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:Pythagorean Theorem Found On Clay Tablet 1,000 Years Older Than PythagorasTranslating the markings from base 60 – …CultureVisiting my parents. Admiring their original Hallmark Enterprise Christmas ornament. I ask…AmusingThis morning I awoke to YouTube’s live footage of crowds circling a mosque in Mecca. For m… CultureVeteran’s microphone cut off when he discusses Black people’s role…

Beatrice the Biologist: How the Brain Works

Beatrice the Biologist: How the Brain Works. Similar:I think I smelled a hint of my mint toothpaste just now. Wishful thinking, or another sign…For the past 2 weeks I have slept a lot,…AcademiaWhen an Eel Climbs a Ramp to Eat Squid From a Clamp, That’s a MoraySomewhere today a headline writer is wea…AwesomeDestroying trust in…

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:Smith College Protesters…

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. Similar:When it comes to the truth, point of view really does matter.You may have seen a version of this meme…DesignPictures from opening night of @pictclassictheatre Jane Eyre. (Show runs through…

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…