Thursday, May 26, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Brute Force & Complex Systems
NYT: Mayor of Rust
A domestic example of how feel good charity works in the best of cases - not so bad as to be negative, but of debatable positive impact. Another piece in the history of American Dreams and American Realities.
A domestic example of how feel good charity works in the best of cases - not so bad as to be negative, but of debatable positive impact. Another piece in the history of American Dreams and American Realities.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
A Step Towards . . . Something.
NYT: Teachers’ Colleges Upset By Plan to Grade Them
The U.S. News & World Report wants to grade teacher colleges and, consistent with standards in education, people are unhappy. That may seem unsurprising, but they may have a point regarding the shallow methodology proposed by an advocacy group, the National Council on Teacher Quality, responsible for the first version piloted in Illinois and Texas. So, overall, exactly what you'd expect given the basics of the situation, but still interesting insofar as the race has started.
It's hard to imagine it making schools worse in the short term, but it might make hypothetical improvements of the future take second seat to whatever crazy criteria earn schools a better grade - see undergraduate universities and their lust for rankings over substance.
The U.S. News & World Report wants to grade teacher colleges and, consistent with standards in education, people are unhappy. That may seem unsurprising, but they may have a point regarding the shallow methodology proposed by an advocacy group, the National Council on Teacher Quality, responsible for the first version piloted in Illinois and Texas. So, overall, exactly what you'd expect given the basics of the situation, but still interesting insofar as the race has started.
It's hard to imagine it making schools worse in the short term, but it might make hypothetical improvements of the future take second seat to whatever crazy criteria earn schools a better grade - see undergraduate universities and their lust for rankings over substance.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Tutor Scripting Languages: Another Angle
Wordpress: Kindle Goban
"Active Content" sounds a lot like a scripting language for interactive textbooks. This could be a big direction for worked examples tutoring to head in.
"Active Content" sounds a lot like a scripting language for interactive textbooks. This could be a big direction for worked examples tutoring to head in.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Illusion of Knowing
NYT: To Really Learn, Quit Studying and Take a Test
A study published in Science shows better long term recall when students take a "test" - when they write an essay on the material and then re-read the material before writing another essay. This approach beat out repeated studying sessions and drawing concept maps - even when the long term assessment was to create a concept map from memory.
The mystery effect seems to be that the essays give students an opportunity test what they know and what they don't - when they return to the material, their perception is then focused on new things that were not recalled as opposed to simply recognizing everything in a "I've seen this before" way.
A study published in Science shows better long term recall when students take a "test" - when they write an essay on the material and then re-read the material before writing another essay. This approach beat out repeated studying sessions and drawing concept maps - even when the long term assessment was to create a concept map from memory.
The mystery effect seems to be that the essays give students an opportunity test what they know and what they don't - when they return to the material, their perception is then focused on new things that were not recalled as opposed to simply recognizing everything in a "I've seen this before" way.
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