Open Problems

Good news: the Wolfram|Alpha app is now $1.99 (as ...

2010-04-08T00:40:58.915-07:00

Good news: the Wolfram|Alpha app is now $1.99 (as opposed to the former, rediculous price of $49.99). The app's enhanced keyboard makes it far easier to use than the mobile website. I look forward to trying out an iPad for myself soon!

Ok some more: 4. The iPad is intrinsically social...

2010-04-04T15:00:55.405-07:00

Ok some more:

4. The iPad is intrinsically social in comparison to laptop, which can present a vertical barrier. This addresses a huge concern of those who see "1:1 laptops" to be synonymous with "laptops in the classroom" (I don't).

5. The battery life is exceptional. Exactly what you'd need and more. Addresses another huge concern of faculty.

6. Exchange compatible.

I'm feeling a bit of frustration that we don't just pick this or something like it up right away. Try it out. And go all four years - the idea that seniors might not be doing computing in a standardized way until 2015 or later is appalling.

My priorities:

- ubiquitous, reliable, portable Internet/web access for students 24/7
- students creating and processing content as much as consuming it
- applications which extend and revolutionize (end) the traditional textbook
- a tool students would use anyway because it's the right tool for the task

Hey Dr. Phil, I like this one even better! http:/...

2009-11-09T23:36:02.057-08:00

Hey Dr. Phil, I like this one even better!

http://www.nikon.com/about/feelnikon/universcale/index_f.htm

It goes from femtometers to lightyears =)

It seems like having such would be Job 1. I'...

2009-10-31T14:43:38.415-07:00

It seems like having such would be Job 1.

I've also been thinking a lot about the downward pressure on standards that 'curving' generates.

Imagine you say 'students need to learn X, Y, Z' and write a multiple choice test and a student gets a 50% -- which happens to be the class average. The question is: what does the 50% mean? They didn't learn it? They did learn it?

Or better: say you give them an F for the 50% but allow them to do test corrections to raise to a C. Does this mean they learned it? When if the next time they are tested they get a 50% again? Do you average the C and the following F?

There is enormous pressure on teachers to give 'the right' fraction of As, Bs, and Cs, regardless of student performance.

I would love to see a document in school's han...

2009-10-31T14:21:29.727-07:00

I would love to see a document in school's handbooks that described what each letter grade meant, in a practical and meaningful way like this. Serra has done this with some success:
http://blog.siprep.org/cattech/p?=402

I'm not fully in favor of their wording, and like the philosophical point that you raise in comparing Scheme 1 to Scheme 2 above - but their articulation is better than most schools' ... largely because few schools have any.