Blurts

I am constantly running into new sources. The latest is an online magazine – MaximumPC. Perhaps I need to take off my Mac goggles.

Anyway, from MaximumPC here is a tip list for Google Apps. Find your favorite app and learn something new.

I have made comments before about what I think is an over-emphasis on STEM topics. As a recovering biology major converted to a Psychology PhD and self taught programmer, I somehow came to this conclusion. Perhaps I am just jealous of where the money seems to go.

Anyway, I came across a very well written post by Alan Skorkin on this topic. Skorkin who makes his living programming begins by suggesting that he uses little math in his own work. He indicates though that he has become somewhat bored with his day to day work and in exploring more interesting topics he comes to the conclusion that innovative advances in the field require a stronger math background. He describes this as the difference between programming and computer science.

I thought this was inciteful and it clearly explains my own level of functioning. I am capable of getting a computer to perform the tasks that I want it to perform, but the tasks I require are quite concrete.

I guess my follow-up question would be – which individuals need to develop the skills to do what. Which individuals need the math and which need simply to get the computer to do the concrete tasks they need done? Maybe I have not changed my mind after all. I still think the question is what skills at what level are important for large numbers of students (e.g., all students going to college) and what skills are important for those individuals we hope will do great things in a specialized area. I think some of the STEM initiatives lose sight of this distinction.

BTW – The Skorkin blog is impressive in the quality of the writing and the interaction he seems able to generate with his readers.

I wonder if the iPad will encourage more self-publishing. The publishing industry is certainly consolidating offer fewer alternatives. Sharing (publishing without a revenue stream) clearly has drawbacks. This commentary from DigitalBeat describes Smashword’s (a self-publishing service) plan for the iPad. I believe that a) more options are desirable and b) authors need some revenue. Perhaps services that will develop around the iPad will address these needs.

The Chronicle of Higher Ed obviously prioritizes higher ed issues. However, this recent article in the Chronicle sees that new National Technology Plan as sending a message to those involved in teacher prep. The message in this case is “be aware of the emerging significance of online instruction/learning”. I wonder how our ed college is responding to this trend. I know grad programs are well aware as they involve grad students, but I wonder how the teachers in training have been impacted? I am still a believer in the influence of personal experiences. Perhaps all campus-based students should be required to take a certain number of credits online.

This blog went down about a week ago. I am still not certain what the problem was. I am thinking my third party software had not been updated in some time because I customized some components and did not want to go through the process again and the provider updated MySQL or PHP causing some critical failure. I knew where the problem was, but not how to fix it in place. So, I decided to convert everything to a blog tool made available by the provider. It should be easier to keep everything synchronized this way. So the blog may look a little different, but everything is functioning again.

A draft of the National Educational Technology Plan is now available.

Executive summary (pdf)