Silicon Valley, from 'heart’s delight' to toxic wasteland There was a time when California’s Santa Clara Valley, bucolic home to orchards and vineyards, was known as “the valley of heart’s delight.” The same area was later dubbed “Silicon Valley,” shorthand for the high-tech combination of creativity, capital and California cool. However, a backlash is now well underway – even from the loyal gadget-reviewing press. Silicon Valley increasingly conjures something very different: exploitation, excess, and elitist detachment. In a word, Silicon Valley has become toxic. Silicon Valley’s rise is well documented, but the backlash against its distinctive culture and unscrupulous corporations hints at an imminent twist in its fate. The rise and fall of Detroit The city of Detroit became a famous node of industrial capitalism thanks to the pioneers of the automotive age. The very name “Detroit” soon became a metonym for the industrial might of the American automotive industry and the source of American military power. A new chapter for Silicon Valley
Managing iPad Videos in Schools- Visual Guide for Teachers July 24, 2014 "Managing iPad YouTube in Schools" is a visual guide created by iPadWells from iPad4Schools. In this guide iPadWells walks teachers through the process they use in their school to create, share and teach using videos. YouTube is the principal video hosting used in this guide. That being said, it does not mean that the guide is not relevant for your teaching situation even if YuTube is banned in your school. You can still benefit from the tips and ideas provided by iPadWells on how to create enhanced videos using a wide variety of apps and share them with students who can access them at home. The major apps used in this guide are: YouTube, iMovie, Camera, Explain Everything, Photos, and Google Plus.
What Makes a Successful Online Student? – ION Professional eLearning Programs - University of Illinois Springfield - UIS Like the facilitator, the online student possesses unique qualities. The online students of today consist primarily of working people who are trying to better their opportunities. This however is changing, as more and more young and older people become aware of the online model. The traditional school will never go away, but the virtual classroom is a significant player in today’s educational community. Be open minded about sharing life, work, and educational experiences as part of the learning process.Introverts as well as extroverts find that the online process requires them to utilize their experiences. The online learning process is normally accelerated and requires commitment on the student’s part. Just as many excellent instructors may not be effective online facilitators, not all students possess the necessary qualities to perform well online.
Quotes Alan Moore: interview on mtv.com I have a theory, which has not let me down so far, that there is an inverse relationship between imagination and money. Because the more money and technology that is available to [create] a work, the less imagination there will be in it. Tadhg Kelly: Stories, Structure, Abstraction and Games And that's why Chess and Go remain as enduringly popular as they are, and why soccer is the most popular game on earth. Bill Tozier: Diverse themes observed at GECCO 2006 What one wants is to be able to talk with a diverse club of smart people, arrange to do short one-off research projects and simulations, publish papers or capture intellectual property quickly and easily, and move on to another conversation. Luiz Henrique de Figueiredo: lua-l > I found myself wishing to have a continue keyword [...] > I can't recall an official reason why it isn't in the language. Richard Hamming: The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics (1980) Richard Hamming: You and Your Research
Computers Made of Genetic Material Will Revolutionize Our World Gold and DNA Nanostructures made using DNA origami are fascinating. The ability to use DNA as a construction material, capable of holding scaffolds of molecules and atoms was one huge step in developing modern nanostrutures. Most recent of these developments are gold-plated nanowires constructed by scientists from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and from Paderborn University, which independently assembled themselves from single DNA strands, as published in the journal Langmuir. These nanowires, due to their gold-plating, were able to conduct electricity. “Our measurements have shown that an electrical current is conducted through these tiny wires,” explains Artur Erbe of the Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research. Even more fascinating is how these were made using modified DNA strands — stable double strands combined through their base pairs, from long single strands of genetic material and DNA segments. From the Bottom-Up There is one problem, though.
