By John Warner. I never thought my 1970’s elementary classroom was a place of innovation, but I now recognize it as my first experience with peer grading. For us, it was the exchanging of spelling tests, where we would mark each other’s papers as the teacher read off the correct answers. I never minded this kind of peer grading because, at least in grade school, I was a pretty good student and I wasn’t afraid for a classmate to see how I’d done.[1] At the time, I thought it was a method for the teacher to cut down on her work, but I now recognize that the real benefit was to expose us to the correct answers in real time, a chance to reflect on our results and reinforce the correct answers. Read more...

By John Warner. I’ve long suspected this is the case, but now we have proof. Bill Gates is using his billions to give rise to The Matrix. As viewers of the movie know, in the world of the Matrix, most human beings exist as a kind of biological battery, trapped in sacks of goo, fueling the sentient computers. Only a handful have escaped and are able to plug into and manipulate the life simulation that the Matrix pumps into our goo-sacked heads. Read more...

By Barbara Fister. So much Internet commerce, including newsmedia that have seen traditional revenue streams dwindle to a trickle, relies on gathering personal information from web users in ways that are largely invisible. As the web turns 25, I’m beginning to think that anyone who cares about information literacy should include a critical look at how our privacy is endangered and how to avoid sharing personal information when you don’t want to. Read more...

By Rosemarie Emanuele. In math, we have symbols that give meaning to the difference between two values. If the difference between the first variable and the second is positive, we denote the first as being greater than the second with the symbol “>”. If, however the first is less than the second, we write the symbol “<” between the two values. I found myself reflecting on this when I read an article in the magazine Parade this past weekend, in which several very successful women were promoting a campaign to ban the word “Bossy." I began to wonder, just how did being bossy become a quality that is less respected in our society, especially when applied to girls? Read more...