Blurts

iTunes has a back to school sale this week (maybe longer). Most movies fall (loosely) under the heading of schooling – some frivilous (School of Rock) and some challenging and thought provoking. One of my favorites, Good Will Hunting, was on the $5 list, but I already own it. My favorite, Finding Forrester, was on the $10 list. I own that one too.

I did purchase The Paper Chase. I always wanted to be a Prof like professor Kingsfield, but I am not certain how his gruff, confrontational style would go over at UND (or I am guessing at Harvard for that matter).

If you are unfamiliar with the movie, it is well worth $5. The movie describes the first year of Harvard law and focuses on the experience of students in the Contracts class of Professor Kingsfield. I have decided Kingsfield is a constructivist, but his methods and has demands for mastery of the book material might challenge many educator’s notion of what constructivism is. If you have watched the movie, there is a segment about 5 minutes in that contains some memorable quotes.

We use the socratic method. Why not just give you a lecture? Through my questions you learn to teach yourselves.You teach yourself the law, but I train your mind. You come in with a skull of mush and leave thinking like a lawyer. There is always another question.

I could start by purchasing a bow tie.

This from “all about law school“.

Digital textbooks remain a nascent business and a tough market to enter. At an average cost of $100, textbooks command the highest cover prices in publishing, outside of only some art and coffee table books. Demand is artificially inelastic as students are indentured to cost servitude at the whim of college professors who blithely assign titles a student must own if he or she hopes to do well in a given course. Now, multiply that by 4,5, or even 6 courses per semester and you are talking big bucks.

Wired online has an article on the open textbook company Flatworld Knowledge.

Allow my to address comments made in the quote above. The $100 thing is what generates fodder for the blogs and is what students tell mom and dad. Books are resold to bookstores and the used book market. The actual cost to the students for the new book is thus $50 and $25 the first time the student buys a used book.

The difference is what one might describe as “beer money” – hence it is worth perpetuating the myth.

The major internet carriers are not your friends and not attemping to provide broader access. This piece from the Washington Post describes apathy of carriers in taking advantage of stimulus money to improve access.

Their reasons are varied. All three say they are flush with cash, enough to upgrade and expand their broadband networks on their own. Some say taking money could draw unwanted scrutiny of business practices and compensation, as seen with automakers and banks that have taken government bailouts. And privately, some companies are griping about conditions attached to the money, including a net-neutrality rule that they say would prevent them from managing traffic on their networks in the way they want.

This live from Grand Forks. Hail storm in progress.

We have been exploring the potential of gps-enabled digital cameras and such cameras would seem to be useful in educational projects. I just noticed a review for another camera of this type. I have not had a hands-on with the Samsung entry in this space, but I would not want my past posts to limit the search of those who find such technology appealing.

BTW – I understand $400 is not exactly what some regard as inexpensive. However, try a search for gps-enabled SLRs and you will understand my classification system.

Exceptions for instructors offers a tool intended to guide educators in making fair use decisions. Every time I encounter such a tool or a source of information for educators I try to read carefully to determine whether fair use covers content posted to the open Internet, i.e., content that could potentially be viewed by anyone and not just students in a given class. My view on this matter is probably regarded as restrictive by many. In considering the situations that conern me, the site concludes:

Your use does not meet the requirements of Section 110(2) of U.S. Copyright Law (also known as the TEACH Act), exempting it from requiring the permission of the copyright holder. [go to law]

However, your use may still be covered by Fair Use (Section 107). For more information on Fair Use, visit one or more of the resources listed below:

It is the lack of resolution and specificity that is the problem. This tool, like so many resources, restates the obvious and fails to be helpful in those areas where educators need help. For example, I understand the concept of “criticism” – one can provide an example in order to critique that example (my language), but in my opinion most instruction uses the information of others as information and not the focus of critique. if I scan and offer a biology textbook image, I am really claiming “this is what the golgi body” looks like, I am not critiquing the author’s claim that this is the golgi body.