For the first time ever I don’t need to go to Italy -or some rare bookstores in New York- to buy Italian books. Through Amazon or Apple’s iBook services I can get the very books that bookstores are selling at any moment in Italy with no hindrance, and with all the easiness of the electronic format and download. I see in this a tremendous advantage, indeed. And of course, the other good features of the ebook are there: mobility, access to other services (annotation, inline dictionary, portability across devices), etc. Last, with ebooks there are no regional format standards like with DVDs (the regions) or streaming movies. Ebooks can be acquired from anywhere!

So, welcome ebook. Yet, I was also looking at my beautiful and chaotic bookshelves at home. I love to pass through my books and actually see them. See where are those which I liked most, those which I am going to read next, etc. When I visit another house, the first thing I look at is the bookshelves. My friends won’t be able to peruse the books I love. So, I was thinking: When I buy ebook, there’s not going to be any shelves, right? That thing is lost. Of course, I can share with friends through Goodreads or any other social reading service, and I do. But what about those friends who are not much into the Web?

The truth is, again, it’s an experience lost. There’s a thin line dividing the two technologies, and no matter what side of the line I’m staying at –often I do jump from side to side!- there is going to be something deeply different on that side.

Another source of thought came after reading that Amazon.com wants to get the top-level Internet domain .amazon. But Brazil thinks different, and it certainly has got rights to claim the .amazon name to represent literally the commonly associated meaning of that word, namely, the Amazon forest. The same is happening with .patagonia, which is being claimed by the sportswear retailer Patagonia while the Argentinean government protests and tries to claim as its own because, after all,  Patagonia is a region within Argentina (and also Chile)

Mangrove and woodland near the Amazon river – Salinopolis – Para – Brazil (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

. Who will win? Is Brazil the “legitimate” “owner” of the word “amazon”? Could Amazon.com be allowed to buy the name from Brazil or is the sole possibility of it a paradox? Does it even make sense to talk about an “owner” of a world resource?

My point for the moment is that these are just tiny examples of the two worlds colliding. In nice ways –because these battles are fought in the dark, out of the sight of people!

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You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tonight, another little example of the daily magic the Webs have accustomed us, almost to our taking it for granted.

A few days ago, I was happily (and a bit boringly) watching episode 5.2 of Mad Men. The closing credits included a song that I had listened to many many times over my life in the original version. I found the “Mad Men version” quickly, courtesy of Googla and a nice website where Mr. Matej Tomic  (a Master students in media & Communication) diligently compiled **all the closing-credit songs** of Mad Men, for all its episodes. From his list, I immediately grabbed title and singer. I got actually a couple of good lists of Mad Men soundtrack songs: another very good one is madmensongs.com (yes, a website devoted to *only* music from Mad Men)!

Now, the song itself is You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me, sung by Dusty Springfield. Here it is, courtesy of YouTube.

As I was saying, I immediately recognized it as a remake from an Italian song of the 60′s, Pino Donaggio‘s Io che non vivo senza te (I, who lives not without you). Again, YouTube allowed me to quickly find it and share it here. Ain’t This Magic?

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Cover of Arthur C. Clarke

post I wrote a couple days ago. Let me begin with saying that I don’t dislike Coursera. I think it is very appealing, and I’m going to say why.

First: Coursera-like MOOCs are attractive to lots of people because (1) they are free and (2) because they work in automatic mode, quasi as if there were not an instructor. They can be done without formalities, and their functioning is very simple.

Second: They work on the eternal cycle (1) Lecture (2) Assignments (3) Exams/Quizzes. Wow! progress.

Third: precisely for this reason, they work in a very familiar mode to students everywhere.

Fourth: Thus, they work standalone, with or without teachers. They use AI robots to correct students’ writings, and use peer-based evaluations for the assignments. These courses don’t need teachers.

Fifth: Remember Arthur C. Clarke saying that If A Teacher Can Be Replaced By A Computer, Then He Should.

Sixth: At this point we have no choice but to deduct that MOOCs Coursera-style are propagating (without being aware of this) one truth: education can live and prosper without teachers.

But this is a paradox, right? Yes it is, and it shows with brute force the following message brought to you by our sponsors:

Teachers who work automata-like in the same way as Coursera are doomed. Either we stand up to this task and really, **really** change the way we do education, from classes to admin to edtech, or there won’t b

Français : Blason de l’université d’Harvard (USA) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Reflections and comments on MOOCs

I’d like here to add a few comments to my presentation of yesterday night on MOOCs.

The preso in its Storify form is available herewith. After, I am going to raise a couple of issues from the comments that were brought by two of yesterday’s students.

A hyperbole

So, here are the points I wish to raise here.

