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The Edupunks’ Guide: How to Become Part of a Network

A diploma is the final step in a traditional education, but in the DIY world, credit comes from the reputation you build by doing good work and demonstrating it to others in a community. The rules of this world are informal and evolving, but joining and demonstrating value to a network is not optional for [...]

Academia | Education | Philosophy | Psychology

Education Week Teacher: Five Questions That Will Improve Your Teaching

It’s sometimes said that schools are where young people go to see older people work. Too often, we fall into the trap of seeing our students as vessels that need to be filled up. Instead, we should remember this quote attributed to Confucius: “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do [...]

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Its Not the Technology, Stupid! Response to NYT “Twitter Trap” | HASTAC

The industrial age worked hard to separate “work” from “home.” Everything about the common or public schools started in the mid-nineteenth century reinforced that division: from the school bell ringing for each child at the same time of day, of each child entering school at age 6 whether they were ready or not, about sitting [...]

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“Scary Things”: An Address to the Class of 2011 — The Goreletter — Michael Arnzen

Mike Arnzen posted his weird and wonderful address to graduation seniors.

“Scary Things”: An Address to the Class of 2011 — The Goreletter — Michael Arnzen.

Cyberculture | Games | Media | Modding | Philosophy

io9. We come from the future.

The whole “reality is an illusion” idea has been kicked around by everyone from Siddhartha to the existentialists. It is Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom who is most often associated with the idea that we are living in a computer simulation. His premise is based on a series of assumptions:

1). A technological society could eventually [...]

Aesthetics | Culture | Essays | Ethics | Humanities | Literacy | Media | Philosophy | Rhetoric | Technology

The Poet and the Computer

The essential problem of man in a computerized age remains the same as it has always been. That problem is not solely how to be more productive, more comfortable, more content, but how to be more sensitive, more sensible, more proportionate, more alive. The computer makes possible a phenomenal leap in human proficiency; it demolishes [...]

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Why GeekDad wants better videogame deaths for his kids (Wired UK)

When my son was young, I noticed that videgames had taught him that problems are surmountable, so long as you have enough tries. That’s not always true, of course, or practical.

We had a chat about things dying, and as I struggled to lightly broach the subject with him I ended up talking about the [...]

Academia | Culture | Education | Personal | Philosophy | Science

From Fish to Infinity

Yesterday, my eight-year-old said, “I don’t like math, but I’m good at it.”

This is a huge improvement from the math-related tug-of-wars we’ve encountered almost daily for the past year and a half. Yesterday, she also finished a “Star Wars Math” game, where the idea is to play a Trivial Pursuits style game, spaced-out versions [...]

Academia | Culture | Drama | Education | Philosophy | Psychology | Rhetoric

Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you’re good at it. To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences. This often requires fortitude on the part of the parents because the child [...]

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Link Attribution, the Early Blogosphere and the Arts & Letters Daily

Fascinating discussion of the evolution (and violation) of the emerging blogosphere convention for citing links, in the late 90s. A few years ago, I was exploring what happened to the canonical first blogs, a short list of frequently updated web pages that  Jesse James Garret identified as weblogs, and I mentioned in passing that I [...]