Programming Sucks
Peter Welch, Still Drinking, May 7, 2014
Language warning. The article is overstated but essentially accurate. I've worked with large shops enough to know it isn't as bad as he describes, but I've looked at enough code to know that it is (if you don't believe me ask yourself why an article written in 2014 has a copyright date of 2011 - now, if you're writing a scraper, how do you calculate the date for this article?). More...
Previewing a new Classroom
Zach Yeskel, Official Google Canada Blog, May 7, 2014
Dozens of LMS companies are reexamining their business plans this week after the launch of Google's preview of Classroom, part of the Google Apps for Education suite. According to their official blog, Classroom helps teachers:
Google says it wants the applications to "play well" with others. More...
The uncodings of ANT: Mobilities of digital data
Terrie Lynn Thompson, Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Networked Learning 2014, May 7, 2014
One of the best of the bunch from a double symposium, this short paper challenges our understanding of Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Terrie Lynn Thompson writes, "One of the basic tenets of Actor Network Theory (ANT) is to 'follow the actors'." But the 'actors' in a data-driven world are slippery and elusive. More...
Assembling University learning technologies for an open world: connecting institutional and social networks
John Hannon, Matthew Riddle, Thomas Ryberg, Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Networked Learning 2014, May 7, 2014
Perhaps this is why I understand traditional academics less and less as time goes by: "many academics still prefer - knowingly or otherwise - to replicate the ‘real’ in the virtual world, rather than unfetter themselves from tradition and the familiar and create new selves, constructs, relationships and opportunities for engagement." By contrast, I feel myself and my work adapting and growing as technology grows. More...
Why I, Too, Killed My LinkedIn Account
Luis Suarez, E L U S A, May 7, 2014
OK, that's just the title, I haven't deleted my LinkedIn account, Luis Suarez has. But my own social media deletions are probably nor far in the future, though. Here's Heather Bussing: "I don’t agree to their Terms of Service, and I don’t need LinkedIn enough to put up with it." The terms give them permission to sell my information, to control who sees my information and to block competitors. More...
A to Z of Learning
Donald Clark, Big Dog, Little Dog, May 7, 2014
From aLearning to eLearning to zLearning - a good idea, but I think Donald Clark missed the mark on a few letters. Like rLearning, which he says must be 'Redundant Learning', really (it seems to me) would be better suited for 'Rote Learning'. vLearning he calls 'Various Learning' but it should obviously be 'Virtual Learning. More...
Writing Instructor, Skeptical of Automated Grading, Pits Machine vs. Machine
Steve Kolowich, The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 5, 2014
It's one of those stories the Chronicle loves to print - grizzled gadfly argues against computers in education - but in this case the critic has a point. Les Perelman, who in the past has had heated exchanges with promoters of automated essay grading, has authored a computer program that writes essays composed of gibberish but which score well in automated essay graders. More...
A world of pervasive networks
Harold Jarche, May 5, 2014
Harold Jarche applies McLuhan's tetrad to the world of pervasive networks. McLuhan's original model (not a 'lens') suggests each new technology has the potential to: first, extend a human property, second, obsolesce a previous technology, third, retrieve an older technology, and fourth, have the opposite effect when pushed to its limits. More...
How to Know When Your Great Idea is Ready for the World
Tim Kastelle, The Discipline of Innovation, May 5, 2014
Over the last couple years as I have been more involved in things like business plans the abbreviation TRL made an increasingly frequent appearance. It stands for 'Technology Readiness Level' and is a scale devised by NASA and the US Department of Defence to rank innovations; it ranges from 1 - 'basic principle observed and reported' - through to 9 - 'flight tested'. More...
Mass Customization of Education by an Institution of HE: What Can We Learn from Industry?
Robert Schuwer, Rob Kusters, International Review of Research in Open, Distance Learning (IRRODL), May 5, 2014
So this seems like a good time to restate a distinction I've been using for some time now:
A similar distinction appears with similar terms. So, for example, a custom car is one that was built especially for you, while a customized car is a production-line car with features adjusted to your specification. More...
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