Conversational education

Grok Headline matches for Conversational education

Conversational Vigilance

Conversational Vigilance 08/19/2004 07:12 PM
The free speech crowd ought to extend its concern for preserving the right of individuals to speak their minds. We ought to be just as zealous protecting our right to speak together. We ought to promote the ability of people to talk with others, across all our divides. We ought to fight the degradation of conversation by commercial forces. Someone wake up Mario Savio, print up some buttons, and set up tables at UC Berkeley. Free the Conversations! Free the Conversations!...

The conversational enterprise

The conversational enterprise 03/15/2003 12:10 PM
Bottom-up vs. top-down taxonomy is an old, ongoing KM struggle. But the emerging architecture of business process automation may help us cut that Gordian knot. XML documents, produced and consumed by Web services but also by people running a new generation of XML-savvy applications, will be the currency of the information economy. Richly structured, easily captured, and embedded in well-defined business contexts, they'll be a godsend for tools that mine knowledge from documents. F ull story at InfoWorld.com

Here's Edwin Khodabakchian's take on InfoPath, an example of the kind of "XML-savvy application" I had in mind:

Infopath is a kind of Blog++: the manipulated data is rich and structured (expense report, travel request, hotel reservation, employee review), meaning that when the data is published back to the server can be processed by an array of services, processes, agents. [Collaxa's Take]

Exactly. Collaboration tools have to move heaven and earth to mine knowledge and infer social networks from email traffic. While it is notionally private, many email exchanges -- "here's the revised version with the changes we discussed" -- are really semi-public in scope. The same holds true for many voice interactions. ...

Conversational cheap shots

Conversational cheap shots 07/22/2004 06:32 PM
It seems evident that here we all too aware of these, but just in case you're knee-deep in a flame war: conversational cheap shots.

"Conversational Cheap Shots"

"Conversational Cheap Shots" 07/23/2004 03:08 PM

A Proposal to Make Blogs More
Conversational

A Proposal to Make Blogs More
Conversational 03/28/2005 08:19 PM

The Idea: A proposal to have hosted 'conversations' on blogs to allow more cross-pollination of ideas and more interactivity between bloggers, in order to bring good ideas to fruition. Ottawa economist Jeremy Heigh has been exchanging thoughts with me about how to make blogs more conversational. There seems to be a growing consensus in all eight communities that I'm part of -- natural philosophers/environmentalists, business advisers/theorists/entrepreneurs, technophiles/social networkers, progressives, artists/storytellers, Salon bloggers, Canadian bloggers, and physical neighbours -- that context-rich conversations are the key to learning, to understanding, to persuading, to knowledge transfer, and to achieving grassroots change, but that weblogs are not, currently, very conversational. Jeremy's idea, which he originally conceived as a mechanism to get bloggers some income for writing, was to ask a specific group of bloggers to post their articles or thoughts on a specific series of topics or questions, to a hosted site. I think it's a great idea, but I'd be tempted to push it in a particular direction, and abandon the idea of using it to generate revenue (at least directly -- if the conversation generated enough 'wow' it might lead to revenue opportunities for the participants). I'm not a big fan of debates, which seem more focused on scoring points than surfacing insights, and which are inherently adversarial and non-collaborative. They may be entertaining, but they're too competitive to be really productive. I also think James Surowiecki has staked out quite clearly the things that crowds, not small groups of 'experts' can do best -- making decisions from a discrete set of alternatives, making predictions, and solving coordination problems. So I would want the thrust of the 'conversations' to be highly creative and collaborative activities -- brainstorming, model-building, teaching, designing, organizing -- the types of activities that small, informed, diverse groups do well. Here's a first cut at how I would envision it working: The host would come up with either (a) a question (one better suited to small-group exploration than 'putting to the crowd'), or (b) a vision to be achieved. Example: How could we overcome the huge disconnect that exists today between the people who have great ideas and the people who have the money and other resources to realize those ideas? The host would write a 1-3 paragraph context-setting explanation of the question or vision. The host would research who might be the best 3-10 people to address this question or vision. These invited participants would each think independently about the question or vision and each produce an Initial Thoughts document (200-500 words) which the host would publish on the host blog. Then, at and for a prescribed time, there would be a 'live' conversation via Skype, moderated by the host, between the selected participants. The Initial Thoughts and the edited Conversation would then be podcast and the mp3 of the podcast would be posted on the host blog. The conversation would be transcribed and posted to the host blog. The participants would post either a link to the transcript and podcast, or, if they wanted, they could post the entire transcript and/or podcast on their own site, with a request that all comments be posted to the host blog version (so that all the comments are in one place). The facility for additional individual posts (participants would get short-term author access on the host blog), and additional Skype conversations as agreed upon by the participants (also transcribed) would be made available on the host blog for a set period (3 days, or a week perhaps). An archive of all conversations, posts and comments could be produced and sent to movers and shakers who might be inclined to act on the ideas that emerged, for those movers and shakers who do not normally go online. And here are the inevitable questions: If you were asked to participate in one of these, would you, and why -- WIIFY? Is the blog format robust enough to carry the weight of one of these Conversations? Do you see this as a way to get more buzz for important ideas, or is it just a big echo chamber replacing a lot of smaller ones? Would you spend the time listening or reading to these Conversations (if you liked or knew the participants)? Is there some commercial opportunity here, or is this just a good way to get bloggers working together, or is it not even that? Is the model (participation by invitation) too elitist? Would self-subscription on a first-come basis be better? What's the 'right' number of participants? Painting "In Deep Conversation" by Irish artist Pa m O'Connell

