By G. Rendell. A story on NPR's Morning Edition today struck me (even before my first cup of coffee) as exemplifying how broken some of this country's default systems are. It was titled "This Stanford PhD became a Fruit Picker to Feed California's Hungry". Presented as a soft news/human interest item, its implications are enormous. Read more...
By Eric Stoller. For my last post of 2013, I'm going to change it up. This isn't about innovation, change, social media, analytics, or technology. Nope, this post is about running. When 2013 began, I wasn't able to run. During the last three months of 2012, I had developed plantar fasciitis in my right foot as well as a bruised heel in my left foot. My feet were a wreck. My podiatrist made me wear Brooks Beast shoes with custom orthotics. From January until the end of March, I wore those shoes for every keynote, consultation, and errand. As a self-identified sneaker aficionado, it was not a fun time. My desire to go for a run was maddening. If you're a runner, you'll understand. Distance running is what I do to reduce stress, enhance creative thought, and increase my metabolism. Not being able to run was/is a stressful experience. Read more...
By Joshua Kim. What are we? We are a community of book lovers.
We read books. We buy books. We assign books. We review books. We catalogue books. We recommend books. We talk about books. Some of you even write books.
Someone should add up the size of the IHE book economy. How many millions of dollars of book related commerce do we touch?
Why Amazon and B&N and Audible and the big publishers are not buying up every available ad on IHE is puzzling. Read more...
By Joshua Kim. I’m starting to get the feeling that the venture capitalists and philanthropists backing this Technology and Learning MOOB (massively open online blog) are running out of patience.
They want a sustainable revenue model. They want some ROI. They want it sooner than later.
I’ve been trying to point out that we’ve been focused on building a large user base, and that monetization opportunities will arise when enough people are participating in this MOOB. Read more...
By Joshua Kim. How many edtech and/or TLC (Teaching and Learning Center) conferences will you go to in the next 12 months?
Which conferences?
How do you decide?
I’ve been trying to figure out which conference (or conferences) to attend in 2014. Read more...
By Matt Reed. Earlier this week, I mentioned my suspicion that part of the reason that the Adler case in Colorado was attracting so much attention is that it’s the increasingly rare no-brainer. Now, Kansas decides to up the ante. I may have to rethink my assumption that no-brainers are increasingly rare. This makes two in a single week. The Kansas Board of Regents has adopted a social media policy that, among other things, bans any communication that “impairs...harmony among co-workers.” I think of this as the “more trouble than you’re worth” clause. Read more...
By Matt Reed. This actually happened earlier this week.
The Girl and I were in the car, driving home after a school event. She’s nine, and she was in the back seat.
TG (unprompted): How do philosophers make a living?
DD (laughs): Where did that come from? Read more...
By Tracy Mitrano. I am historian who has a law degree, so don’t expect an exegesis on the legal definition of a whistleblower and map it to rules that defined Mr. Snowden's employment and security clearance. Instead, my mind goes to James Oaks’ “The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics.” It is a wonderful story. Lincoln started his career as a politician and ended it a radical reformer; Douglass’s life was the reverse. But the real magic is the moment when their paths crossed. During the Civil War, Lincoln received Douglass at the White House. Read more...
By Tracy Mitrano. My parents were not college educated. As a child, my father woke at 3 a.m. to deliver milk on horse-drawn wagons and run a paper route all before the morning school bell. He left high school in his junior year to help support his family during the Great Depression. So among many things that college did was teach me vocabulary I did not hear at home. I carried a dictionary with me at all times, a stranger in a strange land translating to assimilate. Read more...
The Canadian Association of University Teachers this week called for colleges and universities in Canada to sever ties to Confucius Institutes, which have been set up at many Canadian (and American) campuses with support from the Chinese government. Supporters say that the institutes are a valuable way to expose more students outside China to Chinese history and culture. But critics say that the institutes present an oversimplified and positive image of China and that universities that want the house institutes may feel pressure to avoid certain topics. Read more...
/https%3A%2F%2Fprofilepics.canalblog.com%2Fprofilepics%2F1%2F0%2F1076071.jpg)
