technology

Solitaire in Class

From the Chronicle of Higher Education:

May 15, 2008

Web Surfing in the Classroom: Sound Familiar?

Over at the New York Times’s Freakonomics blog, Yale Law School professor Ian Ayres praises the University of Chicago Law School’s decision to eliminate Internet access in some classrooms. But more importantly, he recounts an amusing sketch from the Yale’s “Law Revue” skit night, which is worth sharing in full:

One of the skits had a group of students sitting at desks, facing the audience, listening to a professor drone on.

All of the students were looking at laptops except for one, who had a deck of cards and was playing solitaire. The professor was outraged and demanded that the student explain why she was playing cards. When she answered “My laptop is broken,” I remember there was simultaneously a roar of laughter from the student body and a gasp from the professors around me. In this one moment, we learned that something new was happening in class.

—Catherine Rampell

Technology Parameters at MUST

Want to Download? Take the Quiz

For all the high-tech tactics colleges have employed to slow or block students’ illegal file sharing activity, few have actually turned to methods used in the classroom to get the message across. A university in Missouri thinks it’s found the right solution, combining an age-old teacher’s tool with a dash of discipline.

Last academic year, Missouri University of Science and Technology, in Rolla, received some 200 Digital Millennium Copyright Act “takedown” notices from the recording industry, notifying the institution that users of its network had made copyrighted works available for download. This academic year — at a time when colleges across the country have been experiencing sudden spikes in copyright complaints — the university received eight. Karl F. Lutzen, a systems security analyst at the university, chalks it up to Missouri S&T’s unusual method of regulating students’ network usage: In order to download (or upload) files on any peer-to-peer network whatsoever, all on-campus users have to pass an online quiz on copyright infringement.

But not just once. Passing the test — with a perfect score — enables peer-to-peer access for six hours on the user’s on-campus registered machines, presumably enough time to download that (legal) song, TV show or e-book. The next time, the student, staff or faculty member has to go to the intranet Web page and take the randomized test again, for a maximum of eight uses per month (which, kind of like vacation days, can accrue to at most 20).

                    

Next Generation Wireless Network - National

The New York Times reports the plans that are in the works for the next generation national wireless network. Seamless is still quite desirable. Yesterday I noticed that some of the new Toshiba laptops come with the Sprint wireless network pre-installed.

Informal/Formal Communication

An April 25 New York Times article points out:

As e-mail messages, text messages and social network postings become nearly ubiquitous in the lives of teenagers, the informality of electronic communications is seeping into their schoolwork, a new study says.

Nearly two-thirds of 700 students surveyed said their e-communication style sometimes bled into school assignments, according to the study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, in partnership with the College Board’s National Commission on Writing. About half said they sometimes omitted proper punctuation and capitalization in schoolwork. A quarter said they had used emoticons like smiley faces. About a third said they had used text shortcuts like “LOL” for “laugh out loud.”

      

Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial

This morning's AHA blog entry points to the interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial feature from Footnote.com. The screen shots encourage the reader to visit the site rather than putting it into the "to do" pile.

Second Life Makes Tax Time Less Taxing

The Kansas City Star has taken note of the work H&R Block and the University of Kansas Medical Center is doing in Second Life.

Video Annotation in Zotero

Dan Cohen discusses this new feature.

Facebook as Professor's Office?

Cliopatria points to this New York Times article about how professors are utilizing social networking in a variety of ways. Recent graduates contacted me via Facebook as I was just exploring without really "friending" anyone and, so far, it's been an excellent way to keep in touch with them - esp. given that the accrediting agencies actually expect us to know where they are even after they leave us. From scanning the article, it is okay for the men to reveal more personal details but my guess is that the double standard still applies to female interaction with students.

Gaming for Life

This Forbes article notes:

It's a classic innovation--a novel way to use a tool created for an entirely different purpose, namely to have a good time. That's still the reason why most players come to "Second Life," but English-language instructors who spend time with students there say they're combining fun and learning--and getting excellent results.

Smallpox or Facebook?

From Slate Magazine: Smallpox or Facebook?