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Mathieu Plourde

MOOCs - massive open online courses: jumping on the bandwidth - 0 views

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    "Regardless of the goal of MOOCs - be it for profit or idealism - there are genuine educational concerns that need to be closely monitored. A course with 10,000 (or even 1,000) students enrolled cannot foster any significant discussion. Yes, teaching assistants (TAs) can be employed to groups of 100-200 students for online questions etc, but that may not be so simple. About 100 TAs would be needed for a modest-sized MOOC of 10,000 students. Even for the lecturer to organise 100 TAs would be a Herculean task. Another serious concern is evaluation. How can one evaluate 20,000 students taking a course? Yes, electronic quizzes and multiple-choice tests can be given to monitor progress - if the material is suitable for such types of questions. But what about material in the social sciences and humanities that might be harder to evaluate (than science) without essay-style answers? I've already seen that companies are attempting to write computer programs that will grade essays. But as one educator put it, how can a programmer include wit and style for evaluation in such a program?"
Mathieu Plourde

Open access inaction - 2 views

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    I've published this paper in a journal called Science and Public Policy - a conventional way of being read by other academics. Except that whatever baroque negotiations have taken place between the journal's new publisher and the UCL library mean that, despite being a member staff at one of Europe's largest universities, I don't seem to have access to that journal. This piece of research, funded by British taxpayers, can't even be read by me.
Mathieu Plourde

NetSmartz: Tips for online children safety (NCMEC) - 0 views

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    NetSmartz Workshop is an interactive, educational program of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC) that provides age-appropriate resources to help teach children how to be safer on- and offline. The program is designed for children ages 5-17, parents and guardians, educators, and law enforcement. With resources such as videos, games, activity cards, and presentations, NetSmartz entertains while it educates.
Mathieu Plourde

Ofcom: six-year-olds understand digital technology better than adults | Technology | Th... - 1 views

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    The advent of broadband in the year 2000 has created a generation of digital natives, the communication watchdog Ofcom says in its annual study of British consumers. Born in the new millennium, these children have never known the dark ages of dial up internet, and the youngest are learning how to operate smartphones or tablets before they are able to talk.
Mathieu Plourde

The NYTOnIt Twitter account is hilarious. Shame the Times can't take a joke - 1 views

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    "It's sad that the Times' lawyers should have gone after what is clearly fair comment - and perhaps sadder that Twitter caved in"
Mathieu Plourde

Open online courses - an avalanche that might just get stopped - 0 views

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    "The bottom line is that there really is no replacement for face-to-face interaction between academics and students. Digital and online methods can enrich those interactions, but it seems unlikely they can replace them in anything other than a greatly impoverished way without the investment of considerable resources. No wonder 72% of those who have taught moocs over the past three years believe students who took their classes had not done sufficient work to deserve credit from their institution."
Mathieu Plourde

Online students and teachers are no different from the rest of academia - 0 views

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    "I'm not a radical, or anti-establishment - I've loved and respected working at every university I've joined. I just happen to have moved into a different learning delivery model because I knew it would give me greater flexibility to continue with my academic interests and spend more time with my family. It's a model that fits around my life. That's something I share in common with my students. They aren't unusual either. They just choose to study online because the flexibility suits them. Online higher education means students can combine education with employment - often fast-tracking their careers as a result - or fit study around family commitments."
Mathieu Plourde

Can Twitter open up a new space for learning, teaching and thinking? - 0 views

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    "Fluidity, flexibility and responsiveness seem like important skills for students to develop as part of their learning. Apart from anything else, it's a great way to bring some additional life into lectures and encourage students to think about their online presence; something they inevitably will have, but which is usually separate from their learning."
Mathieu Plourde

Mobile phones in the classroom: teachers share their tips - 0 views

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    "From multimedia to geocaching, the possibilities for using mobiles to engage learners are endless. Teachers tell Emma Drury how and why they are using the devices in school"
Mathieu Plourde

Edward Snowden's not the story. The fate of the internet is | Technology | The Observer - 0 views

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    "The first is that the days of the internet as a truly global network are numbered. It was always a possibility that the system would eventually be Balkanised, ie divided into a number of geographical or jurisdiction-determined subnets as societies such as China, Russia, Iran and other Islamic states decided that they needed to control how their citizens communicated. Now, Balkanisation is a certainty."
Mathieu Plourde

How to make the most of academic conferences - five tips | Higher Education Network | G... - 1 views

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    "For the newer researcher like me, notwithstanding the delights of Cardiff, conferences are an opportunity for my thesis to face the scrutiny of the outside world; a vital part of joining the conversation of your academic peers, finding out where your research sits and gaining genuine feedback. Despite this promise, academic conferences are essentially esoteric and definitely not easy for the uninitiated. Nonetheless, I think I've found five simple rules that might be useful:"
Mathieu Plourde

Why do academics blog? It's not for public outreach, research shows - 0 views

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    "After conducting this small study we have come to think about academic blogging in two ways. Firstly, many bloggers are talking together in a kind of giant, global virtual common room. Over at one table there is a lively, even angry, conversation about working conditions in academia in different parts of the world. In a different corner another group are discussing their latest research projects and finding common themes. Another table houses a group of senior and early career academics discussing how to land a book contract and write a good CV. There is also a meeting going on about public policy, and this involves a number of public and third sector people, as well as academics, who work in the area."
Mathieu Plourde

I am an adjunct professor who teaches five classes. I earn less than a pet-sitter | Lee... - 0 views

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    "My situation is not unique. 76% of instructional staff appointments in US higher education are now not even full-time jobs"
Mathieu Plourde

Chalk: is it harmful to health? - 0 views

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    Academics have tackled the issue of whether chalk dust is harmful to health - rather belatedly, you may think
Mathieu Plourde

Google boss warns of 'forgotten century' with email and photos at risk | Technology | T... - 0 views

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    "Humanity's first steps into the digital world could be lost to future historians, Vint Cerf told the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting in San Jose, California, warning that we faced a "forgotten generation, or even a forgotten century" through what he called "bit rot", where old computer files become useless junk."
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