What on earth is blended learning? Learning Published on July 24th, 2014 | by Mark Anderson 5inShare I was asked recently, ‘what on earth is blended learning’? Blended learning is when learning takes place in a number of different ways, normally with a mix of face to face interaction between teacher and student and elements which the student undertakes independently, usually through electronic means. access the modules of work in electronic document formatreceive formative feedback on assessment through digital meanshave opportunities to learn from each other collaborativelycan submit summative assessments electronically There are numerous ways in which the learner can participate in a blended learning environment. This post will go through some of the ways in which you can do this and whilst clearly not exhaustive, these ideas may help to give ideas for other ways you can develop blended learning in to your curriculum. Accessing modules of work electronically There are lots of ways you can do this: Further reading:
Want to Succeed in an Online Class? Consider These 7 Tips - Peterson's Online college courses are great for all types of students. Whether you are a traditional student going full-time or a non-traditional students taking course part-time while you work, online classes offer flexibility to complete your degree. Keep in mind, however, that online classes as just as hard, if not harder, than if you were taking it on campus. 1. Online classes are just that, completely online courses in which you will be required to complete assignments, take quizzes, turn in papers, and finish exams all online. You won’t have to listen to lectures or go to a classroom at a certain time, though you will still need to study chapters out of your book and most will require participation through discussion posts a few times a week. 2. Just because the class is online and you can complete the work whenever you want, don’t think there isn’t going to be a lot of work involved. 3. Likewise, if you are a night person, finish off your day by doing your homework. 4. 5. 6. 7. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Visualizing MBTA Data Profit, not free speech, governs media companies' decisions on controversy For decades, U.S. media companies have limited the content they’ve offered based on what’s good for business. The decisions by Apple, Spotify, Facebook and YouTube to remove content from commentator Alex Jones and his InfoWars platform follow this same pattern. My research on media industries makes clear that government rules and regulations do little to limit what television shows, films, music albums, video games and social media content are available to the public. The self-policing by movie studios and TV networks is very similar to YouTube’s and Facebook’s actions: Distributing extremely controversial content is bad for business. Over the decades, television networks have internalized feedback from advertisers and unintended controversies to try to steer clear of negative attention. Self-regulation to avoid government intrusion There is, though, a key difference between those industries and the situation of YouTube and Facebook. Challenges of social media content regulation
Mac Setup: The Mac Mini Workstation of a Music Composer | OSXDaily It’s time for another featured Mac setup! This week we’re sharing the workstation of James C., a professional music composer who uses a Mac Mini with an iPad to produce tracks and music scores for everything from commercials to video games. Let’s learn a bit more: Tell us a bit about what you do, and why did you go with this particular Mac setup? I am a composer of library music, and the owner of Fuzzy Beard Productions. I use my Mac setup most days, using the iPad for other more simple tasks such as web browsing or online shopping. What hardware is included in your Mac setup? My setup hardware is as follows: What apps do you use most often? The software I constantly use consists of the following: Dropbox and OneDrive are my primary backup resources for my Logic templates and saved projects, with the external hard drive also being setup as my Time Machine backup. Logic Remote for iPad is another app I couldn’t live without. Do you have a sweet Mac setup?
How Schools Can Manage Official Social Media Accounts and Protect Student Privacy With many schools boasting large and active communities, it’s unsurprising that social media has become a popular tool in education. Social media platforms offer an engaging way to share information and connect students, parents, and teachers. A Facebook page or Twitter account makes it easy to inform everyone that school has been closed because of snow, remind parents of important upcoming events, or simply celebrate the latest team win. But it doesn’t end there. Now, all of this said, it has to be added that social media use definitely introduces certain risks and challenges. So how can schools get the most out of social media without getting in trouble over privacy rights? 1. Even though there’s little in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) that deals directly with social media, it’s important to remember that it’s all too easy for a post or comment to violate FERPA regulations. Needless to say, this extends to social media use. District Rules and Guidelines 2. 3.
Three Little Circles Once upon a time, there were three little circles. This tutorial shows you how to manipulate them using selections. #Selecting Elements The d3.selectAll method takes a selector string, such as "circle", and returns a selection representing all elements that match the selector: var circle = d3.selectAll("circle"); With a selection, we can make various changes to selected elements. circle.style("fill", "steelblue"); circle.attr("r", 30); The above code sets styles and attributes for all selected elements to the same values. We can also set values on a per-element basis by using anonymous functions. circle.attr("cx", function() { return Math.random() * 720; }); If you run this code repeatedly, the circles will dance: #Binding Data More commonly, we use data to drive the appearance of our circles. circle.data([32, 57, 112]); Data is specified as an array of values; this mirrors the concept of a selection, which is an array of elements. circle.attr("r", function(d) { return Math.sqrt(d); });
Enigma Machine Emulator Trust, Equity, and Student-Centered Learning With Fourth-Graders Tom Woodward/Flickr School administrators are looking to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies as a way to bring technology resources in the community to bear in the classroom when there is little funding for classroom devices. We will examine how three different teachers in three completely different communities — urban, rural, and immigrant — are dealing with BYOD issues, including trust, equity, and what happens when teachers try to put student-centered learning in the hands of students who’ve never experienced it. The advantage of BYOD has always been flexibility — educators don’t have to wait until a school board approves funds for mobile technology, rolls out a policy and implements a training program. Instead, teachers began experimenting with technology to engage learners and allow them to have more ownership over their learning. Using student-owned devices has the added benefit of helping students to see their phones as learning tools that can be used for research at home.