tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31191940113300900922024-03-13T22:17:13.521-07:00Taliessin through LogresA lecturer's reflections on the academic life.Damianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12279087272033708352noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-37720584397856624772022-07-26T14:48:00.004-07:002022-07-26T14:50:56.738-07:00Technomage Videos<p style="text-align: center;"> </p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZjToVZTqCbw" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zbvqxZmTGLc" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"> </p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0t0i4iFs6ck" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LP66TzMEwhw" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/doR4rHW77Wk" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hts8hvB_B2U" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b521pHKxFxM" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"> </p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4hTz-WpEpR4" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b2E71P76lWk" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"> </p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I8G7XGnfqjo" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bdYwVYm1lDk" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-70530984082945045252020-12-26T16:55:00.005-08:002020-12-26T16:57:07.118-08:00Ethics4EU Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRd0aMCqpBWkcfPXgCCpJei0SyL1YvV4gd49dg3t0FU90O45uNf_vD-FlGrjOusXes-vBARitlGwJBPukAaizXUM86jk5I8TIwHpb3SCNLMMvr47nwVXoQpd_4YE8aqE6RH3AjUKGnGhk/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img alt="" data-original-height="152" data-original-width="200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRd0aMCqpBWkcfPXgCCpJei0SyL1YvV4gd49dg3t0FU90O45uNf_vD-FlGrjOusXes-vBARitlGwJBPukAaizXUM86jk5I8TIwHpb3SCNLMMvr47nwVXoQpd_4YE8aqE6RH3AjUKGnGhk/" width="316" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>What a great year it has been for the Ethics4EU Project. The first two intellectual outputs are almost completed, with one published already, and another almost done:<p></p><p><a href="http://ethics4eu.eu/outcomes/">http://ethics4eu.eu/outcomes/</a></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Three conference papers</b></p><p></p><ol><li>Gordon, D., O’Sullivan, D., Stavrakakis, Y., Curley, A. “Homo Ludens Moralis: Designing and Developing a Board Game to Teach Ethics for ICT Education”, <i>18th International Conference on the Ethical and Social Impacts of ICT</i>, 17th-19th June 2020, La Rioja, Spain.</li><li>O’Sullivan, D., Gordon, D. “Check Your Tech – Considering the Provenance of Data Used to Build Digital Products and Services: Case Studies and an Ethical CheckSheet”, <i>IFIP WG 9.4 European Conference on the Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries</i>, 10th–11th June 2020, Salford, UK.</li><li>Gordon, D., Collins, M., Becevel, A., O’Mahony, W. “Incorporating Digital Ethics throughout the Software Development Process”, <i>Proceedings of the 14th Annual International Technology, Education and Development Conference (INTED 2020)</i>, 2nd-4th March 2020, Valencia, Spain.</li></ol><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Book Publication</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil229cn0RWtTNudd2YfjOCZAEWkR7x5Y0pzmLs1AIkrL6pcaKY9F7qbBybS54ss0Ik2UTh45eLzyU_LfVws6qGeTDjGOuh4sli9Z1903TkyQn4QEKZdtGYeWRaM7jKpjPxfljK3c-UVzs/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="743" data-original-width="493" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil229cn0RWtTNudd2YfjOCZAEWkR7x5Y0pzmLs1AIkrL6pcaKY9F7qbBybS54ss0Ik2UTh45eLzyU_LfVws6qGeTDjGOuh4sli9Z1903TkyQn4QEKZdtGYeWRaM7jKpjPxfljK3c-UVzs/" width="159" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Myself and Brendan Tierney contributed chapters to “97 Things about Ethics Everyone in Data Science Should Know” from O’Reilly Media, released in August 2020. My two chapters were called:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><ul><li>Anonymizing Data is Really, Really Hard</li><li>Ethics is the Antidote to Data Breaches</li></ul></div>Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-78415070088460204242019-12-31T14:03:00.001-08:002020-12-26T16:55:53.046-08:00Ethics in Computer Science Education<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The School of Computer Science, in Technological University Dublin (where I work) applied for, and successfully obtained, funding for a research project that is very dear to my heart - which is how do we introduce more ethics teaching into the computer science curriculum, so that when our students get jobs and are asked to write programs, that they think about the potential implications of their actions. Since the project has started I've spoken a lot of people in the IT industry about it, and most of them have a story that goes something like: "I had to resign from one company I worked for because they asked me to ... and I thought it was wrong". I think it's really important we equip the students for these kinds of moments.<br />
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MORE TO COME ...<br />
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Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-26144118076145095242018-03-10T07:18:00.000-08:002018-07-31T06:15:55.359-07:00How to Manage with a Broken Leg<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk-u_LC2VHQk_4TYXLr7yd7GpeOSNMgsAQQC_L25syTd66pIa3L253m7JQGGjgG6QbVLdFtODIz4DzgC7AqTu_TVyWyOJ35iswrynwF9BTMtXtSvatCwgq1OMktY9-HYNoOBAzw5OO6NE/s1600/DU8UKCZXkAEcoSt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="493" data-original-width="507" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk-u_LC2VHQk_4TYXLr7yd7GpeOSNMgsAQQC_L25syTd66pIa3L253m7JQGGjgG6QbVLdFtODIz4DzgC7AqTu_TVyWyOJ35iswrynwF9BTMtXtSvatCwgq1OMktY9-HYNoOBAzw5OO6NE/s200/DU8UKCZXkAEcoSt.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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Having broken my right fibula a month ago, I decided to put together an article with some advice on how to deal with it, and some practical advice on how to manage the normal daily activities.</div>
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<b>First things first...</b></div>
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Having a broken leg will change your life for a couple of months, then it will be over, and normal life will resume, so don't panic too much, you just need to be patient, and you'll get through this.</div>
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<b>Learning and Relearning</b></div>
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You are going to have to learn how to use crutches, and that will require that you relearn to how do a whole lot of things; walking, opening doors, washing, eating, and sleeping. Like all learning processes, there will be mistakes, there will be trail-and-error, there will be frustrations, but treat it as if you've just moved to another country where you are not familiar with the language and the customs, and don't be too hard on yourself, and it'll be OK.</div>
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<b>Build a Nest</b></div>
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For several weeks, you are going to be bedbound (or couchbound), so you have to be prepared for that. For the first few weeks it's important to keep your leg elevated to prevent swelling, and I tried a variety of different things for that, including pillows, cushions, foam, a rolled up blanket, and a dog bed(!), what I found is that different things worked better on different days, not sure why, but there you go. What I also found is that no matter what I was using to elevate my leg, sometimes I could keep it in the same position for an hour or so with no discomfort, whereas other times no matter how I positioned my leg it was consistently sore or aching, so be ready for that.</div>
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<i>IMPORTANT</i>: Keep your phone within arms reach, and if possible have a phone charger within arms reach as well, people will be phoning you to see how you are doing, and it can be a really good distraction to have a long chat with someone. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgALNU6mhiAC9D7rrzmoWIoSxaGbw9Wi7tMbtFXPdgFZNxv0p5QmN0pJ91XwUBwryDGVHtO4nzC9kQnGBd40_bO02C3wOeVYGK0G36k7fAAdK-XXs_QoyaZKBh3Zv6wfzZNubwxNw-o4g0/s1600/Nokia-bi_466.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="466" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgALNU6mhiAC9D7rrzmoWIoSxaGbw9Wi7tMbtFXPdgFZNxv0p5QmN0pJ91XwUBwryDGVHtO4nzC9kQnGBd40_bO02C3wOeVYGK0G36k7fAAdK-XXs_QoyaZKBh3Zv6wfzZNubwxNw-o4g0/s320/Nokia-bi_466.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I also kept a notebook and pen with me, to write down anything I needed to remember, and as it was a A4 notebook, I keep all the documentation about the leg break in the notebook, including doctor appointment cards, invoices and bills, leaflets about different medical aids that I picked up at all the hospital visits, basically anything to do with the break.</div>
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Keep your painkillers, snacks, drinks, etc. on a tray near you.<br />
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Make sure your crutches are always with you, and find someplace that you can consistently place them, I found having them standing up and leaning on something is easier than leaving them lying on the floor beside you. </div>
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I also used a grabber, which I found incredibly useful, to pick things up, and extend my range of influence: </div>
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<b>Those First Steps</b><br />
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Learning to walk with crutches takes a bit of practice, the one thing I learned was to take it slowly, there's no rush, and watch where you are putting the crutches. Keep looking at the ground, because you don't want the crutches to slip, so a loose mat, a spill of water, or a piece of paper on the floor can cause you problems, so just take it slowly and watch where you place your crutches and feet.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqjAlE2fa7HncVxQrxiFIQz3YaR3ijIEbznS9Ocf-ztgBz3wJuYW8-Rcz0MtHmWcjAsMFTtIzDiqR4NzBCuwhvrxoD5yPKudq-YGu238jRJiMwlvAnnNlfFhWmsEU2PkX9tVd7BnGXo_g/s1600/Comfort_Grip_Adjustable_Crutches.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqjAlE2fa7HncVxQrxiFIQz3YaR3ijIEbznS9Ocf-ztgBz3wJuYW8-Rcz0MtHmWcjAsMFTtIzDiqR4NzBCuwhvrxoD5yPKudq-YGu238jRJiMwlvAnnNlfFhWmsEU2PkX9tVd7BnGXo_g/s320/Comfort_Grip_Adjustable_Crutches.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It is very important that you get used of using the crutches, you need to do some exercise, and I know it can be nerve-racking, but it's important to move around, for a lot of reasons, to build up your confidence, to aid your digestion, and to avoid developing blood clots.<br />
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<b>Having a seat</b><br />
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Sitting down using crutches is a bit tricky, under no circumstances try to sit down with your arms still in the cuffs, apparently you can break your arms quite easily if you do that. Instead, balance on your good foot, take your two crutches and point the handles towards each other so that they form a H shape, as below:<br />
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Now put one hand on both handles (as below), and using that, and your good foot, ease yourself gently into the seat, try not to "flop" into the seat, it might hurt.<br />
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<b>Opening and Closing Doors</b><br />
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Opening a door while holding two crutches is really complicated, but it definitely gets easier with practice. The real key to opening a door that swings towards is judging where you can stand that is near enough that you can reach the handle, but far enough away so that when the door opens you don't need to adjust your feet. So when you find that spot, steady yourself with your good foot and one of the crutches; using the other arm to lean in and open the door, swing it towards you, and move back onto two crutches. It just takes a bit of practice.<br />
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<b>Food and Drink</b></div>
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Drink lots of water, fruit juices and other fluids, it's very important to be hydrated, so much moreso than usual. Eat healthy food if possible also.<br />
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I found that if I made a cup of tea in the kitchen, then the kitchen was where I drank it, simply because I couldn't carry the cup of tea anywhere on crutches. I did try putting the tea in a flask, and putting that in my pocket, and having the tea on the couch, but honestly it was a lot less hassle just to have it where I made it. And it was the same for most food I prepared, it's just easier to have it in the kitchen, I tried putting a tray on the floor, and putting the food in the tray and slowly pushing it to the couch, but it took about 10 minutes!<br />
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<b>Supplements</b></div>
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I'm not a doctor, but two things I found helpful; taking fish oil tablets will reduce how itchy your leg becomes under the cast, and taking vitamins A-Z to help the bone heal.<br />
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<b>Cleaning Up</b></div>
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Having a shower is very complicated with a broken leg, if possible it's easier to have a bath, with the cast hanging out of the bath. If you are going to take a shower, you really <u>have</u> to make sure that the cast doesn't get wet, so there are products you can wrap on the cast (see below), although what I did was the following; wrapped the top of the cast in cling film and taped that off with duct tape (aka duck tape), then got a trash bag and pulled it up my leg over the cast, and then taped that as well, particularly around the top of it to make sure there was a good seal, and then tape above and below the knee (to be sure, to be sure). Getting into the shower is tricky, so I would open the shower door, stand perpendicular to the entrance, put one crutch into the shower and leave one outside, the hop my good leg into the shower, and drag my bad leg in. Then I'd put the crutches outside the shower, balancing on one leg, and close the shower door.<br />
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Showering itself is very tricky, you are balancing on one leg, you are trying to use your arms to steady yourself, the environment is becoming progressively more slippy, so it's tricky. I found leaning myself up against the wall was the best thing to do, and not expecting to get a full shower for the first few weeks was sensible.<br />
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After a few weeks I got a lightweight metal stool for the shower to sit on, that was great, also consider using a plastic chair, if you have any garden furniture handy.<br />
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Getting out means opening the door, reaching over to get your crutches, putting one in the shower, one outside, and pushing yourself out, being very careful not be put the crutch in water. To dry myself, I lowered myself slowly onto the bathroom floor (sitting on a towel) and dried myself as much as possible sitting on the floor, then slowly eased myself up, and finished off drying (a non-trivial task to say the least).<br />
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<b>Dress for Success</b><br />
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No big advice here, but try to wear loose-fitting clothing, that's easy to get on and off. I found tracksuit bottoms were comfortable and fairly easy to get into.<br />
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If you can get a jacket with a lot of pockets (see below) that can be really handy for carrying things while using crutches, otherwise a tote bag worn like a bib works just as well.</div>
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I found wearing braces (aka suspenders, aka galluses) made my life a whole lot easier, once I got my foot into my tracksuit bottoms, I was able to use the braces to help me pull them up, it saved a lot of pain!</div>
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<b>Exercise</b></div>
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It's very important to get exercise with a broken leg, I know it's the last thing you feel like, but it's important for your recovery and health to do it. As I mentioned above it's important to walk around on the crutches to build up your confidence, to aid your digestion, and to avoid developing blood clots. Other exercises you do don't have to be anything too dramatic, just wiggling your toes will help make sure your whole leg is getting circulation, and will reduce swelling. Additionally, I used a set of dumbbells to help build up my arm strength, because carrying myself around on crutches is sore on the hands, arms and shoulders, and after a week using the dumbbells it was much easier.</div>
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<b>Entertainment</b><br />
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In many ways the entertainment aspect of this journey was the most surprising, I am an avid reader, I am normally reading between three to five books simultaneously at any given time, and I imagined having over a month in bed was going to be a great opportunity to get some serious reading done. This did not turn out to be the case, I found I couldn't concentrate on reading for more than about 20 minutes, some of it was to do with the pain in my leg, some of it was the frustration of not being able to go outside, some of it was to do with my arms being sore from using crutches.<br />
