Blurts

Quora is attempting to create a social answer service (I like this description and I think it is original).  It seems similar to Mahalo to me, but the approach taken would appear to draw in more contributors (perhaps of varying quality). I think that the mechanical efficiency of Google search is clearly a great way to find information, but finding answers that require an interpretation must tap into creativity and problem solving best offered by human volunteers. This should be interesting.

iOS4 (that is the new operating system for the iphone and iPad Touch) is here. Here are the review and basic install instructions from ReadWriteWeb.

MacWorld offers this list of practical suggestions for keeping kids safe online. The suggestions are quite concrete, but as you might expect suggestions are explained assuming the student is working on a Macintosh.

p>There seems to be a move toward “brain based” everything. Somehow knowing which area of the brain “fires up” when an activity is on-going appears to explain something. My background is in cognitive psychology and this background offers a way to understand some thinking and learning activities. I understand that core constructs in cognitive psychology represent what are sometimes called “hypothetical constructs” and the models that are built without biological equivalents to explain cognitive phenomena do trouble some folks. Just what is attention or working memory if you can’t locate it in the brain. I have the same reaction to those who are enthralled by the correlations between engagement in certain cognitive tasks and certain parts of the brain lighting up on a PET scan or fMRI. I am still waiting for applications and I am not certain what an application would even look like. Perhaps the future will bring such applications, but at this point I still regard neuroscience as basic science.

Will Thalheimer offers an interesting post on our fascination with “brain based” explanations. The focus in this case is on the impact of arguments that utilize a scientific sounding connection to brain function.

Paper Rater offers writing tools to assist students in evaluating their writing projects. The online service proofreads and identifies plagiarized material (“Find out if your paper contains plagiarized text before your professor does.”).

I copied an pasted some content from one of my web sites to see what would happen. The service did indicate that the material was plagiarized.

It also gave me a generally positive review of my writing skills.

There are free and premium versions of this service. At first glance, I must admit my reaction to the perspective on plagiarism was irritation. It seemed to be a way for a student to estimate the chance that he might get caught. I assume this is not what was intended, but I also assume that the understanding of when one has plagiarized should be easier to develop than other writing skills.

All in all, this is an interesting service addressing skills that are always a challenge to develop.

The March/April issue of Educause Review contains an article by Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger offering comment on several claims regarding the Internet and education. No, you still need to know things. No, learning is still ultimately the accomplishment of an individual.

I like the Willingham book for the science, but maybe if a wikipedia guy pretty much says the same things the message will get through.