategy that I have used for comparability testing of mobile applications. 1️⃣ Early Sprint Testing: Emulators During the early stages of development within a sprint, leverage emulators. They are cost-effective and allow for rapid testing, ensuring you catch critical bugs early. 2️⃣ Stabilization Phase: Physical Devices As your application begins to stabilize, transition to testing on physical devices. This shift helps identify real-world issues related to device-specific behaviors, network conditions, and more. 3️⃣ Hardening/Release Sprint: Cloud-Based Devices In the final stages, particularly during the hardening or release sprint, use cloud-based device farms. This approach ensures your app is tested across a wide array of devices and configurations, catching any last-minute issues that could impact user experience. Adopting this 3 tiered approach ensures a comprehensive testing coverage, leading to a more reliable and user-friendly application. What is the strategy that you are adopting for testing your mobile apps. Please share your views as comments. #MobileTesting #SoftwareTesting #QualityAssurance #Testmetry

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗚𝗼 𝗖𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘃𝘀 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘅 As Go developers, we love its 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬-𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, but did you know that your Go code can behave differently on Windows and Linux 👉 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡: 𝐨𝐬.𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞() => a function that 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞, but it can act in 𝐮𝐧𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 ways depending on the operating system. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲: 𝗜𝗻 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗼𝘄𝘀, 𝐨𝐬.𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞() will 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥 if the file is open (even for reading). This is due to 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝗢𝗻 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘅, however, 𝐨𝐬.𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞() behaves differently, it will rename the file even if it’s open. Linux 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤 files in the same way, allowing you more flexibility in handling file operations. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿? If you’re developing software that runs on multiple platforms, you can’t just write your Go code once and assume it will work the same across all OSes. 𝐅𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 where the underlying OS differences could break your app without warning..(𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄) ⚠️ If you’re writing code that handles file operations (or any other system-specific tasks), 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬 you plan to deploy on. Don’t assume that everything behaves the same way 👉 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. Make sure your Go code plays nice on both Windows and Linux to avoid nasty surprises. ✅ One of the best solutions is to use cross-platform libraries. In Go, there are libraries like 𝐨𝐬/𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐜 or 𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐥 that provide built-in functions for handling files in a system-independent way. Instead of relying directly on 𝐨𝐬.𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞(), which may behave differently across operating systems, using these libraries can help avoid unexpected issues. 🤝 So, if you're looking for an alternative or a definitive solution, I recommend opting for a more robust approach that ensures compatibility across all platforms. #Go #Golang #CrossPlatform #FileHandling #WindowsVsLinux #DevTips #CodingBestPractices

Great data alert! Our partners at University of Oxford and collaborators have mapped subnational #gendergaps in internet and mobile adoption across 117 low- and middle-income countries. The global findings are striking—if not surprising: 📊 Women are 19% less likely to use the internet and 8% less likely to own a mobile phone. That’s 320 million fewer women online than men. And the authors remind us that even at the national level, the picture remains stark:📱For example, according to GSMA Foundation’s 2025 Mobile Gender Gap Report, 35% of adult Nigerian women use mobile internet. But it is when you get to double-click into the subnational data that “digital divides” start to look like chasms.📍In Nigeria, 55% of women in Lagos have accessed the internet—compared with just 1% in Kebbi State. In fact, across 40+ countries, the subnational variation in in female internet adoption exceeds 30 percentage points. The main takeaway: For those who could benefit most, live-saving and live-changing digital tools are even farther out of reach than most datasets suggest—a critical insight if we truly aspire to a digitally inclusive and equal future. 📖 Read the full #PNASJournal article: https://lnkd.in/eQKH2VCD 🔍 Explore the data: digitalgendergaps.org CC: Ridhi Kashyap Sharada Srinivasan Diva Dhar Joshua Blumenstock Caryl Feldacker, PhD, MPH Sumana Hussain #DigitalInclusion #GenderEquality #AIforGood #DigitalDivide #DataForDevelopment #Inclusion #TechForGood #DigitalTransformation #SustainableDevelopment #PNASJournal

Bioinformatics sounds exciting, right? Until you hit the first roadblock: tool installation. Even after 12 years in the field, setting up tools on a Mac with an M3 chip can feel like solving a puzzle. 🧵 1/ I’ve been working on an end-to-end tutorial to replicate Figure 1 of this paper: https://lnkd.in/eriiNN32 But guess what? The first challenge wasn’t the data analysis—it was just installing the tools. I am almost done with it. Sign up to get it when it is out! https://lnkd.in/eaYFQFkC 2/ Here’s why it was tricky: I’m using a MacBook Pro with an M3 chip. Many bioinformatics tools aren’t optimized for this architecture. Even with Conda, some tools won’t install properly. 3/ Example 1: I wanted to install fastq-dl to download FASTQ files from GEO: fastq-dl https://lnkd.in/eSi2ACNY But... I couldn’t. The dependency sra-tools doesn’t have a compatible version for macOS on M3. watch my chatomics video on OS https://lnkd.in/eEV_scgr When trying to install bowtie2 the read aligner, I got an error: “libcxx >=16 is missing”. Before I could even run bowtie2, I had to figure out how to install this missing dependency. 5/ For beginners, this is a huge hurdle. If it takes a full day just to install a tool, frustration kicks in quickly. Sure, Docker can help, but Docker itself has a learning curve. 6/ In bioinformatics, the #0 task is: “Can I install this tool easily?” If I can’t install it, I can’t use it. That’s my first filter for choosing any bioinformatics tool. 7/ What’s the solution? Better documentation on tool installation Pre-built containers for complex tools Community support for troubleshooting Cross-platform compatibility What else do you think could help reduce this frustration? Let’s discuss. I hope you've found this post helpful. Follow me for more. Subscribe to my FREE newsletter https://lnkd.in/erw83Svn