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Television on the other hand was definitely easier to manage, and I did look at a lot of comedy TV to maintain a level of happiness. I thought I was going to look at lots of DVDs, but hopping over to change the discs proved to be too tiring, so I stuck with Netflix and looked at a lot of fun shows, some great dramas, and some fascinating documentaries.Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-3014260773635121792016-07-27T10:22:00.004-07:002022-09-02T09:04:10.762-07:00Chatting with the Trolls: Exploring Some of the Reasons behind the Leslie Jones' Cyberbullying (Part II)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
In <a href="http://taliessinthroughlogres.blogspot.ie/2016/07/chatting-to-trolls-exploring-some-of.html">Part One of this article</a> I suggested a few specific reasons why people are trolling Leslie Jones, in this part, I'm going to suggest an overall theory as to their motives.</div>
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So, that list of specific reasons they are trolling Leslie again:</div>
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<ol>
<li>Some of them think they are participating in a meme</li>
<li>Some of them think that Leslie Jones has too much influence over Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter</li>
<li>Some of them think that Leslie (or twitter) are in ISIS</li>
<li>Some of them are just jerks</li>
<li>Some of them are a bit sadistic</li>
<li>Some of them feel they are justified because Leslie responds to trolls, and think she is trolling back</li>
<li>Some of them feel justified because they think her responses to her trolls make her a troll and therefore a hypocrite</li>
<li>Some of them know that they are haters</li>
<li>Some of them don't know why they are doing it</li>
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<b>Groupthink</b></div>
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Overall I think what's happening is broadly an example of <i>Groupthink</i>, I think anyone with right-wing views who is friends with other right-wingers on Twitter feel they have to troll Leslie because everyone else they know is doing it (or think they are).<br />
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One reason that I think this is particularly true is a repeated pattern I found when interacting with the trolls, I'd chat to one of them and be having quite a reasonable discussion as to why they trolled her, and suddenly between 4-8 other trolls would join in and start attacking me often in a coordinated way. These, I think, are so-called "<b><i>mind guards</i></b>" in the Groupthink literature, the self-appointed "protectors" of the group who try to stop members being exposed to adverse views to maintain unity within the group.<br />
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Another reason is their belief in the <i><b>inherent morality</b></i> (another common feature in the Groupthink literature) of what they are doing, they feel they are trying to expose the liberal bias of Twitter, that either Leslie is controlling Jack, or Jack is way too liberal, and banning conservatives, and therefore any tactic is acceptable in exposing that hypocrisy and (as they see it) gross injustice of the banning of Milo and others will be exposed also. Some of them also think Twitter is somehow working with ISIS (some of them are just mad).<br />
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One final reason I think that Groupthink is in play is the<b><i> illusion of unanimity</i></b> (another common feature in the Groupthink literature) that the trolls seem to have, although in practice (as I have mentioned above) there are very diverse reasons as to why different twitter users are trolling Leslie, when they swarmed together to attack me it was clear that some members were making comments that others felt went too far, so for example, at one point a group of about six twitter users were bombarding me with tweets, one sent a group tweet that said "<i>he is almost ready for his hijab</i>", a few others said agreed, but one tweeted directly to me saying "<i>I don't agree with this</i>" and quickly deleted the tweet. In another case one of the group said "w<i>hen Trump gets elected, you and yours are going to get it</i>", all but one of the rest of the group quickly agreed "<i>Right on</i>", etc. (as if this was a stock phrase, with an expected call-and-response), but one of the group didn't, and I think that is because they didn't agree with the sentiment.<br />
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Looking at the list above I think Groupthink explains reasons 1,2,3,6,7,8,9. Reason 9, in particular, "<i>Some of them don't know why they are doing it</i>" sounds like a perfect description of Groupthink to me. The other two reasons (4 and 5), because some are jerks and some are sadists, stand by themselves, those people will join any group if it allows them to spread pain.<br />
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I think if we can treat this twitter attack on Leslie as a Groupthink problem, we might be able to stop it completely.<br />
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Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-55769078765443212742016-07-26T07:24:00.000-07:002016-08-05T20:12:28.042-07:00Chatting with the Trolls: Exploring Some of the Reasons behind the Leslie Jones' Cyberbullying (Part I)<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>*** WARNING: THIS CONTAINS OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE ***</b></div>
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Like most people I was utterly disgusted by the <a href="http://entertainment.inquirer.net/197596/ghostbusters-star-leslie-jones-clashes-on-racist-cyberbullies">cyberbullying on Twitter directed at Leslie Jones</a>, so much so that I felt I had to do something about it, so for several days I monitored all tweets to Leslie Jones, and reported all of the abusive ones.<br />
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After a few days I concluded that reporting the bullies wasn't enough, I wanted to find out what was going on in their minds when they sent their abusive tweets, so I decided to have a chat with them. Here's what I did, I created a new generic twitter account, and every time a new abusive tweet was send to Leslie Jones, I'd report it to twitter, and then ask them why they were doing it; the answers were varied and surprising. I chatted to at least 250 trolls and below are some of the most striking.<br />
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I selected a fairly neutral logo for my twitter account:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuo55LOjW10UURlydUj_oawGrMYdhcM3dQ8AHKGV88kwdTQ9aE3OWHbR921BLujrdaH4UKLtGZtB9zC6BEcyxi3CdVgq2EdDgDHkjkAKC1kIIF-tpTadB1N8p2mroo04RFQcV89rBEBDw/s1600/thumbs-up-thumbs-down.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuo55LOjW10UURlydUj_oawGrMYdhcM3dQ8AHKGV88kwdTQ9aE3OWHbR921BLujrdaH4UKLtGZtB9zC6BEcyxi3CdVgq2EdDgDHkjkAKC1kIIF-tpTadB1N8p2mroo04RFQcV89rBEBDw/s200/thumbs-up-thumbs-down.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b>SOME OF THEM THINK THEY ARE PARTICIPATING IN A MEME</b><br />
<b>======================================================</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtEbY2SUrX2Sp9N6y5crCO4jwn30AcD_4wcXWBukG81eyWUV9q9DDz3QezMwEEA1OWKsOVNXFnNKxfUwC2h_WtdTVtzlGLWnBVzvSJJGRax6_NSJF8mqRMBLbe7Qsw57OiMOGh3xLWn20/s1600/lj3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtEbY2SUrX2Sp9N6y5crCO4jwn30AcD_4wcXWBukG81eyWUV9q9DDz3QezMwEEA1OWKsOVNXFnNKxfUwC2h_WtdTVtzlGLWnBVzvSJJGRax6_NSJF8mqRMBLbe7Qsw57OiMOGh3xLWn20/s400/lj3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXd6zNl-yy-MK5ZFdo2xeL0Zov4VO4wiInFDeS9Pdp4fqnehZ08ke_jqfiZ_CNyTAA_yjezMArbh2ZSa8KjUmQM_1TmKhcGbn2uxp-X09KNGEqQvxsRInTNWdhHlNcTI-bfoEJ5PnlGXQ/s1600/lj12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="73" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXd6zNl-yy-MK5ZFdo2xeL0Zov4VO4wiInFDeS9Pdp4fqnehZ08ke_jqfiZ_CNyTAA_yjezMArbh2ZSa8KjUmQM_1TmKhcGbn2uxp-X09KNGEqQvxsRInTNWdhHlNcTI-bfoEJ5PnlGXQ/s400/lj12.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>SOME OF THEM THINK THAT LESLIE JONES HAS TOO MUCH INFLUENCE OVER JACK DORSEY, CEO OF TWITTER</b><br />
<b>======================================================</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYdK7OP1lnvtUbV85aT6hFZugj2KlCVxAxylhbequt3R6v3tui7OT6nkohPtJfCkRmQpewjGBB3ThY22E0hnTjweiYfg5Bm5o7IPix5YgJk7ksUU6KYnRAdb1_Vfwg0paFKTfXIOmGaFs/s1600/lj4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYdK7OP1lnvtUbV85aT6hFZugj2KlCVxAxylhbequt3R6v3tui7OT6nkohPtJfCkRmQpewjGBB3ThY22E0hnTjweiYfg5Bm5o7IPix5YgJk7ksUU6KYnRAdb1_Vfwg0paFKTfXIOmGaFs/s400/lj4.jpg" width="386" /></a></div>
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<b>SOME OF THEM THINK THAT LESLIE (OR TWITTER) ARE IN ISIS</b><br />
<b>======================================================</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZO1vYiY3CCtiYjJodS0tAFxcBruFKX81GFCrDizPv5uia-H3jp7l5r_IyFejs_uRUTFTUwbYKCs61m6mWxNJwP4QQBGaZzHl0JC3FQxJ6rD1QpFrS7PHcsOS0LWK7PZeef0-nTaXs0N0/s1600/lj5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZO1vYiY3CCtiYjJodS0tAFxcBruFKX81GFCrDizPv5uia-H3jp7l5r_IyFejs_uRUTFTUwbYKCs61m6mWxNJwP4QQBGaZzHl0JC3FQxJ6rD1QpFrS7PHcsOS0LWK7PZeef0-nTaXs0N0/s400/lj5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>SOME OF THEM ARE JUST JERKS</b><br />
<b>======================================================</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHhjyQ6-wWxoM2UO8du6V1VLyRT422MX0exS9xfWtOdn1o5Oea3jIfjPKgxkRGoIvXijx1lcPAe3CrFQtacE3sjnAkZwULwQ1cAlfhKtvdU9Qkt9DpIQ6ud7JR7U5A_QyrhEGfPQpkHFE/s1600/lj1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHhjyQ6-wWxoM2UO8du6V1VLyRT422MX0exS9xfWtOdn1o5Oea3jIfjPKgxkRGoIvXijx1lcPAe3CrFQtacE3sjnAkZwULwQ1cAlfhKtvdU9Qkt9DpIQ6ud7JR7U5A_QyrhEGfPQpkHFE/s400/lj1.jpg" width="393" /></a></div>
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<b>SOME OF THEM ARE A BIT SADISTIC</b></div>
<b>======================================================</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihVSZKNevCdLkUpu9DVDCq49NYgHToR3-T2X9Jy_4faBuSopx5DRgK56wusUAX9B8pRoK_wnfzQRIruGmMC_ZsKiN44LFEs_3DwgjBoU15ifhewbEzjKRN3hhSvJR_s7fWXTPBV6gf21g/s1600/lj6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihVSZKNevCdLkUpu9DVDCq49NYgHToR3-T2X9Jy_4faBuSopx5DRgK56wusUAX9B8pRoK_wnfzQRIruGmMC_ZsKiN44LFEs_3DwgjBoU15ifhewbEzjKRN3hhSvJR_s7fWXTPBV6gf21g/s400/lj6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>SOME OF THEM FEEL THEY ARE JUSTIFIED BECAUSE LESLIE RESPONDS TO TROLLS, AND THINK SHE IS TROLLING BACK</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEQRBgaE985SxEeNg62-LkDsnCwG4QMpDGpZAaj_-7Miuu4T2F9njgXPl8j-SKp8nCvBLn9AOWMzOMhyphenhyphent46soNihGI3yeNRC7869hQzSTP-wT_PfwnCi_cDbZvEt3RzY73xB1gh1PU_YY/s1600/lj2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEQRBgaE985SxEeNg62-LkDsnCwG4QMpDGpZAaj_-7Miuu4T2F9njgXPl8j-SKp8nCvBLn9AOWMzOMhyphenhyphent46soNihGI3yeNRC7869hQzSTP-wT_PfwnCi_cDbZvEt3RzY73xB1gh1PU_YY/s400/lj2.jpg" width="340" /></a></div>
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<b>SOME OF THEM FEEL JUSTIFIED BECAUSE THEY THINK HER RESPONSES TO HER TROLLS MAKE HER A TROLL AND THEREFORE A HYPOCRITE</b><br />
<b>======================================================</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
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<b>SOME OF THEM KNOW THAT THEY ARE HATERS</b></div>
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<b>SOME OF THEM THINK THAT BULLYING LESLIE IS A WAY OF EXPOSING TWITTER'S LEFT-WING AGENDA</b></div>
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<b>SOME OF THEM DON'T KNOW WHY THEY ARE DOING IT</b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://taliessinthroughlogres.blogspot.ie/2016/07/chatting-with-trolls-exploring-some-of.html">MORE IN PART 2</a></span></b></div>
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<br />Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-90226336903618530732015-12-07T15:45:00.000-08:002015-12-08T01:01:14.925-08:00Ken Robinson: Changing Education Paradigms<div style="text-align: center;">
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<br />
Ken Robinson is a wonderful speaker, but I think tends to generalize.<br />
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"<i>Every country on earth at
the moment is reforming public education</i>." - Simply not true, since not all the countries in the world have public education.<br />
<br />
"<i>The problem is that the
current system of education was designed and
conceived and structured for a different age. It
was conceived in the intellectual, culture of the
enlightenment. And in the economic
circumstances of the industrial revolution</i>." - In my opinion, the current system of Western education goes back to Plato's The Republic<br />
<br />
"<i>And my view is that this model has caused chaos in many people's lives; it's been great for some, there have been people who have benefitted wonderfully from it. But most people have not. Instead they suffer this; this is the modern epidemic and it's as misplaced and as it’s fictitious. This is the plague of ADHD.</i>" - so, in essence, what is being say here is that non-academic people are being diagnosed as ADHD. I totally get what he is saying, but ADHD is a real and serious condition and it may be overdiagnosed in children, but may well be underdiagnosed in adults (Ginsberg, Quintero, Anand, Casillas, Upadhyaya, 2014). It could be genetic, it could be dopamine, allergies to junk being put into food, but it's definitely something more than being artistic.<br />
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"<i>These kids are being medicated as routinely as we had our tonsils taken out. And on the same whimsical basis and for the same reason - medical fashion</i>" - that is a crazy statement, it's not "whimsical", it's what the majority of doctors believe to be true. This is how science works, you work with what you know, and work on a hypothesis based on the evidence, and when new evidence comes along, you modify your hypothesis. Medicine doesn't know it all, nor does it pretend to; it does what it can with the best information it has, it's not whimsical, it's how all science works (read Kuhn or Lakatos).<br />
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"O<i>ur children are living in the most intensely stimulating period in the history of the earth</i>." - I utterly disagree with this, for example, children who lived during the Hundred Years' War (from 1337 to 1453) would have found that way more stimulating, or if you lived in 1887 in China near the Yellow River you would be highly stimulated.<br />
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"<i>It seems to me it's not a coincidence
totally that the incidence of ADHD has risen in
parallel with the growth of standardised testing.</i> " - !!!<br />
<br />
"<i>And aesthetic experience is one in which your senses are operating at their peak, when you're present in the current moment, when you're resonating with the excitement of this thing that you're experiencing, when you're fully alive</i>." - that sounds exactly what should be happening in a good classrooms -- no one is trying to stop children experience this, other than very bad teachers.<br />
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"<i>Well I know kids who are much better than other kids at the same age in different disciplines, or at different times of the day, or better in smaller groups than in large groups, or sometimes they want to be on their own</i>." -- easy to say, impossible to implement at the moment. Give a real practical alternative, or even the first steps to change the system.<br />
<br />
"<i>There was a great study done recently of
divergent thinking</i>" - "Breakpoint and Beyond: Mastering the Future Today" by George Land and Beth Jarman was published in 1998 (so it's not that recent), it's a singe study...it's a very good study, that asks interesting questions, but that's it. The divergent thinking issue needs multiple studies in multiple countries done by multiple researchers, to eliminate the fact that it might be an issue with with country's schooling system, or it might be cultural, or it might be something to do with the methodology being used.<br />
<br />
"<i>Divergent thinking isn't the same
thing as creativity</i>" - it's definitely not, it's not even 50% of creative thinking. If this argument is true, that schools are killing creativity, it would be reasonable to predict that since the implementation of this schooling system in the 1890s, the level of creativity has declined sharply, is that the case? Samuel Beckett was a product of that system, as was Haruki Murakami, as was Kingsley Amis, Gertrude Stein, Thomas Mann, Pablo Picasso, Tim Berners-Lee, Rosalind Franklin, Stephen Hawking, etc.<br />
<br />
"<i>And don't copy because
that's cheating. Outside school that's called
collaboration no but inside schools</i>... " - come on, that's completely misleading, outside of school if you have a idea, and I steal it, that's intellectual property theft.<br />
<br />
"<i>Second, you have to recognise that most great learning happens in groups</i>" - I don't agree, some people learn very well in groups, others learn better alone. using MBTI numbers, it might be 50/50.<br />