Boston.com / News / Education / Higher
education / UMass president criticizes
student's column on felled soldier

Boston.com / News / Education / Higher
education / UMass president criticizes
student's column on felled soldier 04/30/2004 09:20 AM
UMass president criticizes student's column .. Boston Globe .. hammer:

boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2004/04/29/umass_p resident_criticizes_students_column_on_felled_soldier
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Sean McCown, Michael Rys, and
conversational journalism

Sean McCown, Michael Rys, and
conversational journalism 06/11/2004 12:43 PM
Back in April, we ran a wildly ambitious story by Sean McCown. Entitled Databa ses Flex their XML, it compared the XML features of DB2, SQL Server, Oracle, and Sybase -- and also made an excursion into Yukon territory. (My contribution was the sp eculative sidebar on the future of native XML database technology.) Yesterday Microsoft's Michael Rys, a database architect and a co-author of XQuery from the Experts, blogged a lengthy and thoughtful response to Sean's analysis. ...

The growth of conversational speech in
healthcare, financial services, telecom
and payments could spark growth to
exceed $150 million in 2009.

The growth of conversational speech in
healthcare, financial services, telecom
and payments could spark growth to
exceed $150 million in 2009. 06/27/2004 03:01 AM
[PRWEB Jun 27, 2004]

Self-education

Self-education 01/22/2004 02:11 AM
I grew up in an abusive household, but I'm determined to be happy. Am I capable of it?

Education Policy

Education Policy 03/19/2005 02:19 AM

data.fas.harvard.edu/pepg/index.htm
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Without an Education, Will Techies Go
Far Enough?

Without an Education, Will Techies Go
Far Enough? 12/19/2004 03:43 PM

For this article, I am standing firmly on a soap box.

The Associated Press reported, today, on a few information technologist that are doing well in their young careers, so well, in fact, that they each hope to retire before reaching middle age, and they attained their success without a formal higher education. This article struck a raw chord with me, because I emphasize the value of formal education to all of the students whom I teach, including those seeking a B.S. in information technology (IT) and those pursuing a M.B.A. with a further concentration in IT.

A virtual education

A virtual education 05/02/2004 07:32 PM
Straits Times May 2 2004 11:20PM GMT

Where is education in election?

Where is education in election? 04/15/2005 06:44 PM
The BBC's Mike Baker wonders why - whatever the parties say - education is not topping the election agenda.

Discounted Education

Discounted Education 08/02/2004 02:08 PM
Private education stocks are hit hard today, with Corinthian Colleges declining the most.

Aggregating Education

Aggregating Education 03/11/2003 10:45 AM

I know it seems like I'm only talking about RSS these days, but that's because 1) it's beginning to hit a critical mass, 2) I very much believe libraries need to be part of this (if not leading it), and 3) it's on my mind because of my upcoming presentation with Steven Cohen on this topic.

However, it's not just me. Ken Tompkins is thinking about aggregators, too, and he's doing me one better by actually creating some. For his campus, he's currently aggregating NY Times and BBC feeds in one aggregator, Manila sites in a second aggregator, and the feeds from both aggregators into one "meta-aggregator." Ken writes:

"I have just begun to consider rss in college literature teaching.... We have a Frontier server and, of course, I know about the aggregator in both Manila and Radio.

So, I've worked out a way to aggregate our student Manila sites or, at least, the best ones as well as provide a way to aggregate news of interest to Arts & Humanities students....

