The MOOC Honeymoon is Over: Three Takeaways from the Coursera Calamity

The honeymoon with MOOCs is over. The reality check has finally arrived which was inevitable. MOOCs will not solve all the woes of higher education. It is unfortunate it had to be a class on how to design an online course; it was the Fundamentals of Online Education: Planning and Application [FOE] offered through Coursera…

How Patriotic

Similar:In October, 1999 I was blogging about college application essays, Willie Crowther, and Eli… Jessica found herself wishing that s…AcademiaAuschwitz color photo: 'A 14-year-old girl, not just a statistic'I don’t know what this prisoner did, but…Aesthetics100 Word ChallengeIt is a weekly creative writing challeng…CultureNot a #carguy but I pried open the hatch of the van…

Beatrice the Biologist: How the Brain Works

Beatrice the Biologist: How the Brain Works. Similar:Peter vs. the PenguinsFor the past hour, Peter (who is not yet…AmusingExperience: I let a baby bird nest in my hair for 84 days He was abandoned by his flock, his nes…EmpathyCollege student makes masks for the deaf & hard of hearing Other than one trip to the…

A Wealth of Words

People with similar vocabulary sizes may vary significantly in their talent and in the depth of their understanding. Nonetheless, there’s no better index to accumulated knowledge and general competence than the size of a person’s vocabulary. Simply put: knowing more words makes you smarter. And between 1962 and the present, a big segment of the…

MSNBC Airs Un-Edited Sandy Hook Father’s Testimony After Critics Complain

NBC aired doctored versions of a 911 call in the Trayvon Martin case, which led to an apology and several people losing their jobs in April. On Monday, MSNBC aired a video that seemed to show a grief-stricken man being heckled by pro-gun lobbyists while talking about his recently murdered son. via The Hollywood Reporter Similar:Robot Dramas: Autonomous…

Pinkalicious — “Buzz Off”

My daughter plays the Bumblebee in “Buzz Off,” which both ended Act I and opened Act II in last weekend’s Stage Right! production of Pinkalicious. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gr6jlrndSU Similar:Let He Who Is Without Sin #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 7) Worf Scorns RisaRewatching ST:DS9 A nervous Morn sniffs…AmusingHow to be a Medieval Spectator (Intro to Toronto…

Make Games in the Classroom with Inform 7

I’ll blog pretty much anything that has to do with Inform 7. Text-based games, or interactive fiction, have continued to evolve since the days of Zork. Many works can be powerful for play in the classroom: Emily Short’s “interactive epistolary” First Draft of the Revolution, Andrew Plotkin’s physics-grounded Dual Transform, Peter Nepstad’s historically grounded 1893: A…

Almost Flat Design

Apple, Google and Microsoft have very different design aesthetics. Almost Flat Design | Matthew Moore Design. Similar:Figured out how to configure my iPad as an external monitor for my laptop. Much more effic…CybercultureTop: flat, monochrome rectangles. Middle: rectangles with a flat bitmapped texture of butt…AestheticsOpen Letter from a Millennial: Quit Telling Us We’re Not SpecialEven…