<br />Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-47223326614224847642015-12-01T23:55:00.001-08:002020-03-17T14:48:50.407-07:00Universal Design for Learning: Top Ten Tips (advanced)<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Following on from the <a href="http://taliessinthroughlogres.blogspot.ie/2015/11/universal-design-for-learning-top-ten.html">Top Ten UDL Tips for beginners,</a> and </span><a href="http://taliessinthroughlogres.blogspot.ie/2015/11/universal-design-for-learning-top-ten_30.html" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Top Ten UDL Tips for intermediates,</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> in this posting we'll look at the Top Ten </span><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.cast.org/our-work/about-udl.html#.Vlg51HbhDIU">Universal Design for Learning</a> tips for advanced teachers, r</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">emembering that the ultimate goal is to ensure multiple means of </span><a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/osd/files/osd/images/udl_guidelines.gif" style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">representation, expression, and engagement</a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><u><b>Universal Design for Learning: Top Ten Intermediate Tips (Advanced)</b></u></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">1. Communicate high expectations to all students in your class. If you have accommodated all students, everyone should have an equal chance at success. Provide them with examplars.</span></div>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">2. Upload your videos onto YouTube, and <a href="http://accessproject.colostate.edu/udl/modules/multimedia/tut_caption_youtube.php">caption them</a>, and l</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">earn more about the </span><a href="http://www.w3.org/WAI/" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">3. When developing learning materials, in terms of the range of learners sensory preferences use <a href="http://vark-learn.com/introduction-to-vark/the-vark-modalities/">the V-A-R-K Learning Styles model</a> to create different types of learning materials and activities, e.g. PNG, Podcasts, PowerPoint, and Playdough</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">4. Explore each of the three common types of alignment in programme design: </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Vertical Alignment (linking modules between different years), Horizontal Alignment (linking modules in the same year), and Constructive Alignment (linking Learning Outcomes, Teaching, and Assessment, in a single module).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">5. Pre-teach all symbols and unfamiliar vocabulary in an early class, and create a glossary booklet (with both text and visual descriptions) that you hand out at the start of the semester.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">6. Consider the physical tasks that the students are required to do in class, find ways that you can provide alternatives in the requirements for speed, strength, timing, and range of these activities.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">7. Create assessments so that the criteria to achieve a passing grade, a good grade, a very good grade, and an excellent grade are clearly articulated. Is it possible to provide alternative criteria for each level also?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">8. Involve students as much as possible in setting their own learning goals. Also work with them to create a personalized checklist of goals agreed to, and encourage them to tick off each goal as it is accomplished to let them see their progress.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">9. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">When developing learning materials, in terms of the range of learners' cognitive preferences use </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.keirsey.com/4temps/overview_temperaments.asp">Keirsey Temperament Sorter</a> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">to create different types of learning materials</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">and activities</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">, e.g.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> create activities that include aspects of </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">problem solving, </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">planning, </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">personal growth, and </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">proficiency.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">10. Create a series of supporting documents to increase students' independent learning skills and discipline-specific skills that they can access at their own rate.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">>> <a href="http://taliessinthroughlogres.blogspot.com/p/universal-design-for-learning.html">Return to 3 Top Ten Tips</a> <<</span></div>
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Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-48873516359002494032015-11-30T01:29:00.000-08:002020-02-16T15:27:14.411-08:00Universal Design for Learning: Top Ten Tips (intermediate)<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Following on from the <a href="http://taliessinthroughlogres.blogspot.ie/2015/11/universal-design-for-learning-top-ten.html">Top Ten UDL Tips for beginners,</a> here are ten more tips once you are comfortable with the first ten to help in </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><a href="http://www.cast.org/our-work/about-udl.html#.Vlg51HbhDIU">Universal Design for Learning</a>, remembering that the ultimate goal is to ensure multiple means of <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/osd/files/osd/images/udl_guidelines.gif">representation, expression, and engagement</a>:</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><u><b>Universal Design for Learning: Top Ten Intermediate Tips (intermediate)</b></u></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">1. Start each lesson stating a set of learning outcomes you want the students to achieve in this class (and link these outcomes to material they have already covered in previous lessons where possible).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">2. Provide sample assessments (CA and exams) with solutions, and annotate these solutions with </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">advice on answering questions and </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">study tips. Give the assessments early in the semester, and provide the solutions over the following weeks.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">3. If you are using videos and audio files, <a href="http://advancedinnovationandcareerdevelo.blogspot.ie/2014/03/angela-lee-duckworth-key-to-success-grit.html">include a transcript</a>. If it's a pre-existing video normally if you goggle a distinctive phrase from the video/audio, there's usually a transcript of it somewhere on the web.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">4. Consider checking your materials using <a href="https://www.paciellogroup.com/resources/wat/">an accessibly tool</a> where applicable.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">5. Consider incorporating a peer reviewing element into your assessments, but make sure you teach students to be supportive and respectful of each other and their work.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">6. Once a semester do an activity that gives the students some choice in the activity (it could be for example in terms of doing the activity individually or in groups; on-line or paper-based; in the classroom or as fieldwork; or some combination of these).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">7. Instead of having a single large assessment, consider breaking it down into a few parts, and provide some quick feedback after each part to help the students understand what you are looking for in your assessments.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">8. Give your students marks for participation in class (this is very easy to do on-line with discussion boards).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">9. Create an anonymous comments box for students, you can do this on-line <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/?sm=PxKrhXwYGmXb01wFt4qlQA%3d%3d">using SurveyMonkey</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">10. Give assessment instructions both orally and in written format, and remind students frequently of deadlines and delivery dates (Consider creating a class calendar also, with assessments, lab times, and other class activities).</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">>> <a href="http://taliessinthroughlogres.blogspot.com/p/universal-design-for-learning.html">Return to 3 Top Ten Tips</a> <<</span></div>
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Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-4263900738496733392015-11-27T03:08:00.001-08:002023-05-30T14:53:16.058-07:00Universal Design for Learning: Top Ten Tips (beginners)<div style="background-color: white;">
<span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">A colleague recently asked me for my top ten tips to introduce people easily to </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><a href="http://www.cast.org/our-work/about-udl.html#.Vlg51HbhDIU">Universal Design for Learning</a>, now we know that the ultimate goal is to ensure multiple means of <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/osd/files/osd/images/udl_guidelines.gif">representation, expression, and engagement</a>, but we have to start somewhere, and here it is:</span></span></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><u><b>Universal Design for Learning: Top Ten Tips to Begin With</b></u></span></span></div>
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1. Use a minimum of 14pt font size where possible in all documents, and justify the <a href="http://mediaaccess.org.au/accessibledocumentservice/2015/08/text-justification-is-a-key-accessibility-issue-in-documents/">text to the left margin</a> only.</div>
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2. Colour the document backgrounds with off-white/cream <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">(for PowerPoints and other documents), and for handouts print out on cream paper if possible.</span></div>
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3. Try to break sentences into <a href="http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/free-guides.html">short readable units</a></div>
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4. Explain new terms when you first use them (consider creating a <a href="https://edtechtoday.wordpress.com/2007/10/16/collaborating-in-blackboard-student-created-glossary/">glossary</a>)</div>
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5. Use bullet points, or better yet numbers, rather than long passages of prose</div>
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6. Include Pictures and Graphics to support text (e.g. flowcharts) <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">and get students as an activity to create their own graphics/visuals </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">for your topic</span></div>
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7. Make sure all handouts and notes are available well in advance of class</div>
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8. Try to break large documents (PowerPoints, Word docs, etc.) into multiple smaller documents, or at least create clear section breaks, and make the documents available to the students in a format that allows them to alter font size, type and colour (e.g. avoid providing PDF files)</div>
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9. Avoid Idioms, colloquialisms, and figurative language; also <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">avoid examples that are too culturally specific, or gender biased</span></div>
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10. Consider using a font kind to people with dyslexia, so <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">stick with sans serif fonts such as Arial, Comic Sans, Verdana, Tahoma or Sassoon. Also check if fonts </span>like <a href="http://opendyslexic.org/">OpenDyslexic</a> and <a href="http://www.dyslexiefont.com/en/dyslexie-font/">Dyslexie</a> help.<span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">>> <a href="http://taliessinthroughlogres.blogspot.com/p/universal-design-for-learning.html">Return to 3 Top Ten Tips</a> <<</span></div>
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Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-29053271008888458382015-11-25T08:16:00.000-08:002015-11-25T13:45:34.568-08:00Does the SAMR model privilege the technology-enhanced classroom?The SAMR model was popularized by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, it proposes a four-stage model of technology-enhanced teaching. The four stages are presented below:<br />
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<ul>
<li><b>SUBSTITUTION</b>: Technology directly substitutes for existing practice.</li>
<li><b>AUGMENTATION</b>: Technology substitutes and augments practice.</li>
<li><b>MODIFICATION</b>: Technology allows for significant task redesign.</li>
<li><b>REDEFINITION</b>: Technology allows for creation of new tasks.</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU-r-R9Jri26vsTQN7HbLhIkImN8qbwK4TTc2rhr6AaVq70U0zFUsIBI2KVjeavX3__HXG6_NbsMtlYHjLO21az-HS52zF6ZH3rbyFA_iKJi8UMvAxuvEXdJem-QOtteTG-rJFohtTRhI/s1600/SAMR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU-r-R9Jri26vsTQN7HbLhIkImN8qbwK4TTc2rhr6AaVq70U0zFUsIBI2KVjeavX3__HXG6_NbsMtlYHjLO21az-HS52zF6ZH3rbyFA_iKJi8UMvAxuvEXdJem-QOtteTG-rJFohtTRhI/s400/SAMR.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Some researchers have criticised the SAMR model as it <a href="http://www.e-ohagan.com/a-critical-review-of-puenteduras-samr/">does not appear to have been documented in peer-review literature</a>. Other researchers mention <a href="http://igniteducation.com/2014/01/24/goodbye-samr-hello-ratl/">a lack of clarity of the the meaning of the phases</a> (thus making it difficult to evaluate), particularly the middle two phases, and propose the more effective RATL model.</div>
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An <a href="http://spelvetenskap.blogspot.ie/2013/10/open-letter-to-dr-ruben-puentedura.html">open letter to Dr, Ruben Puentedura</a> reiterates the lack of peer-reviewed material concerning SAMR, as well as suggesting it is an over-simplistic model. The <a href="http://drapestak.es/that-time-where-samr-gets-us-in-trouble-2/">problem of the hierarchy of SAMR</a> is discussed, and a claim <a href="http://royanlee.com/?p=3375">that it is hyperbolic</a> is made.<br />
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There are some peer-reviewed materials on SAMR (in the last few years):<br />
<ul>
<li>Choeda, C., Zander, O., Penjor, T., Dukpa, D., & Rai, R. (2014). <a href="http://sdiwc.net/digital-library/web-admin/upload-pdf/00000926.pdf">The ICT-Integrated Pedagogy in the Colleges of Royal University of Bhutan</a>. In The Third International Conference on E-Learning and E-Technologies in Education (ICEEE2014) (pp. 234-245). The Society of Digital Information and Wireless Communication. [<b>NOTE</b>: <i>The authors merge the two lower
levels (Substitution and Augmentation) into an Emergent level</i>]. </li>
<li>Oakley, G., & Pegrum, M. (2014). <a href="http://www.erpjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ERPV41_Oakely_2014_Where_do_you_switch_it_on1.pdf">‘Where do you switch it on?’A Case Study of the Enhancement and Transformation of University Lecturers’ Teaching Practices with Digital Technologies</a>. Education Research & Perspectives, 41(1). [<b>NOTE</b>: <i>The authors mention that Puentedura (2012) estimates that a full-time teacher might need around three years of experience with ICTs to move from tasks which simply involve substitution to tasks which involve some redefinition</i>].</li>
<li>Romrell, D., Kidder, L. C., Wood, E. (2014). <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1036281.pdf">The SAMR Model as a Framework for Evaluating mLearning</a>. Online Learning, 18(2). [<b>NOTE</b>: <i>This paper provides a very detailed review of the SAMR model, and is mostly positive, but the authors note that the SAMR model is still very subjective]</i>.</li>
<li>Webb, M.; Gibson, D. (2015). <a href="http://www.researchgate.net/profile/David_Gibson12/publication/279282566_Technology_enhanced_assessment_in_complex_collaborative_settings/links/55f51a1608ae63926cf27f0b.pdf">Technology enhanced assessment in complex collaborative settings</a>. Education and Information Technologies, 20(4), 675-695. [<b>NOTE</b>: <i>The authors note that SAMR has been used fairly widely in teacher professional development where one of its strengths is in encouraging teachers to reflect on the extent to which their use of technology is transforming their pedagogical approaches</i>].</li>
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For me, a useful comparison to make is with <a href="http://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/14143.pdf">Moule's eLearning model (2007)</a>.</div>
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Moule's model sees the integration of technology into teaching as a means of changing the type of teaching practice, moving from an Instructivist to a Constructivist model. In contrast SAMR seems to see the integration of technology as an end unto itself. Its focus on the technology as the key driver within the process seems to privilege technology as paramount in teaching. And suggests that it would be possible to create previously "inconceivable" tasks with SAMR. Should this be "impractical" as opposed to "inconceivable"?</div>
Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-83644190792202483052015-10-12T16:42:00.002-07:002020-01-05T17:42:03.369-08:00Ada Lovelace Day: Grace Murray Hopper and Computer Programming<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis22AXaqDn8eKCmpjsxa470LS6DOqqluwniGtA-j2W9g3DK7xp2Dsz2mSkmBQXjkPB2pJ9HOI7ymCGkJ18YjfxRogPL9oUd5g98VnifFeqK8ETXXlZPd82wHdYjrc926t90pKdWDqVzP8/s1600/ada-lovelace-day-2012-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis22AXaqDn8eKCmpjsxa470LS6DOqqluwniGtA-j2W9g3DK7xp2Dsz2mSkmBQXjkPB2pJ9HOI7ymCGkJ18YjfxRogPL9oUd5g98VnifFeqK8ETXXlZPd82wHdYjrc926t90pKdWDqVzP8/s1600/ada-lovelace-day-2012-1.jpg" /></a></div>
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Today is <a href="http://findingada.com/">Ada Lovelace Day</a>, a day to blog about female computer scientists we admire. Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace (10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) is credited with authoring <a href="http://www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/sketch.html">the first computer algorithm</a> (which concerned a method for calculating a sequence of Bernoulli numbers) in 1843 for use on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine.<br />