1. The myth of content. Saying “dictatorship of content” is one thing. Which does not mean content is not important. But it is not all-important. In fact, the myth of contents means being slave of one powerful prison: believing that knowledge is freezable into static chunks that need to be passed down (transmitted) from teacher to student. So we get the idea that knowledge can be “delivered” and consumed like a pizza. If content were that important, then a book would be all one would need to learn whatever subject (myself, I learned a few subjects this way). But sometimes we need discussion, passion or simple human participation not mediated by anything.
2. The role of the professor. Is the gentleman really needed? Schank says AI and robots cannot (yet) analyze or correct a text. Ergo, the role of the teacher is pretty much safe for now! However, in Thrun‘s mind (and operation), a few algorithms are the only subjects who do the evaluation, apart some peer-based student assignment correction. It things were that simple, well, we’d disappear shortly. But things are not that simple, and generally speaking, one cannot set up a self-driving machine to produce a sensibkle learning experience. In some areas one can, actually, and perhaps programming may be that. I didn’t go to many classes, and in a few cases I jumped that part altogether and got the exams only –and passed them. Does this mean there is no need of the professor? Certainly not.
3. Some say MOOCs will subvert education as we know it. Well, it’s happening, but not in the way MOOCs were supposed to. In fact yesterday I made the point that the Coursera-like MOOC (xMOOC as it is called now) is actually pushing us back to our industrial chain-like view of education. OMG!
4. One thing MOOCs are subverting is the certification business, credentials and all that. Which may be good, and this may spun new ideas. For instance this may open the doors to competency-based curricula where one students enters a “course” or a micro module and exits when she feels confident about mastering some knowledge or skill. Of course, for this to happen our Universities must loosen the requirement concept, and allow non-credit certificates or similar to be accepted as part of the standard requisites for a given program of studies. This alone is very unsettling for institutions. But we may already have a case with Coursera (which I criticize but publicly say I like their doing).
5. Last, a very important albeit minor issue is the culture that is propagated through the MOOCs. Apparently MOOCs are given free to everyone, even those who cannot afford an expensive education. But in most countries, unlike the US, education is a social feature free (or low-cost) for all. So, we’re really talking about Harvard-style education being free for all. Great! But, remember: marrying Harvard means marrying its family too: all its culture, which is based on (or at least stands upon) the Great American Values. All right here, but: aren’t thus the GAVs exported or imposed upon all the “poor, ineducate” people of the world? Isn’t this a colonizing principle?

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What can I add in front of the purity of intent & action of this sad, unknown Spanish artist from the 14th Century? Perfection of form? Absence of gravity? Lightness? Bravo to the curators of the Gallery who took this brave & bold step in showing such a remarkable albeit provocateurish art ouvre, aptly titled “Temporarily Removed”.

Temporarily Removed. Spanish, 14th Century. The National Gallery of Art. Washington, DC.

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Interestingly, it uses Google Drive to store a spreadsheet containing all the timeline data: date points, images, information, etc.

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Like with previous interviews, the awesome Gabriela Rivera Torrado has carefully reviewed the video and summarized its most important points here.

Trace Jordan is a scientist and distinguished professor at New York University (NYU). He is also associate director of the Morse Academic Plan (named after famed inventor of the telegraph and code), NYU’s general education curriculum. For close to the past 15 years, Jordan has been working with the Foundations of Scientific Inquiry aspect of the plan, focusing on a core curriculum in math, science and lab development for the university’s general/liberal arts program. Said program consists of a varied curriculum, including a three part component, with emphasis on quantitative reasoning, natural sciences and life sciences. At the core of this academic plan is the goal of helping non-science students become scientifically literate, to train them to think like scientists, use scientific methods and be able to understand social and ethical  issues of the day.

The classroom of today finds itself at a crossroads, between the classic lecture style used by our teachers and our teacher’s teachers, and the possibilities offered through the integration of tools and technologies that surround us. When dealing with the barrage of media that students are faced with on a daily basis, Jordan believes faculty members are usually divided into three camps. There are those who just don’t deal with it (they choose to accept that students might be texting in class and just ignore things like this), those who completely ban it and the brave few who choose to accept the presence of technology (“it is what it is”) and integrate it as part of the course. Jordan makes emphasis on the importance of having the students be fully present in the classroom, and personally prefers a “lids down”/no cell phone policy during most of his courses (except for taking notes). He suggests that modelling may play an important factor in teaching students the appropriate context for the use of these technologies (who hasn’t seen a professional texting during a meeting or conference?), and that adults should explain etiquette boundaries for things such as texting and surfing the Web.

As an ambassador of sorts for the scientific community in a liberal arts environment, Jordan admits that he has faced certain prejudices towards science from the students. Many students are weary of science, thinking it may be “boring”, “irrelevant” or “hard”. Some are under the impression it’s just about fact memorization and unfortunately, many suffer from “math phobia”. The NYU professor finds it absurd how it can be be seemingly culturally acceptable to basically say “Sorry! I don’t do math!” but in his own words, you can’t say “No! (sorry) I don’t do reading!”.

When asked if he thinks the NYU program is changing preconceptions and opening the minds of students towards science, the professor (who also performs as social director) thinks they are doing a “pretty good job” and that course evaluations have been for the most part positive. Jordan agrees that teachers in the field do have a responsibility to help promote the study of science amongst students.

A potential roadblock to innovation in science education is the adaptability of its faculty. Jordan recognizes this as “a big issue” where the availability of published works don’t even help much. He finds that it’s important to always understand where your average professor is coming from. The professor finds that pioneers in education may have trouble sharing and diffusing helpful ideas, and not due to the invalidity of their methods or theories, but due to sheer lack of awareness from most faculty. When it comes down to it most are overworked and simply too busy, between “teaching, research and grant writing”. Jordan suggests the idea of educational sabbaticals for faculty that is open to furthering their knowledge yet simply lack the time to do so, also dividing the material into “bite sized chunks” in order not to overwhelm.

Above all, in order to progress, Jordan emphasizes the importance of person to person relationships in aiding with cooperation between faculty members. For example, during the interview, Jordan mentioned that, even just “having a beer” with them outside of the work environment can help build these relationships. We each need to take the first step in helping each other and giving a even small amount of your most valuable resource, your time, can have the greatest impact of all.

Says The Guardian Music in their initiative Six Songs of You:

Six Songs of Antonio Vantaggiato

From your first song to your funeral song, what music makes you, you?

So, here are my own six songs. If you follow the link over the image, you will be able to listen to them all, via Spotify. Enjoy!