These are very modest and display nothing important. I just got them working today. They need formatting and a swipe at css. For me, what is important, is that I now have a technique for aggregating sites of any flavor -- faculty, student, major, etc -- and can easily set faculty to creating similar sites for their departments."

Very impressive, Ken! This is another good experiment to watch. Is it my imagination or is education becoming an epicenter of RSS activity? Certainly more than at the BigPubs these days.

Ken describes a setup similar to what I want for Illinois libraries. For our "News Exchange Web Service" (NEWS) grant project, we're going to get four of the twelve Illinois Library Systems blogging with accompanying RSS feeds. We'll also provide individual and group aggregation inter- and intra-System, thereby creating a knowledge exchange system of unparalleled potential for communication. And that's just for starters.

Side note of personal opinion: the new Illinois Library Systems home page should be a blog with an RSS feed!

Education and Words

Education and Words 03/15/2003 01:48 AM

Tyler is worri ed that college cheaters might get an unfair head-start in the job market.  In my experience, he has nothing to worry about.  GPA is certainly something we look at when reviewing resumes, but students often fret about GPA with an intensity that is rarely justified by subsequent life experience.  Good grades can sometimes play a part in getting a candidate invited to an interview (which is admittedly important for people starting out), but again I wouldn't worry too much about cheaters.  My sense is that people normally don't cheat unless they feel that they need to -- in other words, people cheat in order to avoid getting kicked out of college, not as a way to get the sort of GPAs that might stand on their own to get someone into an interview.  You could argue that it's unfair for a 2.0 student to perhaps get a job based on a fraudulent 3.2 GPA.  But with a 3.2, it isn't going to be the GPA that plays the major part in that person getting a job anyway.  And if they are the sort who need to cheat on college exams, they'll be left behind and Tyler won't be working anywere near them five years from now.

~

This makes a nice segue to a rant that's been building for awhile.  Nothing annoys me more than those who whine "the government doesn't do enough to educate our children!"  This seems to be a very popular political tactic, but turns education on its head and does more harm than good.  Education is not a passive thing that students have done to them, but rather an active thing that students do for themselves.  If a person wants to learn Calculus, History, or Music; but doesn't, he has nobody to blame but himself.  It is not the parents' fault, it is not the teachers' fault, and it is certainly not the government's fault.  There are plenty of good Calculus books available, and the cause of failure to learn isn't lack of government funding or lack of quality teaching -- it is lack of reading the book.

It is true that children don't normally teach themselves to read, but this is really the sort of thing that parents should teach their children.  Even if 50% of children enter first grade without being able to read, teaching kids to read is a tiny fraction of what our government spends on "education".  And once a child knows how to read, virtually all of the world's learning becomes hers for the taking.  The invention of written language guaranteed that great "teachers" could continue to communicate to students long after the death of the teacher.  The printing press lowered the cost of such communications almost to zero, and public libraries made such teaching affordable to societies poorest members.  It is impossible to overstate the impact that these three developments have had on humans' ability to teach one another, yet we still have people who reach adulthood without knowing basic arithmetic.

I believe that the advent of the Internet and mass storage are having the same sort of impact on humans' ability to teach and learn that the printing press had.  And furthermore, I think that the "semantic web" will be another such leap for mankind.  But even without today's "mass-storage web" and the coming "semantic web", there is absolutely no excuse for someone failing to learn something that he or she desires to learn. 

Kids today have things soooo much better than Aristotle had.  I wish they would stop whining already, and "just read the book!" (as Mark MacLeod would say)

~

And speaking of literacy, here is a nice little story about the "100 words you should know".  This list has provoked some disagreement recently, with some people violently rejecting the idea that flowery words are evidence of intellectual horsepower.  It is true that people sometimes use intimidating words as a sort of facade to dazzle and deflect away from real intellectual deficiencies.  But that is not the same as saying that a rich vocabulary is not worth acquiring.  Words are the atoms of language, and language is the substrate of thinking (especially abstract, higher-level thinking).  Words lubricate the brain.

On the other hand, I have a hard time taking seriously a list which considers "Ziggurat" a sign of intelligence.  I suspect they mixed up the "words that help you think" with "words that are good for Jr. High spelling-bee finals".

 

Education wasted

Education wasted 08/06/2004 03:26 PM
Express Computer India Aug 6 2004 6:51PM GMT

Webl0gs in education

Webl0gs in education 09/21/2004 04:29 PM
Via Scripting News, I see a post by Michael Feldman of Dowbrigade wishing for a stronger uptake of weblogging in the classroom. Michael's a professor at Harvard and/or Boston University (I couldn't quite figure it out) and has one class...