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This year I'm going to write a posting on Grace Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992) aka "Amazing Grace", whose contributions to Computer Science are innumerable, the true successor to Ada Lovelace, she was one of the first programmers of an electronic computer, starting in 1944, SHE INVENTED THE FIRST COMPILER (for the A-0 programming language), and was instrumental in the development of machine-independent programming languages which led to the development of COBOL. She is credited with popularizing the term "debugging" for fixing computer glitches (in one instance, removing a moth from a computer).<br />
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A natural hacker, at the age of seven she decided to determine how an alarm clock worked, and dismantled seven alarm clocks before her mother realized what she was doing. She graduated from Vassar in 1928 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics, and earned her master's degree at Yale University in 1930. In 1934, she earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale under the direction of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%98ystein_Ore">Øystein Ore</a>. Her dissertation, <i>New Types of Irreducibility Criteria</i>, was published that same year. Hopper began teaching mathematics at Vassar in 1931, and was promoted to associate professor in 1941.<br />
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During World War II, she obtained a leave of absence from Vassar and was sworn into the United States Navy Reserve, She served on the Mark I computer programming staff headed by Howard Aiken. Hopper and Aiken co-authored three papers on the Mark I, also known as the <i>Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator</i>. She continued to serve in the Navy Reserve, and remained at the Harvard Computation Lab until 1949, turning down a full professorship at Vassar in favour of working as a research fellow under a Navy contract at Harvard.<br />
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In the 1970s, Hopper advocated for the Defence Department to replace large, centralized systems with networks of small, distributed computers. Any user on any computer node could access common databases located on the network. She developed the implementation of standards for testing computer systems and components, most significantly for early programming languages such as FORTRAN and COBOL.<br />
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Thank you Grace Hopper.Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-88600800809408374982015-07-31T04:39:00.002-07:002015-07-31T04:59:21.734-07:00The Stanford Prison Experiment wasn't really an experiment<div style="text-align: center;">
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What is the difference between a scientific and an unscientific experiment? My own view is that the Stanford experiment was an unscientific experiment for the following reasons;<br />
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(1) The principal investigator, Philip Zimbardo, participated in the experiment as the prison warden. In a good controlled experiment the investigator should not participate in the experiment, there is too much potential for bias.<br />
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(2) The initial objective of the experiment will to look at how prisoners become conditioned to the prison system, and the guards were not being monitored as closely as the prisoners, so any conclusions about abuse of power are dubious.<br />
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(3) Volunteers were paid for their participation, and some of them really needed the money, this can be a significant source of bias.<br />
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(4) There may have been a selection bias problem since the initial advertisement mentioned the experiment was about "prison life", subsequent studies have shown that this phrase may have attracted volunteers with a tendency towards abusive behaviour.<br />
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(5) In Zimbardo's book "The Lucifer Effect" he mentions that one of the instructions he gave to the guards at the start was to be like the guards in "Cool Hand Luke" who were sadistic and brutal, this suggests that the guards behaviour was as a result of the Milgram Experiment effect.<br />
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(6) A participant asked to leave the experiment; he should have been let go immediately, instead Zimbardo got him to stay, and this action led the prisoners to think that they couldn't exit the experiment -- a fundamental principle of informed consent is that participants cannot be forced continue in an experiment.Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-42386199394749780242014-10-14T07:44:00.002-07:002014-10-14T08:50:15.630-07:00Ada Lovelace Day: Karen Spärck Jones and Information Retrieval<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://findingada.com/"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggBArfrLNA2yHdRH0b2narmCWJSzxcZfTV37DFl-kKSPISpvmEip4WYadTwv4ADQYtHPLiB7CTd8ioDWHDvT6CpjFXiZPwhDjiMyiJV4NcjEUI15ED4S5W8J24ra3IIYmJ1Atu32N0wic/s320/ada-lovelace-day-2012-1.jpg" height="281" width="320" /></a></div>
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Today is <a href="http://findingada.com/">Ada Lovelace Day</a>, a day to blog about female computer scientists we admire. Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace (10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) is credited with authoring <a href="http://www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/sketch.html">the first computer algorithm</a> (which concerned a method for calculating a sequence of Bernoulli numbers) in 1843 for use on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine.<br />
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This year I am going to post about Karen Spärck Jones, whose work on information retrieval is fundamental to the operation of all modern search engines.<br />
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Karen Spärck Jones was born in Huddersfield, in 1935, she attended Cambridge University, in the late 1950s began working as a researcher at the Cambridge Language Research Unit. During that time she worked in the field of Natural Language Processing, and looked at the problem of near-synonyms, and developed more sophisticated ways of distinguishing ambiguous terms.<br />
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By the 1960s she was focusing on Information Retrieval and helped develop a metric to measure the importance of an individual word (or a family of words) in a document. This is the notion of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tf%E2%80%93idf">Inverse Document Frequency</a> (IDF) weighting, which she introduced in a 1972 paper "<i><a href="http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/~ser/idfpapers/ksj_orig.pdf">A Statistical Interpretation of Term Specificity and Its Application in Retrieval</a></i>"<br />
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The Inverse Document Frequency (IDF) is used in all web search engines and is fundamental to their operation in terms of classification and retrieval, and has also filtered into areas of NLP.<br />
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Her more recent work had been on document retrieval, including speech applications, database query, user and agent modelling, summarising, and information and language system evaluation as well as projects on automatic summarising, belief revision for information retrieval, video mail retrieval, and multimedia document retrieval, the last two in collaboration with the Engineering department.<br />
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As an influential figure on evaluation programmes, Karen Spärck Jones was also involved in setting the standards for a large proportion of the work in NLP.<br />
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She was recipient of a significant number of awards, including:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Gerard Salton Award (1988)</li>
<li>ASIS&T Award of Merit (2002)</li>
<li>ACL Lifetime Achievement Award (2004) </li>
<li>BCS Lovelace Medal (2007)</li>
<li>ACM-AAAI Allen Newell Award (2007)</li>
</ul>
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She died on 4 April 2007, and Computer Science lost one of it's most important heroes.Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-69133531503153917862014-06-10T13:48:00.000-07:002014-06-10T14:04:04.340-07:00Why I think Ken Robinson is wrong about schools killing creativity.<div style="text-align: center;">
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[<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/DamianGordon1/summary-of-ken-robinson">My Summary]</a></div>
<br />
Ken Robinson is a wonderful
polemicist, and a fantastic speaker, but his points on creativity are
highly debatable; if schools were killing creativity why is the so much
creativity being generated by people who have gone through the school
system? In both the artistic and problem-solving domains of creativity we have incredible examples of modern-day creativity.<br />
<br />
He says we don't know what kinds of jobs there will be in 50 years
time, and we may not, but chances are there still will be doctors, lawyers, accountants
and street sweepers.<br />
<br />
I disagree with his notion that creativity is as important as literacy, it really isn't. <br />
<br />
Also I believe his view that we are educating to produce University Professors isn't true, it fails to recognize the wonderful work that so many highly creative teachers do, and it fails to understand that school is more than the classroom, there are sporting activities, and school plays, and all kinds of other non-classroom activities that help educate children (co-curricular activities), and in the case of third-level students, they are often learning to cook, clean and live by themselves. <br />
<br />
In terms of the hierarchy in education, if we are ever going to find a cure for serious medical conditions, it's likely going to be achieved by people who studied a science, so there is a reason for this kind of hierarchy.<br />
<br />
Finally my own reflection is that if there is anything that is killing creativity, it is rampant consumerism.Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-57523240769033084482014-06-05T05:02:00.000-07:002014-06-05T13:06:07.584-07:00What is the Point of a Four-Year Degree?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDnhmCGSDUj_npD4O8zQrVksFkZlIW68gJVtSCGceoZkmiRt1DG9Umq_Tg4bYbrB56EpkuQMGuYXovtrj4ws2gQrhJRqc3H6lAFCBS_Rz55XbDznXyn01OayWgioPM5H6Ty7PrJVmKVtE/s1600/4-year-degree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDnhmCGSDUj_npD4O8zQrVksFkZlIW68gJVtSCGceoZkmiRt1DG9Umq_Tg4bYbrB56EpkuQMGuYXovtrj4ws2gQrhJRqc3H6lAFCBS_Rz55XbDznXyn01OayWgioPM5H6Ty7PrJVmKVtE/s1600/4-year-degree.jpg" height="232" width="320" /></a></div>
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There has been a bit of talk in the media recently about the need for a four-year degree, and could it not be compressed down to a shorter period. This is a really interesting question and I think gets to the heart of the goal of an academic education. I believe an academic degree should focus on equipping the students with the ability to "learn how to learn" rather than just learning a collection of skills; focusing on developing them as a person rather than just giving that skills that will make them attractive to employers (which I think is reducing the student down to an economic commodity).<br />
<br />
Let me put my cards on the table, I believe it is possible, but very undesirable, to deliver a degree course in a reduced format. I think such a reduced model would have an extremely significant detrimental impact on the students' understanding of the material, and reduce their ability to stay employed in their discipline of choice. And if you think this is me just trying to protect my summer holidays, this is <a href="http://taliessinthroughlogres.blogspot.ie/2009/07/things-i-do-on-my-summer-holidays.html">what I do over the summer</a>.<br />
<br />
It is clear that such material could be presented in a compressed format, we are all familiar with training courses, so we know that the material can be delivered quickly, but we also know that a training course only teaches you a very specific set of skills, and generally doesn't give you time to reflect on those skills, nor do they typically contextualise that material with a body of theory and models that help the students understand WHY we do things in a certain way as well as HOW to do them. As a Computer Science lecturer this is very evident to me, I know that if I am teaching students a programming language, my two main goals are to teach them how to use the programming language (as per a training course), but also how to understand in general how programming languages work, and why we are doing things in a particular way, and this requires a lot of reflection on their behalf. Why do we do this? Because chances are there will be a new programming language invented by the time they get a job, and they need to understand the general principles, and well as the specifics. The same applies to Operating Systems, Software Methodologies, Testing Techniques, etc. In other words, the goal of an academic degree is to teach students to "learn how to learn" not to learn a bunch of specific skills. As well as learning the specific skills of their discipline the students are learning to future-proof their skillset to ensure that they have the opportunity to have a long-lasting career.The students are also learning vital softskills for their sustained careers, including things like teamwork, communication skills, ethics, and presentation skills, these take years to develop.<br />
<br />
The students need four years to reflect on their discipline; to reflect on how different subjects on their course link together for them; to reflect on what kind of learner they are; to reflect on how they work in teams; to reflect on what subjects they like and don't, and from there to consider what kind of job they'd like within their discipline. Reducing the duration of a degree course would seem like a good cost-saving measure, but I believe it would be a short-term action that would result in disastrous long-term consequences. The students need time to think about what they are learning and need time to develop into the professionals, and people, we want them to become - accomplished, independent thinkers.<br />
<br />
More on this:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.eugeneoloughlin.com/2014/06/jackie-lavin-hasnt-got-clue.html">Jackie Lavin hasn't got a clue by Eugene O'Loughlin</a></li>
<li><a href="http://brianmlucey.wordpress.com/2014/06/04/jackie-lavin-a-meme-girl-for-irish-higher-education/">Jackie Lavin – A Meme Girl for Irish Higher Education by Brian M. Lucey</a></li>
</ul>
Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-79392246379080833212014-05-12T01:25:00.000-07:002014-10-14T08:54:09.441-07:00It's Very Difficult to Measure the Quality of a Programme<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioN5kTNBx94Hxjw97e3SNStEGEQbn_8dT8KBreY9wTQjjLCBTsICtMqaIHBUo31_OFafQOc4H3ZahGsqEYajJvgkIL6OPKODlLUAMRa9nWqzhfdC_stnOjRIPErXMz0E78DNp4JdiohzM/s1600/bigstock-measure-quality-on-black-ruler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioN5kTNBx94Hxjw97e3SNStEGEQbn_8dT8KBreY9wTQjjLCBTsICtMqaIHBUo31_OFafQOc4H3ZahGsqEYajJvgkIL6OPKODlLUAMRa9nWqzhfdC_stnOjRIPErXMz0E78DNp4JdiohzM/s1600/bigstock-measure-quality-on-black-ruler.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Measuring the quality of a programme is very tricky. Paddy Cosgrave, founder of </span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">The Dublin Web Summit has suggested that <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/is-a-trinity-degree-worth-more-tech-entrepreneur-hits-a-nerve-1.1788438">a degree from Trinity College Dublin has more value than an equivalent qualification from other Irish universities</a>. </span></span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">He attempted to justify his statements on </span><a href="http://blog.thesummit.co/2014/05/09/even-hire-pirates/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">a blog posting</a><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"> where he suggests there might be cases where Trinity courses are not any better than others!</span><br />
