Blurts

I encountered this advice for students suggesting how they might achieve “useful” learning. As a prof, one of the folks this piece seems to indicate are part of the problem, I can say that the advice is not all wrong. As a student you do need to make learning your own. If you can use my perspective or the content in the reading material I assign as a starting point, that would be great. They pay me to offer my perspective, but I cannot learn for you. If it helps to question these perspectives, I really wish you would. I apply a critical eye to the content I encounter. You should approach learning with a little bit of an attitude. However, do not fool yourself by thinking neither of these approaches requires time or effort. You earn the right to have an attitude.

I love to hang out in coffee shops. This was the case even before I would bring my tech. This appears to be true of many. It seems to me that reading and writing are solitary tasks but we like to engage in these behaviors in public. Perhaps this is a way of offsetting the mental isolation.

I am guessing the establishments have a love/hate thing going on with us. Even at coffee house prices for a latte we take up space and expect good wifi.

I like Panera’s policy. This seems reasonable.

Looking around, I would say that I am not taking up the space required by a potential customer.

I am not a liberal arts type, but I have listened for years to educators associated with such programs make their case. I have wondered where they have been in the current debate which seems to argue that education at all levels become more “career relevant”. I thought this article from the Atlantic at least frames the debate.

Today, I begin my 8th year as a subscriber to LastFM. During this time period I have listened to 206917 songs. I calculate this to be approximately 1,480 hours per year (at 3 minutes per song). I scrobble each song after I listen – this is the term for the software sends info to LastFM.

My data informs me I have very eclectic tastes leaning toward jazz and blues. Miles Davis is evidently my favorite artist – 3653 songs played. Davis was also my favorite for the past year so my taste has some stability. However, Rodriquez was my second favorite artist for the past year despite just becoming familiar with his work from a 60 minutes program (if I remember correctly).

I do sometimes use the social feature of this service to identify others with similar interest and to find new artists I might like. The concept of using big data to learn from others interests me.