Microsoft, education the key

Microsoft, education the key 09/23/2004 12:41 AM
AME Info Sep 23 2004 5:04AM GMT

Education vs. faith

Education vs. faith 09/03/2004 10:19 AM
Muslim girls in France, concerned about learning and shocked by the hostage crisis in Russia, start school with little defiance of the new ban on head scarves.

An Education in Antialiasing

An Education in Antialiasing 03/20/2003 08:33 AM

John Gruber writes about antiali asing again. It's an interesting read.

Environmental Education Exchange

Environmental Education Exchange 06/06/2004 06:40 AM
Environmental Education Exchange
http://www.eeexchange.org/

A Non-for-profit organization providing programs and services for the advancement of environmental literacy in the Unuted States and mexico. Since 1991, the Environmental Education Exchange has developed a diversity of environmental education programs and materials. The varied topics and themes have included water conservation, recycling and waste reduction, biodiversity, endangered species, land use issues, commercialism and the environment, air quality, Sonoran Desert ecology, solar energy, mining and minerals, science literacy, special multicultural/border programs, and more. The majority of resulting programs and materials are available free to educators or other intended audiences. Because the Exchange specializes in program design (and is not primarily a program provider), these products generally are distributed or presented by partner agencies and organizations for which they were developed. This will be added to Education and Distance Learning Resources 2004 Internet MiniGuide.

Participatory Journalism and Education

Participatory Journalism and Education 08/03/2004 09:13 AM
I'm in Toronto for today's Exploring Fusion Power of Public and Participatory Journalism conference, speaking about the tools of tomorrow's grassroots journalism and how folks in the business can get started. I'm glad to see that quite a few educators are part of this gathering. Their presence makes sense, given that tomorrow is the start of the annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. My guess is that the students are, in many cases, way ahead of the teachers when it comes to understanding the tools and how to use them. (Cross-posted to We the Media.)

More resign over education cuts

More resign over education cuts 03/23/2005 12:26 PM
The Western Education and Library Board votes narrowly to approve budget cuts of £5.7m.

Apple in Education: Part V

Apple in Education: Part V 12/19/2004 02:51 PM
Most people think of music when they hear the word “iPod”, but the diminutive music player has other attributes that are making it an invaluable tool for the classroom. “The iPod is a portable tool for diction and sound recording, taking and reading notes, storing files and photos and listening to audio books and newspapers,” Apple says on its Education website. With enough space to store four weeks of continuous music, or 40,000 minutes of audiobooks, or a months worth of newspaper articles, the 40GB iPod is a “pretty big backpack”, Apple says. In fact, the iPod has proven itself so useful as a learning tool some schools are making it mandatory for students to own one. At the Brearley School, a private school for girls on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the iPod became a necessity on the school supply list this year, according to a New York Times article. The iPod was incorporated into foreign-language and classics courses and for about 300 girls in grades 7 through 12 for homework and classroom assignments. The NY Times reports that Apple says Brearley's mandatory-iPod program is the first it has heard of at the secondary-school level. At the post-secondary level, the iPod is also becoming a vital tool. This fall Duke issued an iPod to each of its 1,650 incoming freshmen and has tried to incorporate the device into several courses, including music, language and engineering. Last year, Georgia College & State University began lending the devices to students for use in several humanities courses. If the iPod’s multiple features already listed here weren’t enough to convince parents and educators of its importance beyond a music player, it can also keep track of schedules through its support of vCalendar and iCalendar files, which can be exported by Microsoft Entourage, Palm Desktop, and iCal. And finally, the alarm clock feature should eliminate tardiness in any student who owns one. Part I Part II Part III Part IV

Welfare Reform and Education

Welfare Reform and Education 12/17/2004 06:40 PM
Robert's Story; the Problem of Poverty in America Robert is in the third grade. He likes school, and he's pretty good at it. He started reading chapter books this year, and he likes that. He wishes he could go to school today, but he can't. He lives with his mom in their 1985 Mazda GLC. They get in trouble if they stay in one place for more than a few nights, so he can't take the school bus. This morning Robert's mom can't take him to school. She's too busy. This happens to Robert a lot. It makes him really sad. He remembers when he was in first grade he and his mom lived in an apartment. It wasn't a nice apartment, it kinda smelled funny, the carpet was a weird orange color, and the people who lived downstairs scared him. He didn't like it there, but now he just wishes they could go back. He doesn't understand why he and his mom have to be poor. One time he asked his mom, and she started crying. He doesn't ask her questions like that anymore. This is not an uncommon story. In 2003 there were 35.9 million people living below the poverty line in the United States of America, 1.3 million more than in 2002. In addition, there were millions living within the penumbra that surrounds 'official poverty', with incomes that fell above the poverty line but bellow the threshold for a decent standard of living.