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Normally I wouldn't comment on things like this, but given Mr. Cosgrave is a member of the Board of the HEA, and he picked such an incredibly insensitive (and morale-destroying) time as now, just when so many third-level students are heading into exams, I feel it's important to comment on this sort of claptrap.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Determining the quality of one course versus another is very complex, there are always subjective elements to measuring quality; Paddy Cosgrave suggested the following criteria <a href="https://twitter.com/paddycosgrave/status/465192874946985984">on twitter</a> for measure the quality of a programme:</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"><i>"faculty, facilities, funding, possible cohort effects, entrance requirements, hours of course etc</i>"</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4cOV8G97QUflPZtA8Ut2Iq4pHyS0mF9iBeby8HWs25jJoerLWxoW2W2Me_EuW5vy-BcfNjtdt0Srs4KkxcyWt6HTCneOovRvjz2czpkQUNW-a-m8PqwEpU0mv8bEeQXcXJwwHzpVNmlo/s1600/pc3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4cOV8G97QUflPZtA8Ut2Iq4pHyS0mF9iBeby8HWs25jJoerLWxoW2W2Me_EuW5vy-BcfNjtdt0Srs4KkxcyWt6HTCneOovRvjz2czpkQUNW-a-m8PqwEpU0mv8bEeQXcXJwwHzpVNmlo/s1600/pc3.jpg" height="63" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">The problem with using faculty, how are you measuring the staff members quality?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">The problem with using facilities, how do you measure that, if you use a blunt metric like amount of money spent on facilities, that doesn't tell us if the money was well-spent.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">The problem with using funding as a metric, in most cases "funding" as a criteria has a lot to do with research activity rather than teaching ability.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">The problem with using "possible cohort effects" is the almost complete inability to measure this particular metric.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">The problem with using "entrance requirements" is that if are looking at students moving from second-level where they may be doing lots of subjects they mightn't be interested in, to third-level where the are doing a topic of interest to them, it's difficult to predict which students will be more successful.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">The problem with using "hours of the course" is that it's a blunt instrument, are more lectures and less self-study better, or less lectures and more self-study? etc.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">In other words, what I'm saying is that these suggestions are very poor metrics, and they show that Mr. Cosgrave really hasn't thought about this at all, or hasn't done even elementary research. Why not consider real metrics like </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructive_alignment" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Constructive Alignment</a><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">, and Horizontal and Vertical Alignment? What about considering the kinds of co-curricular activities supported by the institute?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">It's important to recognise that similar degrees in different HEIs teach different content (and therefore often have different learning outcomes), but that doesn't mean one is better than the other or worse than the other, in third-level institutes around the country we are trying to create rounded learners, who are learning how to learn. This isn't like training courses </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #1a1a1a; display: inline; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">where it's an exact like-with-like comparison, we want to have empowered students who are engaging in self-study (particularly in their final year); and because of these issues there will be a significant disparity from student to student even within the same third-level programme.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #1a1a1a; display: inline; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #1a1a1a; display: inline; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">His </span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">argument about "Grade Inflation" is ludicrous, he incorrectly states that TCD has had less of an increase in First Class honours that all the other universities, <a href="http://technology.ie/why-paddy-cosgrave-is-wrong-about-irish-universitys-grade-inflation/">it hasn't</a></span></span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">. There are a lots of reasons why students are getting more Firsts </span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">in the last decade; the wider diversity of students in classrooms (particularly the often highly-motivated international students), the wider availability of useful online resources for students to help them learn, the increase in the number of lecturers with educational training as well as discipline expertise, the increased number (and more diverse range) of courses available in all third-level institutes.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #1a1a1a; display: inline; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">On twitter Paddy Cosgrave mentioned that he would prefer to hire a computer science student from MIT than the 5000th ranked higher education institute (<a href="https://twitter.com/paddycosgrave/status/465210949809758208">here</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/paddycosgrave/status/465211209919127552">here</a>), I will note that the criteria for ranking third-level institutes is based almost exclusively on research output of these institutes and has very little (or nothing in some cases) to do with the quality or their programmes or the quality of the teaching on those programmes.<br /><br />A lack of understanding of statistics is evident in Paddy Cosgrave's statements that he is using the Undergraduate Awards as a metric for college courses. He needs for consider issues such as:</span><br />
<ol>
<li><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">How can you measure the quality of all of the universities on the basis of a couple of hundred students out of over 10,000 enrolled students? it's so<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_significance"> statistically insignificant </a>it's shocking.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">How many people from each institute entered the undergraduate awards, the distribution of the results of the UA might just reflect the distribution of entrants?</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">What are the judging criteria for the UA? They are a <a href="http://www.undergraduateawards.com/submission/judging-criteria/">mixture of highly behaviourist categories combined with highly subjective categories</a>. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Is the data normally or near-normally distributed?</span></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Why just consider the 2011 awards (when I can say for certain it was under-prompted in IoTs compared to universities that year)?</span></span></li>
</ol>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">He also seems to have no idea of the purpose of the NQAI Framework:</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVbxcsYjGhtgirO2mZpxUL5iLbWd7vU0LJTsfadmfLKRuO5R5OWcpz_gvtt_oSKP5WbAT5Sfv1WGOIFgZ9M1qKG34z8L5qndzWdFewxQNeoqyAejtCCK0zjN3ikZ5gddniwUR4ZsdlQ4s/s1600/pc1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVbxcsYjGhtgirO2mZpxUL5iLbWd7vU0LJTsfadmfLKRuO5R5OWcpz_gvtt_oSKP5WbAT5Sfv1WGOIFgZ9M1qKG34z8L5qndzWdFewxQNeoqyAejtCCK0zjN3ikZ5gddniwUR4ZsdlQ4s/s1600/pc1.jpg" height="61" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">or the purpose of Learning Outcomes:</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Learning outcomes are not easy in Computer Science, </span></span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">the ever-changing face of these courses (a course that was high quality last year might be out of date this year, things are changing rapidly in the this domain; look at things like Cloud, Apps, Exadata, etc.). So just looking at the outcomes on programmes based on grades is highly tricky.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">See also </span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;"><a href="http://technology.ie/why-paddy-cosgrave-is-wrong-about-irish-universitys-grade-inflation/">Why Paddy Cosgrave is Wrong about Irish Universities and Grade Inflation by Conn Ó Muíneacháin</a></span></li>
</ul>
</div>
Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-3836011438210618692014-03-18T15:01:00.000-07:002014-03-18T15:03:28.778-07:00CPD: Creativity and Critical Thinking in Higher Education - Week 5 Activities<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<u>Final Infographic:</u></h2>
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Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-91799316946831071322014-02-25T08:46:00.000-08:002014-03-18T14:46:47.388-07:00CPD: Creativity and Critical Thinking in Higher Education - Week 5Week 5 of my Continuing Professional Development qualification in "<a href="http://dit.ie/lttc/programmes/mainhighereducation/programmemodules/">Creativity and Critical Thinking in Higher Education</a>" being delivered by the DIT Learning, Teaching & Technology Centre.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Really, really enjoyed this module, and sad it's over.<br />
<br />
This week our groups were to present their work to date on our inforgraphics.<br />
<br />
<u><b>TEAM DIGITAL IMMIGRANTS</b></u><br />
The guys gave a very funny, clear presentation on an infographic on apps for students. The infographic is called "Total Appiness" and will increase the creativity of the students using apps. They quoted a lot of interesting statistics and research, and the infographic has a fantastic look. They are using <a href="https://www.thinglink.com/">thinglink</a>.<br />
<br />
<b><u>TEAM TELOS</u></b><br />
The guys are developing an infographic on the application of the theory of creativity in Engineering first year students and staff. They looked at a lot of research on the creative process and developed a meta-analytic cycle of creativity. They focused on tying the formulas and theories into reality, and used a Roller Coaster motif. They used <a href="http://www.easel.ly/">easl.ly</a> and <a href="http://piktochart.com/">piktochart</a>.<br />
<br />
<b><u>TEAM JEEVI</u></b><br />
The guys are doing an infographic on nurturing creativity in third-level. They used a lovely metaphor of a tree, with the roots representing primary and secondary school education, the body of the tree representing third-level education, and a bird plucking a CV from the top of the tree as the students getting jobs. They used <a href="http://infogr.am/">infogr.am</a>.<br />
<br />
<u><b>TEAM FIVESTAR</b></u> (Our Team)<br />
We presented our rationale for our infographic design, and presented a draft of the infographic.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="356" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/31629008" style="border-width: 1px 1px 0; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin-bottom: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="427"> </iframe> </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 5px; text-align: center;">
<b> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/DamianGordon1/team-project-work-on-critical-thinking-infographic" target="_blank" title="Team Project work on Critical Thinking Infographic">Team Project work on Critical Thinking Infographic</a> </b> from <b><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/DamianGordon1" target="_blank">Damian Gordon</a></b><br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<u><b>SOME EXCELLENT FEEDBACK FROM THE OTHER GROUPS</b></u><br />
<i><b>Yellow Hat - </b>learning object for lecturers – one stop shop for critical thinkers, Sherlock theme is creative and unique, well researched - ‘good detective work’ Nice consistent presentation, consider accessibility, also interactive, purpose and audience clear, nicely brings in what was learned over the 5 weeks<b><br /><br />Black Hat - </b>a lot of text, possibly too much information, needs to be more concise, lots of text, synthesise, summarise, too condensed<b><br /><br />White Hat - </b>Question: is the Infographic for lecturers or students? How conscious would the students be with the process? How would it be used as a learning tool? For students eg does it matter if the student is aware of Bloom, constructivism of info processing model? Info – very dense, overall too wide, too much text, didn’t follow through Sherlock idea in info graphic context.<b><br /><br />Blue Hat - </b>what is the overall idea? This is like a review of the course, does this work in Pinterst? Is it informative as it stands?</i><b> </b><br />
<br />
<br />
<u><b>SOME FEEDBACK FROM THE TUTORS</b></u><br />
<br />
In the presentations yesterday, the tutors recognize that all four groups have worked conscientiously and diligently behind the scenes in preparation for their infographic. In the space of five weeks, all groups have produced graphic visual representations of a blend of information, data and knowledge on the topics of creativity or aspects of critical thinking, and we were suitably impressed by the quality attained so far. As the peer feedback in class yesterday was specific to each group, we have formed our comments here in a general way to be applicable to all four groups. Remember also to have a look at the assessment criteria for the infographic (on the homepage of wikispaces), as a check before submission.<br />
<br />
<b>Positive Points</b><br />
<ul>
<li>All four infographics have the potential to improve understanding of the chosen displayed topics; in the interim between now and the submission date, it would add depth to the work if you were to conduct a small piece of ‘primary research’ to inform their infographic i.e. get some feedback from your target user group, and use this need to shape the direction of the concrete concept that has to be explained visually in the infographic.</li>
<li>Drawing upon personal experiences and reflections can be useful in identifying key themes and ideas that will be of benefit to a potential audience. The practical applications that were included in some of your Infographics, will help to increase engagement with intended users. </li>
<li>We are looking for a demonstration of a high level of both production values and scholarship in the infographic; effective use of visual content works not only is appealing to the eye but importantly it can work well to pull the infographic themes together. However, given the space limitations, you should still think about the added value in using a particular graphic – rather than making the product more aesthetically pleasing (watch copyright issues too!). We will be looking for the content to be effectively structured and presented under your themes, so that this will communicate a clear overall message on your topic. </li>
<li>The creative and artistic talents of individuals in all groups have been well utilised to make each infographic a unique offering. For those that chose to include it, the cyclical nature of the creative process depicted in the infographic can work well to demonstrate the breakdown of the topic and the relationship between the various elements of creativity, and communicates a clear accessible message to a potential audience. Remember, the graphic is likely be viewed as a standalone piece – without the benefit of your background thinking and narrative. As was suggested yesterday, perhaps have a preview session with an intended user group, to gather their initial comments and how they interpret your ideas. </li>
<li>In those groups that chose to use it, humour was integrated well to the message to communicate key points/messages effectively for the intended audience. </li>
<li>We liked that the infographics can open up our notions on what creativity and critical thinking are and that all groups used their individual interests and talents to organically grow their infographic.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Developmental Points</b><br />
<ul>
<li>As the purpose of the infographic is to present complex information quickly and clearly to a particular audience, each group should revisit their work and bear this in mind when producing the final version. Remember the need to introduce ‘theme’ graphics to the infographic to pull together or conceptualise the underlying visual representation of the data; this is important to have rather than have an over-abundance of images and text. This will help demonstrate evidence of higher order thinking and engagement with the topic. It is particularly important that the content captured in the Infographic is grounded in theory. Identify key literature for inclusion and provide a rationale behind your selections along with any additional reading in the group wiki space. </li>
<li>Also, all groups should revisit one of the most important aspects of their infographic - that they contain some sort of valuable insight from the group into the data that they are presenting (this is what will make your work unique to your group), perhaps combining a diversity of approaches reflective of the blend of individuals that make up your group. </li>
<li>Remember the three basic provisions of communication with your chosen audience that need to be considered when finalising your infographic – visual appeal, comprehension, and retention. </li>
<li>There is a need to cut down on text in some infographics (you know this yourselves) and ensure that only the main message or theme is presented, and that the infographic still works well as a standalone without the benefit of your accompanying narrative. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
</ul>
<b>===================================================== </b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<b>FINAL THOUGHTS</b>: <i>Gosh, well this is it, final class, what a journey, what an excellent module, and a great team of people to work with in Team FiveStar. <a href="http://www.dit.ie/lttc/aboutthelttc/staff/#d.en.28557">Roisin</a> and <a href="http://www.dit.ie/lttc/aboutthelttc/staff/#d.en.28560">Jen</a>, are excellent lecturers, and the quality of guest lecturers we had was superb, I've learned a lot about working in groups, and loads about creativity and critical thinking, well worth the weekly trip to Upper Mount Street.</i><b></b> </div>
</div>
Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-86510459975451945232014-02-18T15:24:00.001-08:002019-01-21T04:56:16.868-08:00CPD: Creativity and Critical Thinking in Higher Education - Week 4 Activities<u><b>WEEK 4: </b></u><u><b>ACTIVITIES</b></u><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dave-kilmartin/9/600/735">Dave Kilmartin</a>, Head of the Career Development Centre at DIT gave an absolutely awesome talk on the use of questions in Critical Thinking.<br />
<br />
Dave started by suggesting we think of Kipling's poem:<br />
<br />
<i>I keep six honest serving-men </i><br />
<i>(They taught me all I knew);</i><br />
<i>Their names are What and Why and </i><br />
<i>When And How and Where and Who.</i><br />
<i>I send them over land and sea,</i><br />
<i>I send them east and west;</i><br />
<i>But after they have worked for me,</i><br />
<i>I give them all a rest.</i><br />
- Rudyard Kipling, "Just So Stories" (1902)<br />
<br />
