The task is simple: in eighteen minutes, teams must build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. The marshmallow needs to be on top. —Marshmallow Challenge Kindergartners regularly beat business school graduates, in part because the suits spent time jockeying for…
Clearly Facebook has taught us some lessons. We want easier ways to share photos, links and short updates with friends, family, co-workers and even, sometimes, the world. But that doesn’t mean the company has earned the right to own and define our identities. It’s time for the best of the tech community to find a…
I spend a lot of time asking students to keep bias out of their writing, and I remind students that the adjectival form of “bias” is “biased.” But it occurs to me that I haven’t really spent that much time explaining what bias is, or talked about the numerous different ways that people can be…
Facebook’s increasing breeches of user trust have even spawned a new term, “zuckering,” as in “That user-interface totally zuckered me into sharing 50 wedding photos,” inspired by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who once used private Facebook data to access email and other accounts of classmates while at Harvard. —NBC Bay Area Similar:Former Facebook Workers: We…
The data suggest that 80 percent of professors, with little variance by age, have at least one account with either Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Skype, LinkedIn, MySpace, Flickr, Slideshare, or Google Wave. Nearly 60 percent kept accounts with more than one, and a quarter used at least four. A majority, 52 percent, said they used at…
Today in class, I caught the same student texting three times, within ten minutes. I used nonverbal responses and slowly escalated, in order to keep my reaction from interrupting the flow of the class discussion. Yes, we want to treat students like adults; yes, whatever was distracting her may really be serious; yes, she has paid…
I sometimes ask my students to do a “media fast,” in which everyone tries to give up whatever is getting in the way. The last time I assigned the “media fast,” I had noticed that I would often ask my older son read a book to my younger daughter, as a way of keeping them…
Google says users will be able to buy digital copies of books they discover through its book-search service. It will also allow book retailers–even independent shops–to sell Google Editions on their own sites, giving partners the bulk of the revenue. The company would have copies on its servers for works it strikes agreements to sell.…
Roger Ebert recently posted this thoughtful essay, which is ostensibly about film criticism, but is also about how an intellectual activity benefits culture at large when the talented amateurs get access to power that was once the privilege of elite professionals. Another thing not everybody knows is that some of the best critical writing on…
A form I just got from the Academic Affairs office, as part of Seton Hill University’s plan to provide iPads to its faculty (along with all full-time students). This is just my roughest first draft. What do you think? What would you do with iPads in the classroom? If you wish to…
My highly dramatic daughter is not likely to achieve kolinahr any time soon, but we can all wish that she live long and prosper on the occasion of her First Communion.P.S. My wife said I could post this photo as long as I also posted a “normal” one. (See below.) Similar:I had to act like…
War is peace, ignorance is knowledge, and Apple is open. Oh, the fun one can have with search-and-replace. Here’s the doubleplusfun Hoopty Rides found: Before: Adobe’s Flash products are 100% proprietary. They are only available from Adobe, and Adobe has sole authority as to their future enhancement, pricing, etc. While Adobe’s Flash products are widely…
It’s rather amusing to read Apple’s CEO tut-tutting Flash for not being an open developing environment, but plenty of developers with years of Flash skills are watching this very closely. Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they…
Tablets such as the iPad will only make it harder for students to pay attention in class and for schools to ban devices. Because the iPad can be used to read textbooks, professors might be unsure which students are goofing off and which are studying. Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania doesn’t seem to mind. In…
Sony is discontinuing the production of the floppy disk. I’ve seen the vast excitement over the arrival of VHS tapes – and the shrug that accompanied their demise. Plus: Betamax videocassettes, reels of recording tape, DAT tapes, audio cassettes, eight-track cartridges, and 5.25in floppy disks. Now, Sony announced this week, 3.5in floppy disks are set…
“Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable.”– A US general, speaking out, not against firing projectiles, but against the popular oral presentation crutch, PowerPoint. Similar:5 Fun Ways to Help Your Kids Learn Math OnlineMy son has finally found a math textbook…CybercultureApple’s new diverse emoji are even more problematic than beforeThis author did a great…
To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee Sir: I got your letter and was glad to find you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you.…
Universities “should not be doing anything in the classroom that could be done online” (Times Higher Education) I’ll give the speaker the benefit of the doubt, and interpret that to mean “could be done just as well online.” Actually, I’ve recently been re-considering my goal of collecting and returning all feedback from face-to-face classes electronically.…
Hitler, as “Downfall producer” orders a DMCA takedown from Brad Templeton on Vimeo. As I understand it, the DMCA is not actually involved — it’s YouTube’s internal content-management feature, that lets copyright owners register their material, so that YouTube can search its database and take down, or monetize, any and all instances. Similar:The White House’s…
The industry’s great hope was that the iPad would bring electronic books to the masses–and help make them profitable. E-books are booming. Although they account for only an estimated three to five per cent of the market, their sales increased a hundred and seventy-seven per cent in 2009, and it was projected that they would…