Excelling in For-Profit Education

Excelling in For-Profit Education 06/01/2004 10:46 AM
The K-12 sector hasn't done as well as the adult educators, but Plato Learning is out to change that.

ADV: Research Education the Easy Way

ADV: Research Education the Easy Way 06/22/2005 02:50 AM
Research your dream job. Find a school near you that offers classes in your area of interest and get started on your dream career! It’s fast, it’s easy, and it’s totally free.

Education Revolution Ahead

Education Revolution Ahead 06/17/2005 07:11 PM

It hasn't happened yet but I think the situation in South Korea is perfect now for the birth of the next generation in education. I think most of know what it will look like but the gap between theory and practice must be bridge and I think the bridge will be built in South Korea soon which give the rest of the world solid enough delusions to dive into it, delusions because the bleedging edge is always wider than one expects.

The necessary ingredient is the unseemly mixture of despair and hope heated over high tech and righteousness which South Korea has in abundance unlike countries like Japan where changes come in longer breaths and elders are still strong enough to suffocate the foolish youngsters. Given enough time and right circumstances, shortcomings of a society will become unexpected assets.

the cynicism of higher education

the cynicism of higher education 05/28/2004 12:43 PM
An architect, falling apart. A disparate status of the modern architect.

An iTunes Model for Education

An iTunes Model for Education 09/18/2004 05:56 AM
An iTunes Model for Education
http://www.syllabus.com/news_article.asp?id=9925&typeid=155
Matthew Pittinsky, chairman and co-founder of Blackboard Inc., thinks that e-learning should mean much more than just putting courses online. It should mean the creation of a true networked learning environment that allows students, teachers and researchers to access any learning resource anytime, anyplace -- whether that resource is a learning object, another educator or student, or a scholarly database or application. Pittinsky says, "Increasingly, providers of commercial digital content fear 'Napsterization' -- widespread copying and re-distribution of digital content -- and the industry recognizes that publishers need an adequate, affordable digital rights management (DRM) solution to maintain effective business models in the face of disintermediation. However, any kind of DRM solution, particularly as applied to educational content, must also be easy to use for both teachers and students and not create new barriers to incorporating educational content into online teaching and learning. Perhaps what we need is an Apple iTunes for digitized educational content -- a consumer-friendly approach that encourages access to a wide range of content for the end user, but, through effective application of DRM, does so in a way that preserves a business model for the commercial content providers."

Education Via Video Games

Education Via Video Games 08/16/2004 06:48 AM

Standards-Based Education

Standards-Based Education 04/09/2004 04:01 PM
In a former coal town on the western Canadian coast, nestled in a protected harbour which makes the surrounding area a boater's paradise, inaccessible from mainland North America save for an hour and a half ferry ride, I received one...

Education remains key says Blair

Education remains key says Blair 04/10/2005 07:24 AM
Tony Blair promises to put education at the heart of Labour's manifesto as Alan Milburn says plans will be "radical".

Apple Education Turnaround?

Apple Education Turnaround? 11/05/2003 12:46 AM
Businessweek has a detailed article which covers Apple's steps and mis-steps in the educational market over the past few years. While Apple's most ...

Minister in sex education pledges

Minister in sex education pledges 08/30/2004 06:38 AM
Scotland's health minister makes moves to play down the row over new plans for sex education in schools.

Red Hat unveils discounts for education

Red Hat unveils discounts for education 12/04/2003 04:55 AM
ZDNet UK Dec 4 2003 3:53AM ET

Microsoft Gives S. Korean Education
$8.7M

Microsoft Gives S. Korean Education
$8.7M 07/06/2004 11:27 AM
AP via ABCNEWS.com Jul 6 2004 3:39PM GMT

Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Education

Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Education 07/15/2004 01:36 PM
Notes from a Always On session on Entrepreneurship and Innovation Education with Professors Tom Byers and Bob Sutton of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. One of my favorite topics and perhaps the best session at the event. Tom Byers: Can...
Grok Description matches for Conversational education
GrokA matches for Conversational education

Conversational education