Then asked us to consider the purpose of education, answers included:<br />
* to develop<br />
- personally<br />
- economically<br />
* "to draw out from" <br />
- in a constructivist sense <br />
- to develop their own skills<br />
* to enlighten<br />
* to increase awareness<br />
* to broaden their horizons<br />
- in terms of their discipline<br />
- in terms of their society<br />
- in terms of the world<br />
* imparting knowledge<br />
* transformation<br />
* educate individually<br />
- individually<br />
- as a group<br />
* empower them with skills to become autonomous learners<br />
* question the <i>status quo</i><br />
* promote lifelong learning<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
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<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
* to help understand and normalise the rules of society</div>
Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-1201671591763179822014-02-18T14:36:00.004-08:002019-01-21T04:55:45.669-08:00CPD: Creativity and Critical Thinking in Higher Education - Week 4Week 4 of my Continuing Professional Development qualification in "<a href="http://dit.ie/lttc/programmes/mainhighereducation/programmemodules/">Creativity and Critical Thinking in Higher Education</a>" being delivered by the DIT Learning, Teaching & Technology Centre.<br />
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<br />
Really, really enjoying this module.<br />
<br />
<u><b>IDEAS EXCHANGE </b></u><br />
<br />
We started with <a href="http://www.dit.ie/lttc/aboutthelttc/staff/#d.en.28557">Roisin</a> and <a href="http://www.dit.ie/lttc/aboutthelttc/staff/#d.en.28560">Jen</a> asking each group giving a verbal presentation of their ideas from the <b>Ideas Exchange</b> activity, concerning gamification:<br />
<ul>
<li>Team Digital Immigrants proposed the use of Duolingo (<a href="https://www.duolingo.com/">https://www.duolingo.com</a>), <span class="st">a free language-learning and crowdsourced text translation platform.</span> </li>
<li>Team TELOS suggested the use of Cisco's Packet Tracer (<a href="https://www.netacad.com/web/about-us/cisco-packet-tracer">https://www.netacad.com/web/about-us/cisco-packet-tracer</a>) to play "king of the hill"</li>
<li>Team JEEVI suggested a game for surveyors on a golf course, and a 3D refrigerator simulator.</li>
<li>Team FiveStar (my team) proposed the use of points and badges.</li>
</ul>
<b><span style="color: maroon;">======================================================================</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: black;">Team Five Star</span><span style="color: maroon;">: </span><span style="color: red;">DIGITAL AND VIRTUAL BADGES</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: red;">--------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span></b><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="200" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/HgLLq7ybDtc" width="350"></iframe><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Gamification in the context of education focuses on looking at ways that the features of games; with their use of levels, rewards and competition, can be used in to motivate students to learn. One particular facet of gamification is the use of digital badges to recognise achievement or skills attainment. Some of these badges are broadly recognised. and benefits include making education more engaging and widely accessible. The more the student engages and participates the more badges and points they get.</span></span><br />
<b><span style="color: maroon;">======================================================================</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: maroon;"> </span></b><br />
<u><b>CRITICAL THINKING TALKS</b></u><br />
<b> </b><br />
<u><b>Talk #1: Critical Thinking by Dr. Gerry Mac Ruairc</b></u><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ucd.ie/education/staff/gerrymacruairc/">Gerry Mac Ruairc</a> from UCD gave a fascinating talk on Critical Thinking, he thinks that in the online teaching world, critical thinking is "sharper" than in the classroom setting.<br />
<br />
He discussed the nature of critical thinking, is it a set of general skills or a discipline-specific phenomenon. He suggested that there are problems presenting learning as a hierarchy, it might not always make sense to move from the basics to the more complex.<br />
<br />
<b>Reflection</b>: <i>The notion of rejecting hierarchies in education is very dear to my heart, I think the idea of higher-order thinking versus lower-order is a nonsense, they are interdependent, and taxonomies like Bloom's should be renamed as "Bloom's Model".</i><br />
<br />
Gerry presented a general 3-tired model of critical thinking:<br />
<ul>
<li>Critical Thinking</li>
<li>Critical Thought</li>
<li>Critique</li>
</ul>
and presented 3 models of critical thinking.<br />
<br />
<b>MODEL 1: Four Traditions of Criticality (Stables, 2009): </b><br />
<ul><b>
</b>
<li>The Critical Method, science-based, e.g. Popper</li>
<li>Literary Criticism, cultural studies, e.g. Leavis</li>
<li>Social Criticism, e.g. Freire, Habermas</li>
<li>The Deconstructive, e.g. Derrida</li>
</ul>
<b>Reflection</b>: <i>This model got me very excited, these are the themes and the people that we are including in our infographic, and these are people who are featured in my teaching. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Popper">Karl Popper</a>, the philosopher of science, is featured very heavily in my "<a href="http://www.comp.dit.ie/dgordon/Courses/ResearchMethods/index.html">Research Methods and Proposal Writing</a>" module. His notion of falsifiability is central to our modern idea of what science is, and the preeminence of the experiment. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._R._Leavis">F.R. Leavis</a>, the British literary critic, gets a mention on my talk on "<a href="http://www.comp.dit.ie/dgordon/Publications/Author/2008ICITST/HackersandHollywood.ppt">Hackers and Hollywood</a>", Leavis wrote a rebuttal to C.P. Snow's The Two Cultures. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulo_Freire">Paulo Freire</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%BCrgen_Habermas">Jürgen Habermas</a>, the advocacy researchers, are also mentioned several times in my "<a href="http://www.comp.dit.ie/dgordon/Courses/ResearchMethods/index.html">Research Methods and Proposal Writing</a>" module. Finally, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrida">Jacques Derrida</a>, the linguistic philosopher, gets a mention in my "<a href="http://www.comp.dit.ie/dgordon/Courses/Foundations/index.html">Foundations of Assistive Technology</a>" module where we look at the social construction of the notion of disability</i>.<br />
<br />
<b>MODEL 2: Critical Thinking in Professional Practice (James, 2010):</b><br />
<ul><b>
</b>
<li>Critical Skills</li>
<li>Critical Knowledge</li>
<li>Critical Disposition</li>
</ul>
<b>Reflection</b>: <i>This model is very good as it breaks down critical thinking into a series of steps and skills, making it clear that Critical Thinking is not a simple, singular concept, but is incremental and developmental</i>.<br />
<br />
<b>MODEL 3: Critical Thinking in Assessment and Curriculum (Maton, 2009)</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Semantic Density <i>versus</i> Semantic Gravity</li>
<li>Theory/Academic <i>versus</i> Practical/Tools</li>
<li>Verticality <i>versus</i> Grammaticality</li>
</ul>
<b>Reflection</b>: <i>Karl Maton's model of critical thinking is excellent, it describes the oscillation between practical and theory in any discipline, and how learning outcomes mediate that oscillation</i>.<br />
<br />
Gerry mentioned that for assessing Critical Thinking blogs can be surprisingly effective, as well as essays, forums, and wikis to a lesser extent. In this regard he echoed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Broadfoot">Patricia Broadfoot</a>'s call to "challenge educational hegemony", and he suggested the power of capstone projects to overcome over-assessment.<br />
<br />
<u><b>Talk #2: Socratic Questioning by Dave Kilmartin</b></u><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dave-kilmartin/9/600/735">Dave Kilmartin</a>, Head of the Career Development Centre at DIT gave an absolutely awesome talk on the use of questions in Critical Thinking.<br />
<br />
Dave started by suggesting we think of Kipling's poem:<br />
<br />
<i>I keep six honest serving-men </i><br />
<i>(They taught me all I knew);</i><br />
<i> Their names are What and Why and </i><br />
<i>When And How and Where and Who. </i><br />
<i>I send them over land and sea, </i><br />
<i>I send them east and west; </i><br />
<i>But after they have worked for me, </i><br />
<i>I give them all a rest.</i><br />
- Rudyard Kipling, "Just So Stories" (1902)<br />
<br />
Then asked us to consider the purpose of education, answers included:<br />
* to develop <br />
- personally<br />
- economically<br />
* "to draw out from" <br />
- in a constructivist sense <br />
- to develop their own skills <br />
* to enlighten<br />
* to increase awareness<br />
* to broaden their horizons<br />
- in terms of their discipline<br />
- in terms of their society<br />
- in terms of the world<br />
* imparting knowledge<br />
* transformation<br />
* educate individually<br />
- individually<br />
- as a group<br />
* empower them with skills to become autonomous learners<br />
* question the <i>status quo</i><br />
* promote lifelong learning<br />
* to help understand and normalise the rules of society<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
Dave mentioned Ron Barnett's 2004 call for an ‘ontological turn’ in curriculum and pedagogy<br />
away from a focus on knowledge and skills to a ‘pedagogy for human being’.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Dave asked us the purpose of asking questions:<br />
* to stimulate discussion<br />
* to encourage reflection<br />
* to look at things at a different angle<br />
* to test the validity<br />
* to understand<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Some questions are less powerful:</b><br />
Yes/No, Which, Who When, Where<br />
<br />
<b>Some questions are more powerful:</b><br />
What, How, Why, What if?<br />
<br />
What are the components of a well-reasoned argument?<br />
* Facts<br />
* Logic<br />
* Deduction<br />
* Openness<br />
* Lateral thought<br />
* Proof<br />
* Evidence<br />
* Multiple perspectives<br />
* Clarity<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<u><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>WHAT QUESTION IF ANSWERED WOULD EMPOWER YOU TO BE MOVE FORWARD (professionally or personally)?</b></span></span></u></div>
<br />
<br />
<b>Reflection</b>: <i>An awesome talk that gave real, practical advice on how to use questions in the classroom, and what motivates students.</i><br />
<br />
<h3>
</h3>
<i><b>References</b></i><br />
<ul>
<li>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Barnett, Ronald (2004), "<i>Learning for an unknown future</i>", Higher Education Research & Development, Vol. 23, No. 3, August, 247-260. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">James, N., Hughes, C., & Cappa, C., 2010, "<i>Conceptualising, developing and assessing critical thinking in Law</i>".<br />Teaching in Higher Education,15(3):285-279.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Maton K., 2009, "<i>Cumulative and segmented learning: exploring the role of curriculum structures in knowledge building</i>". British Journal of Sociology of Education 30(1) pp 43–57. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Stables, K., 2009, "<i>Educating for environmental sustainability and educating for creativity: Actively compatible or missed opportunities?</i>" International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 19, 199-219</span></li>
</ul>
Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-66393863937063120192014-02-11T11:20:00.003-08:002014-02-23T14:51:36.426-08:00CPD: Creativity and Critical Thinking in Higher Education - Week 3Week 3 of my Continuing Professional Development qualification in "<a href="http://dit.ie/lttc/programmes/mainhighereducation/programmemodules/">Creativity and Critical Thinking in Higher Education</a>" being delivered by the DIT Learning, Teaching & Technology Centre.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Really, really enjoying this module.<br />
<br />
<u><b>IDEAS EXCHANGE </b></u><br />
<br />
We started with <a href="http://www.dit.ie/lttc/aboutthelttc/staff/#d.en.28557">Roisin</a> and <a href="http://www.dit.ie/lttc/aboutthelttc/staff/#d.en.28560">Jen</a> asking each group giving a verbal presentation of their ideas from the <b>Ideas Exchange</b> activity, concerning dealing with large classgroups:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Team Digital Immigrants proposed the use of a combination of Role playing and Problem-based Learning, to help develop real-life skills.</li>
<li>Team TELOS suggested the use of Socratic questioning, with the Six Thinking Hats, and Clickers</li>
<li>Team JEEVI suggest the use of Audience Response Systems (e.g. Clickers) to anonymously poll students</li>
<li>Team FiveStar (my team) proposed the idea of dividing the large group into smaller groups.</li>
</ul>
<b><span style="color: black;">====================================================================== </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: black;">Team Five Star</span><span style="color: maroon;">: </span><span style="color: red;">DIVIDE AND CONQUER</span></b><br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: red;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="220" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ji5_MqicxSo" width="315"></iframe> </span></b><br />
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></i>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Research indicates that peer learning can have a significant impact on
student achievement, and for many students is more impactful than tutor
teaching. When dealing with large classgroups there is a danger of
students feeling anonymous, yet by creating structured opportunities for
students to interact with each other in small groups in focused
activities, can potentially result in a more personalised and more
positive experiences, for example if the students are given a specific
activity to do and agree to conduct themselves to a code of positive
behaviour towards their classmates, they can feel more ownership and
responsibility towards their learning. The use of technology such as
clickers can be very useful to gauge the effectiveness of peer learning
to both the students and lecturer alike. On the other hand when students
in a large class are grouped into teams then the performance of the
students can be assessed by both their peers (voting - as Randy Paush
suggests four tasks and four votes) and the lecturer. </span></span><br />
<b><span style="color: black;">====================================================================== </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: black;"></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: black;">Reflection: </span></b><i><span style="color: black;">Team TELOS won, well done.</span><span style="color: black;"> I know Edward would be upset with the guys suggesting that different groups use different hats, rather than all hats used by all groups, but in practice I think what TELOS suggested is very practical.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: black;"></span></i><br />
<u><b>CREATIVITY TALKS</b></u><br />
<br />
Next we were presented with the option of going to two of three talks on creativity, as a team we speard ourselves out so that each talk was seen by at least two people. As there were four of us, each of who could go to two talks, and a total of three talks, the following simple equation:<br />
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<i> </i>told us that the best spread would be to make sure that two people go to one talk and three people go to the two other talks.<br />
<br />
<u><b>Talk #1: Nurturing and Developing Creativity </b></u><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;">This presentation was given by <a href="http://adp.dit.ie/artdesignprinting/people/staff/staffarticles/staffname,77466,en.html">Kerry Meakin</a>, and was in two parts, the first involved us as a group undertaking activities in the room, the second was a PowerPoint presentation focusing on research done in this area.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;">The activities included holding hands, identifying people by their hands with your eyes closed, then walking around and role playing that we were on a bench, on a cliff, in a bathtub. Then crouching down very small, and then expanding and filling out our spaces. Then we pretended we were playing musical instruments, and finally had to sell an item to each other for €250,000.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><b>Reflection</b>: <i>Kerry is an excellent lecturer and has a really wonderful way of interacting with people. The techniques she advocates obviously work for her and really seem to generate a sense of fun. It definitely wasn't my cup of tea, it's not how I conceptualise creative thinking, and I think these things tend to ghettoise the concept of creativity.</i></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black;">The second part of the presentation focused on the research aspects of <a href="http://arrow.dit.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=aaschadpart">Kerry's work</a>, which cites important researchers, including; Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Howard Gardner, Ellis Paul Torrance, and </span><span style="color: black;">Donald Treffinger.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="250" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/fXIeFJCqsPs" width="420"></iframe></span></div>
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><b>Reflection</b>: <i>I found this element of the presentation to be very interesting, and it appealed much moreso to what I understand the concept of creativity to be.</i></span><br />
<br />
