Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

Roger that, Roger! I think there will be a lot of pushback on your statement, because I find that it is very hard for academics to give up the illusion of expertise. BTW, here is my "expert judgment" about the facilitation issue. Sometimes you need to know some content, sometimes you're reall

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

Not as far as teaching is concerned. That should come from tuition and the state for public universities. At least it used to. In a typical large university only about 20% if the budget comes from teaching (tuition plus state support). That is very different from when we were students. The pro

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

On Mon, Jan 21, 2013 at 12:54 PM, Edward Angel wrote: > > Most striking is that none of the entities providing MOOCs have a > sustainable business model. They are being supported by foundations, such > as the Gates Foundation with the Khan Academy, or as experiments by some of > the richer unive

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

My mistake in reading your note was to have in mind the local professor, not undergrad or graduate teaching assistants. In our own implementation of a giant course, we did quite a lot of training and support of the TAs, and we structured lab and problem sessions in such a way that the TA needed onl

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

Bruce -- I didn't mean to dismiss content expertise altogether. It's impossible to even begin to make sense of a technical subject without some content expertise. And you would hope that people who enjoyed facilitating a subject would continue to deepen their understanding of the subject, and th

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

My spin on the MOOC's is that they set teachers free to teach rather than wasting everyone's time posing as authorities dispensing lectures. Most teachers cannot be authorities in all the courses they teach, and very few people are really good lecturers. Though we're doing undergraduate and gradu

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

MOOCs have had two great benefits. First they have shaken up the universities, which hopefully will lead them to address the educational issues they have avoiding dealing with for a long time. Second, they do provide access to people who would otherwise have none. Nevertheless, I see them as an

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

Regard motivation and opportunity, I keep hearing anecdotes, like dropping a shipment of tablets, with no explanation, no instructions, manuals in English, in an African village where no one speaks English...and five months later they are teaching themselves English and have hacked the tablets in s

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

All of which is true, Owen, but I'm afraid you're making the natural mistake of extrapolating from your own interests, experiences, and high capabilities. The people like you and others on this list are in the world at large a set of measure zero, albeit a set we don't want to neglect or fail to nu

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

I'm not surprised MOOCs have a high dropout rate: they're designed that way. You sign up for 2-3 of them and stay in the one you like most. MOOCs are likely to have a great impact on the firewalled papers problem (JSTOR etc) by providing enough clout to build their own open repositories. And even

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

There was a very interesting article in Time last October. The reporter took three versions of an introductory physics course: one at an elite university, one at an inner-city community college and one with a MOOC. Her observations were that each was suited for some and not for others. The elite

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

Bruce, Yeah, MOOCs and social media, or some hybrid of a MOOC with face-to-face in the form of local interest groups, or something like I believe Prof West is doing, if I understand correctly: online, remote learning in combination with hands-on, in-person learning. Ron -- Ron Newman MyIdeatree

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

The Shirky article is thoughtful. Thanks for the pointer. A key issue, which Shirky handles well, is the need to compare apples with apples. Many university courses are just plain not very good, for all the reasons he gives. I've seen the kind of criticism of MOOCs that he rightly challenges. Compa

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

Clay Shirky points out the obvious but overlooked re: accessibility of traditional education: http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2012/11/napster-udacity-and-the-academy/ Ron -- Ron Newman, Founder MyIdeatree.com The World Happiness Meter YourSo

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes Merle, Perhaps you and I should be talking, comparing notes on what's effective and what's not. I'm working in visualization for MOOCs. Pamela, Doesn't online education lend itself to inter-stude

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

I expect they'll organize flash semesters where students pursuing similar courses will gather. -- rec -- On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 7:41 PM, Ron Newman wrote: > Merle, > Perhaps you and I should be talking, comparing notes on what's effective > and what's not. I'm working in visualization for MO

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

Merle, Perhaps you and I should be talking, comparing notes on what's effective and what's not. I'm working in visualization for MOOCs. Pamela, Doesn't online education lend itself to inter-student communication even more than it does to instructor-student communication? And being worldwide, hum

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

My heart hopes you're right, Merle. My head wonders. Much education takes place not in the instructor-->student exchange (though that is big) but in the student<-->student exchange, at least in many topics. This might not hold for certain kinds of science and engineering courses, but it certainl

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

Hi Nick, A model for Good Academia is distance learning. As universities disappear in the next decades (they're all elite now considering the cost of higher education everywhere), we will see the birth of a new democracy based on the opportunity for all to be educated. This is the most exciting

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

re: marcus' comments about programming - see Peter Naur's "Programming as Theory Building" paper of long ago. davew On Sun, Jan 20, 2013, at 11:49 AM, Marcus G. Daniels wrote: Nick wrote: "And I Just Plain Believe in collaborative essays as a tool in the development of thought. "

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 12:47 PM, Marcus G. Daniels wrote: > On 1/20/13 10:43 AM, Nicholas Thompson wrote: > > What would Good Academia look like? > > Overall, I'd say "Good academics" are just members of the set of people > that develop skills to satisfy their curiosity. > > Now the problem is

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

fee Group" Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2013 2:47:50 PM Subject: Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes The peer review process itself is flawed. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1420798/ >From the article: "Slow and expensive" "Inconsistent&

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

http://yann.lecun.com/ex/pamphlets/publishing-models.html proposes a new model for publication in computer science. -- rec -- On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 12:47 PM, Douglas Roberts wrote: > The peer review process itself is flawed. > > http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1420798/ > > From th

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

The peer review process itself is flawed. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1420798/ >From the article: "Slow and expensive" "Inconsistent" "Bias" "Abuse of peer review" --Doug On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 12:43 AM, Marcus G. Daniels wrote: > On 1/19/13 10:24 PM, Steve Smith wrote: > >>

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

On 1/20/13 10:43 AM, Nicholas Thompson wrote: What would Good Academia look like? Overall, I'd say "Good academics" are just members of the set of people that develop skills to satisfy their curiosity. Now the problem is not the difficulty of getting word out, it's the active obstacles to fre

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

Nick wrote: "And I */Just Plain Believe/* in collaborative essays as a tool in the development of thought. " I think a little recognized outcome of open source software development is the development of thought, and perhaps for some of the same reasons as a collaborative essay. Creating an

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

day, January 20, 2013 12:43 AM To: friam@redfish.com Subject: Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes On 1/19/13 10:24 PM, Steve Smith wrote: > Not to fan any flames, but I am curious about the stereotypes we all > carry... "Academic" being the current one at issue.

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

? NIck -Original Message- From: Friam [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Marcus G. Daniels Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2013 12:43 AM To: friam@redfish.com Subject: Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes On 1/19/13 10:24 PM, Steve Smith wrote: &g

Re: [FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

On 1/19/13 10:24 PM, Steve Smith wrote: Not to fan any flames, but I am curious about the stereotypes we all carry... "Academic" being the current one at issue... Peer review is the mechanism for determining quality work in academia. Researchers that can get their work past peer review get jo

[FRIAM] "Academics" and other Stereotypes

Not to fan any flames, but I am curious about the stereotypes we all carry... "Academic" being the current one at issue... The only other profession I know to get the same level of dismissal/resentment in my experience is Law Enforcement. I have a chip on my shoulder about Law Enforcement whi