<b><u><span style="color: black;">Talk #2: Technology-Supported Creativity</span></u></b><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;">This presentation by <a href="http://www.dit.ie/fseh/stafflisting/ryandrbarry/">Barry Ryan</a> focused on the use of technology to support creativity, his focus was on "students as producers" as opposed to consumers. Highlighting Biggs (2003) quote “Learning cannot be transmitted by direct instruction, but is created by the students learning activities” and Neary (2009) focus on “Real Life, Complex and Unstructured research-like activities”. With the key pedagogical unpinning supports being Cousins (2006) Threshold Concepts, and Bruner (1966) Spiral Curriculum.</span><br />
<br />
Barry says the goal of the activities are to develop student engagement - developing activities that make the students want to take part in activities, and that this would constitute active higher order thinking processes.<br />
<br />
<b>Peerwise</b><br />
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<br />
Barry uses Peerwise to get the students to develop multi-choice questions for each other, and other students get to vote and to comment on the questions. This is a powerful form of peer-learning, where students get to think about the materials being covered, and support each other in their understanding of the topics being covered. The students love using Peerwise and will work for hours on developing the best questions, and like the asynchronous nature of the activities.<br />
<br />
Barry has a model of how the students develop their understanding using Peerwise, it is somewhat like Laurillard's Conversational Model: <br />
<br />
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<br /></div>
<b>Videos</b><br />
Barry gets the students to work in groups of four, to look at any topic in biochemistry, and produce a three minute video on that topic. The group must do the research, develop storyboards, produce the video, do a show and tell, and undertake a reflection. The videos are reviewed using "<a href="http://www.mash.ie/two-stars-and-a-wish/">two stars and a wish</a>". Developing these videos produce tangible life skills.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSngKbuNBHBqO4e3Sh_If7uLcNaRvamQzm6Q5Bu9GTsVat7hzrjCXY3IK81GVtv2Oe6RDHMMn_UT6tpOPJI8ZZ1flFE4xmX0RIp51FbGnBJCNA68iPvvOMw9CMspO4Z4lBbpq0I6hLtio/s1600/br3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSngKbuNBHBqO4e3Sh_If7uLcNaRvamQzm6Q5Bu9GTsVat7hzrjCXY3IK81GVtv2Oe6RDHMMn_UT6tpOPJI8ZZ1flFE4xmX0RIp51FbGnBJCNA68iPvvOMw9CMspO4Z4lBbpq0I6hLtio/s1600/br3.JPG" height="137" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="color: black;"><b>Reflection</b>: <i>Wow, Barry uses technology in exciting and active ways that I think help the students engage more fully in their learning, and be active in their learning.</i></span><br />
<br />
<u><b><span style="color: black;">Infographic Assignment</span></b></u><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;"> The rest today's class was time to work on our assignment, we focused on what the intended audience of the infographic is, which is lecturers, and we want the infographic to empower lecturers to try new approaches to teaching higher order thinking, with a focus on tools as well as theory. </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><i><br /></i></span>
<br />
<b><span style="color: black;"><i>References</i></span></b><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Biggs. J. 2003, "<i>Teaching for Quality Learning at University – What the Student Does</i>" 2nd Edition SRHE / Open University Press, </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Csikszentmihalyi, ., 1998, "<i>Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement With Everyday Life</i>". Basic Books</span> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: xx-small;">de Bono, E., 1985, "<i>The Six Thinking Hats</i>", Penguin.</span>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span></li>
</ul>
Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-68965712845532522972014-02-04T12:55:00.004-08:002014-03-06T14:17:04.199-08:00CPD: Creativity and Critical Thinking in Higher Education - Week 3 Activities<u><b>WEEK 3: </b></u><u><b>ACTIVITIES</b></u><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>PART 1</b>. <i>Listen to and reflect on this podcast: <a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/audio/2012/may/07/science-weekly-podcast-jonah-lehrer" rel="nofollow">http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/audio/2012/may/07/science-weekly-podcast-jonah-lehrer</a></i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/profile/alokjha">Alok Jha</a> meets <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonah_Lehrer">Jonah Lehrer</a> author of "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine:_How_Creativity_Works">Imagine: How Creativity Works</a>".</span></span></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></i>
<br />
Alok Jha says "Studying the brain is one of the big challenges of the 21st century".<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Lehrer says creativity is a new idea that has a second life, it's useful, and it finds a niche in the world.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH9Kd4apNJOg5fVT98wETj7BhONNB60u1qUF-U5rLFwCahTCPc8f-2j6UoHilKLfvDvonRgIVhVlOzUHF1H5-pjbf1uKnnIZjf279hno87HCFo5Jyq5vtVqUCWirTxD3di6D4jotCuU9U/s1600/Mopping-the-Floor-with-the-Status-Quo_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH9Kd4apNJOg5fVT98wETj7BhONNB60u1qUF-U5rLFwCahTCPc8f-2j6UoHilKLfvDvonRgIVhVlOzUHF1H5-pjbf1uKnnIZjf279hno87HCFo5Jyq5vtVqUCWirTxD3di6D4jotCuU9U/s1600/Mopping-the-Floor-with-the-Status-Quo_01.jpg" height="173" width="200" /></a></div>
<h5 id="toc4">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiffer">Swiffer power mop</a> developed by Procter and Gamble, trying to develop stronger soaps, outsourced to a design firm, <a href="http://continuuminnovation.com/">Continuum</a>, who observed nine months of videos of people mopping, and concluded that mopping is very inefficient, so rather than getting the old mop head dirty all the time, they developed disposable cleaning heads for the mop.</span></span></span></h5>
<h5 id="toc4" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="250" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/S1TKUk9nXjk" width="420"></iframe></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></span></h5>
<h5 id="toc4">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bob Dylan was sick of being a folk singer, and he was going to give up on the music industry, and he is going to paint and write novels, but he went to a cabin and he just kept writing for several hours "the ghost was in charge" having him write down words, 25 pages in all, and he wrote "Like a Rolling Stone", which revolutionised rock and roll. A song that represents a combination of his influences: Woody Guthrie Robert Johnston, Bertolt Brecht, and </span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">William Blake, into a new kind of song.</span></span></span></h5>
<div id="toc4">
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b>Two parts to creativity, "a moment of insight", the answer came out of the blue, as soon as the solution arrives, it is clear that it's a solution</b></i>.</span></span></span> </b></div>
<div id="toc4" style="text-align: center;">
<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKzva1lqmdADiaq76VIfGSy7EL35k4XKK-Xs3zrBStgrJxekRAuojkIN8_RbQVE8mgx-e1TW6wGxzfc8Fj_JF_EzeAgtU0dT87qMlTKgLv4xNTUy0VY3qGLDRR20nPzIhig-66MRgLVzg/s1600/Superior_temporal_gyrus_animation_small.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKzva1lqmdADiaq76VIfGSy7EL35k4XKK-Xs3zrBStgrJxekRAuojkIN8_RbQVE8mgx-e1TW6wGxzfc8Fj_JF_EzeAgtU0dT87qMlTKgLv4xNTUy0VY3qGLDRR20nPzIhig-66MRgLVzg/s1600/Superior_temporal_gyrus_animation_small.gif" height="200" width="200" /></a> </b></div>
<div id="toc4" style="text-align: center;">
<i><b>Superior Temporal Gyrus</b></i></div>
<div id="toc4" style="text-align: center;">
<b> </b> </div>
<div id="toc4">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">A technique developed by <a href="http://www.psychology.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/core/profiles/mark-beeman.html">Mark Beeman</a> and <a href="http://www.drexel.edu/psychology/contact/facultyDirectory/JohnKounios/">John Kounios</a> is to give people word problems, and doing an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_magnetic_resonance_imaging">fMRI</a>, just before an insight there is a spike in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_temporal_gyrus">anterior superior temporal gyrus</a>, where different ideas are brought together ("remote associations").</span></span></span></div>
<div id="toc4">
<br /></div>
<div id="toc4">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">Creativity is about the solution, and there are many ways to get to the solution, even a brute-force approach is creative.</span></span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><div id="toc4">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">Inspiration-side to creativity is linked with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_wave">alpha waves</a>. Sometimes our best ideas arrive after we've stopped looking for them. </span></span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><div id="toc4">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">Perspiration-side to creativity is linked to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_memory">working memory</a>. This means there can be many iterations and can lead to people become melancholy. We can assess with up to 85% accuracy whether or not we can solve problems, and determine our progress This is called "feelings of knowing" by<a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/metcalfe/People.html"> </a></span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/fac-bios/Metcalfe/faculty.html">Janet Metcalf</a>. </span></span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div id="toc4">
How to solve a problem - First ask "do I think I can solve this?" if so put in the work, and then make progress, and then when you hit the wall, take a break.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/profiles/results/directory/profile/0008761/charles-limb?CLEARPAGECACHE=false&appRedirRef=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egoogle%2Eie%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3D%26esrc%3Ds%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D1%26ved%3D0CCkQFjAA%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww%2Ehopkinsmedicine%2Eorg%252Fdoctors%252Fresults%252Fdirectory%252Fprofile%252F0008761%252Fcharles%2Dlimb%26ei%3D%5FlwYU9zDMMSmhAev%5FIDYCQ%26usg%3DAFQjCNGLEewCaRyrq3ZRNGPtUoZ2%2D%2DNVBg%26sig2%3DkNTlU1EhzfCmUJaeojFkqQ%26bvm%3Dbv%2E62577051%2Cd%2EZG4">Charles Limb</a>'s study of Jazz musicians shows that before they improv they deactivate an areas of the brain called the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex, associated with Self-Control and Executive Functions. <br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxpFzZQS92g8A8CBUAtKjdpcqKChdta6mV488MAXc5zftzYuFhtUTxcfidAJ5IjcDjNbzDm_DPQeflU1n2Gd8T-ECbTWAUArytPQt0AEzUo_-GE7pe9Yy63JDUb6q9iyEBHMWoKFMsy64/s1600/Brodmann_area_10_animation_small.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxpFzZQS92g8A8CBUAtKjdpcqKChdta6mV488MAXc5zftzYuFhtUTxcfidAJ5IjcDjNbzDm_DPQeflU1n2Gd8T-ECbTWAUArytPQt0AEzUo_-GE7pe9Yy63JDUb6q9iyEBHMWoKFMsy64/s1600/Brodmann_area_10_animation_small.gif" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><b>Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex</b></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/BomNG5N_E_0" width="420"></iframe><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
The limits of fMRI and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroencephalography">EEG</a> mean that there needs to be other threads of evidence, include patients with brain injuries, or degenerative brain conditions. Also looking at children's brain development, and dreams in sleep, that occur when the frontal lobes are inactive.<br />
<br />
Creativity is subjective, and can be prophetic, but neuroscience is one way of looking at it. Also <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche">Nietzsche</a>'s idea of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollonian_and_Dionysian">Apollonian and Dionysian Dual</a> map neatly on divergent and convergent thinking. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hume">David Hume</a> also had good ideas on creativity. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle">Aristotle</a> mentioned the link between mood and cognition.<br />
<br />
There is assumption that Creativity is related to the Arts and not to Science, but in terms of how artists and scientists operate, they are both working as problem-solving, and in the brain there is little difference in their processes.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot">T. S. Eliot </a>said that bad poets are usually unconscious where he ought to be conscious, and are conscious where he ought to be unconscious. In the same way science can help us understand the right ways to improve our creativity, the right ways to control our environment.<br />
<br />
One characteristic that defines a creative person is grit, as defined by <a href="http://psychology.sas.upenn.edu/people/duckwort">Angela Duckworth</a>, it a single-mindedness and persistence, and has little to do with IQ or personality.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/H14bBuluwB8" width="420"></iframe></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Reflection:</span></span></b><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
As a life-long Bob Dylan fan I had to smile when I saw the topic of this podcast,
and that the author Jonah Lehrer was being interviewed. I am very aware
of this book, and that the author is an <a href="http://celebrity.yahoo.com/news/author-acknowledges-fake-dylan-quotes-resigns-181116844.html">admitted fraudster</a>, <a href="http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/184700/another-false-quotation-found-in-jonah-lehrers-imagine-penn-teller/">repeatedly</a>, and <a href="http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/187249/wired-investigator-finds-dozens-more-examples-of-jonah-lehrer-plagiarism-recycling/">plagiarist</a>, whose book that is the topic of this podcast has been <a href="http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/183298/jonah-lehrer-accused-of-fabricating-bob-dylan-quotes-in-imagine/">withdrawn from publication</a> due to factual inaccuracies. Still on reflection the book <a href="http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/writing-tools/188506/why-jonah-lehrers-imagine-is-worth-reading-despite-the-problems/">might still be worth reading</a>, and the podcast worth listening to. But for accuracy, I'm including an infographic created by <a href="http://www.charlesseife.com/">Journalism Professor Charles Seif</a> on Jonah Lehrer's transgressions:</span></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <a href="http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/187249/wired-investigator-finds-dozens-more-examples-of-jonah-lehrer-plagiarism-recycling/"><img alt="http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/187249/wired-investigator-finds-dozens-more-examples-of-jonah-lehrer-plagiarism-recycling/" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioAsxn_15GpcLn1-memCfngK7JSx1saiMLgNrUgrPFzjXngIlZTnjM_8qPBeHjQlFmkGb61-h9VcBO5Fx2zfOEXmmCYggaqT_IszOm4GgSPQLtlv3hVtOBGJGFyB3OZZ9g_S0-3xUeiGY/s1600/120831_SCI_LehrerTable.jpg" height="315" width="400" /></a> </span></span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">The ideas presented in this podcast are interesting, and do tend to confirm what I teach in my own classes about <a href="http://www.comp.dit.ie/dgordon/Courses/PSIC/PSIC0009.ppt">Problem Solving</a>, but this has also renewed my interest in the neuroscience of creativity, and I'm going to re-read my copy of </span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Adam Zeman's</span></span></i> "A Portrait of the Brain".</span></span></i></div>
<h5 id="toc4">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>PART 2</b>. <i>What are the main lessons you can take from it to apply to practice? You are asked to keep an Audio blog this week</i>.</span></span></span></h5>
<h5 id="toc4">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">[Still have a raspy voice from having the flu, but will do a podcast and add to https://www.podomatic.com/ as soon as my voice is better].</span></span></span></h5>
Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-58061147713273039502014-02-04T12:49:00.004-08:002014-02-20T03:11:17.311-08:00CPD: Creativity and Critical Thinking in Higher Education - Week 2 Activities<u><b>WEEK 2: </b></u><u><b>ACTIVITIES</b></u><br />
<br />
<b>PART 1</b>. <i>Choose one tool from <span style="background-color: white;"><a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://tiny.cc/socialmedianews" rel="nofollow">http://tiny.cc/socialmedianews</a></span> and to discuss how it could be used to promote creative or critical thinking with my students.</i><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrV3ZZ_90FWak1qZvMcPKS3jLz9LtoAVtNUC83wvBqb7jrYNYdxq2OtSVzB8rODQllh8ZshPm9cWM7AkKx5r30uYRsJQD4YC0JHK8Z3DT0uRgKR6yfIKrrXQ4ZkqRbINJ-CU-y14cQM3I/s1600/delicious-upcoming-redesign2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrV3ZZ_90FWak1qZvMcPKS3jLz9LtoAVtNUC83wvBqb7jrYNYdxq2OtSVzB8rODQllh8ZshPm9cWM7AkKx5r30uYRsJQD4YC0JHK8Z3DT0uRgKR6yfIKrrXQ4ZkqRbINJ-CU-y14cQM3I/s1600/delicious-upcoming-redesign2.jpg" height="152" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
The tool I choose is <a href="https://delicious.com/damiantgordon">Delicious</a>,
which is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and
discovering web bookmarks. It would be very useful for my teaching to
add my module Reading Lists to Delicious, particularly for those modules
where the majority of references are to online materials, using unique
tags. Then for each main topic I cover in the module to get the students
in groups to augment the Reading List with relevant online materials.
Each group could be required to review the materials that other groups
produce using <a href="http://www.comp.dit.ie/dgordon/CheckSheets/WebSiteCheckSheet.doc">an appropriate rubric</a>
that would consider the overall academic qualities of the material, and
then only the top rated links would be included in a final resource
list.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<span style="background-color: white;"><b>PART 2</b>. <i>Also we are to look at </i></span><span style="background-color: white;"><i><a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://www.mindomo.com/view?m=06842a45ed8344acb4584dbe1b297367" rel="nofollow">http://www.mindomo.com/view?m=06842a45ed8344acb4584dbe1b297367</a> and to comment on it as another way to think about social media</i>.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Nqdak_HXtTOaVP2KiQ2BBS0G0W5yfszdJixROaF6DWwuBgFb8AuiFbX3HH6vxUsFNFGcZoaw5zkkbf_30wOnynkD89lRlX3o4SIX6NqHEF92zWu7Mpc5W_9drJmL9WlbIGF8EDkFyNY/s1600/map.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Nqdak_HXtTOaVP2KiQ2BBS0G0W5yfszdJixROaF6DWwuBgFb8AuiFbX3HH6vxUsFNFGcZoaw5zkkbf_30wOnynkD89lRlX3o4SIX6NqHEF92zWu7Mpc5W_9drJmL9WlbIGF8EDkFyNY/s1600/map.JPG" height="224" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
I hadn't really thought much about the "Guidelines and Policies" element of social media, I found the <a href="http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?id=24835&section=text">policy guidelines</a>
released by the Canadian Government for the public service use of Web
2.0 to be very interesting. Even on employees on personal sites, they
are required to remember that:
<br />
<ul>
<li>Public servants owe a duty of loyalty to the Government of Canada;</li>
<li>Do no harm to the reputation of your employer;</li>
<li>Maintain integrity and impartiality; and</li>
<li>Uphold the tradition of political neutrality of the Public Service.</li>
</ul>
I also like Reynol Junco's "<a href="http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/need-student-social-media-policies">The Need for Student Social Media Policies</a>",
which contains a nice definition of cyberbullying "Cyberbullying is
when someone purposely embarrasses, harasses, or torments another using
digital media." which makes me reflect on a newspaper article I was
reading where they said some students felt cyberbullied if they posted
their status online and no one commented on it or "liked" it (if they
felt it was being done in a deliberate boycotting fashion) which is
covered by "purposely embarrasses", I think.Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119194011330090092.post-21184273619035010392014-02-04T09:42:00.001-08:002019-01-21T04:57:51.853-08:00CPD: Creativity and Critical Thinking in Higher Education - Week 2Week 2 of my Continuing Professional Development qualification in "<a href="http://dit.ie/lttc/programmes/mainhighereducation/programmemodules/">Creativity and Critical Thinking in Higher Education</a>" being delivered by the DIT Learning, Teaching & Technology Centre.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFY9iA9wCoF-FjcMTYFHmEfa3p_OE2CEUIF8He5EoCwbTTzuUBasU8LfeSxdgq07ZjrHhsXJorFFbVQL4dv7-K4u_LrXvaZdpoJocf_N-H-l2WROg6aFi5ldf2LroD8Z6wYbCZxIIP_Yc/s1600/logo6.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFY9iA9wCoF-FjcMTYFHmEfa3p_OE2CEUIF8He5EoCwbTTzuUBasU8LfeSxdgq07ZjrHhsXJorFFbVQL4dv7-K4u_LrXvaZdpoJocf_N-H-l2WROg6aFi5ldf2LroD8Z6wYbCZxIIP_Yc/s1600/logo6.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Really, really enjoying this module.<br />
<br />
<u><b>IDEAS EXCHANGE </b></u><br />
<br />
We started with <a href="http://www.dit.ie/lttc/aboutthelttc/staff/#d.en.28557">Roisin</a> and <a href="http://www.dit.ie/lttc/aboutthelttc/staff/#d.en.28560">Jen</a> asking each group giving a verbal presentation of their ideas from the <b>Ideas Exchange</b> activity concerning tools to support creativity or critical thinking:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJWXrnKQV5vt0SvO6POPRsoNVX7fo4iINBG4O2s7QxIewg4e7OI4tzqKhV1UpIqI6Jrk6u6OBaW2HsPdLhnuWKrOA84TNJE8uR35U_fb1AykxKfGZe_sxDTZyrcRrCaYcWN7boVZgfO9g/s1600/IdeasExchange2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJWXrnKQV5vt0SvO6POPRsoNVX7fo4iINBG4O2s7QxIewg4e7OI4tzqKhV1UpIqI6Jrk6u6OBaW2HsPdLhnuWKrOA84TNJE8uR35U_fb1AykxKfGZe_sxDTZyrcRrCaYcWN7boVZgfO9g/s1600/IdeasExchange2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<ul>
<li>Team JEEVI discussed their idea of looking at uses of 3D printing throughout all of the courses in the DIT, and having a competition for looking at the most innovative use of 3D printing, and the winner would get a 3D printing.</li>
<li>Team Digital Immigrants proposed an activity based on "pin the tail on the donkey" where various activities are stuck on the wall as post-it notes, and that students tackle them and display their solutions on the wall.</li>
<li>Team TELOS proposed the use of Google Hangouts to including other participants in the classroom including industry experts.</li>
<li>Team FiveStar (my team) looked at the use of the LiveScribe smart pen, full details below.</li>
</ul>
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<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7nFWFXIiTW4-LeFt5En9-LGR1KVQ5BXrreGU_TfpwheGcuEwHXDw6gl8WzG_-ZfnKT3Kaszl_QP7Rp3hH7BPgGPBJ4xlDCDHUCmcJ5DzdnBtpzu6Bt69SFh4r-08UkQoDR_Etvsj-MaY/s1600/Gold-Star3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;">Team Five Star</span><span style="color: maroon;">: </span><span style="color: red;">PEN PALS 2.0</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7nFWFXIiTW4-LeFt5En9-LGR1KVQ5BXrreGU_TfpwheGcuEwHXDw6gl8WzG_-ZfnKT3Kaszl_QP7Rp3hH7BPgGPBJ4xlDCDHUCmcJ5DzdnBtpzu6Bt69SFh4r-08UkQoDR_Etvsj-MaY/s1600/Gold-Star3.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="200" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/J2q8_fR0lTI" width="320"></iframe>
</span>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The digital pen, LiveScribe, allows students to write messages, record
those messages, upload them to a computer, and annotate them with audio
recordings. This type of technology opens a multitude of potential
collaborative, and social constructivistic, opportunities, as Livescribe
allows you to “pencast” all of the data recorded from one LiveScribe
pen to a computer and to broadcast it to a fellow LiveScribe user.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One potential approach that the LiveScribe presents is to allow students
from different countries to exchange both written and audio samples of
their native language, as well as exchange information about their
culture and heritage. This provides the potential for nuanced peer
learning experiences, and as the technology allows students to exchange
diagrams, doodles, and sketches as well as text, this could lead to a
more personalised and authentic set of learning experiences; and provide
opportunities for highly creative shenanigans.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"></span></span> </span></div>
=============================================================<br />
<br />
<b>Refection</b>: <i>We won the gold star, yippee. Truly a group effort, Paul proposed the use of a pen, which led Jacinta to suggest smart pens. María-José suggested having international students communicating, so I put all the ideas together, made sure everyone was happy with the direction we were going in, and wrote the above concept.</i><br />
<br />
<u><b>INTRODUCTION TO CRITICAL THINKING</b></u><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.dit.ie/lttc/aboutthelttc/staff/#d.en.28584">Claire McAvinia</a> gave a riveting and highly interactive talk on critical thinking. She started off by getting everyone to introduce themselves, and she said she would try to to remember everyone's name.<br />
<br />
<b>Reflection</b>: <i>A really lovely way to start the session, really classy</i>.<br />
<br />
Following this Claire got us in our groups to consider someone someone we think is a critical thinker and reflect on; why we think they are critical thinkers, what skills they have, and how they use to communicate their critical thinking skills. After a minute she suggested that if people couldn't think of someone they see as critical, could they think of someone who is an anti-role model, someone who we think is not critical.<br />
<br />
<b>Reflection</b>: <i>A brilliant idea, the anti-role model, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Gelb">Michael J. Gelb</a> suggests something similar in "<a href="http://michaelgelb.com/programs/how-to-think-like-leonardo-da-vinci/">How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci</a>".</i><br />
<br />
<b>Reflection</b>: <i>I chose <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky">Noam Chomsky</a> as my example of a critical thinker.</i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="200" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/VYlMEVTa-PI" width="300"></iframe>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
We explored some of the characteristics of critical thinkers:<br />
<ul>
<li>asks questions</li>
<li>looks at outliers</li>
<li>makes links</li>
<li>takes different perspectives</li>
<li>has acuity</li>
<li>has flexibility</li>
<li>attacks the argument, not the person</li>
<li>has humility</li>
<li>has a sense of humour</li>
<li>has curosity</li>
<li>has a lot of knowledge</li>
<li>can be dispassionate</li>
<li>has training</li>
<li>encourages others</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<b>Reflection</b>: <i>This was an excellent interactive element of the session, using the flipchart.</i><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
We also looked at a video to explore critical thinking:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="200" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/9dfWzp7rYR4" width="315"></iframe>
</div>
<br />
The issues the video brought up were:<br />
<ul>
<li>Need for evidence</li>
<li>Trusted sources</li>
<li>Currency/newness of facts</li>
<li>Medium/source</li>
<li>Percpetion</li>
<li>Emotional impact</li>
</ul>
<b>Reflection</b>: <i>This reminded me of both the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4x06FnP1OQ">Boilerplate</a> hoax and the <a href="http://www.dhmo.org/">DHMO website</a>.</i><br />
<br />
<u><b>ADVERTISING CRITICAL THINKING</b></u><br />
<br />
The next task was to create a 3-minute advertisement for critical thinking. We started off with a clear idea that we wanted to do a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krapp%27s_Last_Tape">Krapp's Last Tape</a> style play, with the main character, Mary, facing the audience sitting at a desk, answering some phone calls. We modified the idea and a little, and in filming we moved from having the callers appearing on-screen, to having them just being heard off-screen. Some dialogue was also changed, and the group asked me to perform Mary's final monologue to camera, making the final advertisement more <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertolt_Brecht">Brechtian</a> than <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Beckett">Beckettian</a>.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/cQOWTLmoGh8" width="420"></iframe> </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
[<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/DamianGordon1/3minute-critical-thinking-advert">3-minute Critical Thinking Advertisement Script</a>]<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.magisto.com/embed/NE4fJQcRHWoiWRVnCzE" width="420"></iframe> </div>
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<ul>
<li>Team JEEVI showed two YouTube videos, first was <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDayHxCNbcI">greyhounds chasing a rabbit</a>, the second was <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CG_M5qCKgI">a cat catching a bird</a>. Their point being that the cat showed patience and critical thinking whereas the dogs don't. They suggested critical thinking is in our nature, and if we trust our instincts we will be alright. </li>
<li>Team TELOS gave a powerpoint presentation contrasting the idea of teaching critical thinking by rote with allowing people to develop their critical thinking more naturally.</li>
<li>Team Digital Immigrants created an excellent video in the style of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Browne">Vincent Browne</a>, debating whether or not critical thinking should be, and could be, taught.</li>
</ul>
The agreed marking criteria was:<br />
<ul>
<li>Originality</li>
<li>Persuasiveness</li>
<li>Clarity<b> </b></li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Reflection</b>: <i>The advertisement was a truly collaborative experience, with many changes made in rehearsals and in the filming process</i>.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><b>References</b></i></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Gelb, Michael J., 2000, "<i> How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day</i>", Dell</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">Guinan, P., Bennett, A., 2009, "<i>Boilerplate: History's Mechanical Marvel</i>", Harry N. Abrams.</span></li>
</ul>
Damian T. Gordonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03429883455236432310noreply@blogger.com0