Monday, February 22, 2010

Emotions And Learning: Part I

Emotions And Learning: Part I: "I’ve never done a formal survey, but I’m going to guess that the majority of online courses don’t have a strong emotional impact on their audience. This is true even though it’s been known for some time that appealing to the emotions is one of the keys to motivating people, attracting their attention and facilitating memory.
I

Brought to you by: eLearning Learning"

Thursday, February 11, 2010

10,000 Galaxies in 3D

10,000 Galaxies in 3D: "


In 2004, the Hubble Space Telescope captured 10,000 galaxies in an image that’s now called the Ultra Deep Field. It’s our deepest look into the universe. The video above animates the Deep Field image and puts it into 3D. No need to read more. Just watch.


10,000 Galaxies in 3D is a post from: Open Culture, the home of Free Audio Books, Free Courses, Free Movies, Free Foreign Language Lessons, a Free iPhone App and other intelligent media!




Related posts:

  1. The Open Culture iPhone App

  2. When Galaxies Collide



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Monday, February 8, 2010

Google Rebuilds the Tower of Babel with Real-Time Language Translation

Google Rebuilds the Tower of Babel with Real-Time Language Translation: "

googlelogo6.jpgIf our attempts at getting such simple information as bus schedules or account balances from automated voice recognition systems are any indication, then we imagine Google has a lot of work to do in its latest endeavor - real-time, spoken-language translation.



According to the Times UK, Google is working on developing software for a mobile phone that would translate what you were saying into the language of the speaker on the other end of the line and vice versa.


Sponsor



As you may have noticed, Google already has a hand in the translation business, with its web page translation service. Google Translate currently translates between 52 languages, which includes a number of languages with completely different alphabets.



The Times UK spoke with Franz Och, head of Google's translation services, who said that this new service should be up and running and 'work reasonably well in a few years' time.'



'Everyone has a different voice, accent and pitch,' said Och. 'But recognition should be effective with mobile phones because by nature they are personal to you.'



Och is referring to the fact that the software would have the opportunity to learn your accent, dialect and general manner of speaking over time, becoming more accurate. But we can only imagine the difficulty of the task ahead, especially with languages such as Mandarin or Cantonese, which are tonally based. In Mandarin, for example, the word 'ma' can have four different meanings according to the tone used. If the speaker uses the first tone, a constant high pitch, then the word means 'mother'. If they use the third tone, a dropping then rising pitch, however, the meaning changes to 'horse'.



The fun doesn't stop there, the Times UK article points out, as handling the vast number of accents and dialects is also an immense task. Much like the web-based translation that Google does, though, the system would become more accurate over time, essentially learning from its experience.



We hope that one of the first things it learns is not to call our new Chinese friend's mother a horse.


Discuss



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Does slum tourism make us better people?

Does slum tourism make us better people?: "Slum tourism is a growth industry with more and more wealthy travelers opting to visit the poorest parts of the world. What is it that is prompting slum tourism? Is it a new trend? What impact does slum tourism have on the people who opt for this kind of ‘holiday’? Do they become better people as a result and does the experience prompt a call to action for social change?"

Metric Map: Which Countries Don’t Belong With The Others?

Let's just switch. No conversions. Just wake up one morning and we're metric. Get it over with!


Metric Map: Which Countries Don’t Belong With The Others?: "

Map : author



What sets the U.S apart from the rest of the world?

The U.S. is one of only three nations in the world (the other two being Liberia and Burma) which clings to its outmoded system of measurement, failing to get on board with the rest of the world and use the metric system.


We don’t even use the British Imperial system (that the British don’t even use anymore) – we use some bastard child of the Imperial system called “the United States customary system.” Ask any American how many ounces are in a gallon or feet are in a mile and you’re almost sure not to get a correct answer.


What does this mean for you as an American? It means that when you travel you look like an idiot. When someone asks you for directions, you are suddenly at a loss, unable to estimate distance in kilometers. If one of your South American friends asks you how cold it is, you have no idea what to say. Is 30 degrees hot? Is it cold?


There are more communist countries than there are countries not using the metric system. Everyone else has come to the conclusion that it just makes for sense to use the system everyone else in the world is using in which all units are divisible by ten.


Just try to pass the right wrench to someone and you’ll see how stupid this system is. “I need the five sixteenths hex wrench. No! I said the five sixteenths!” Of course you did.


OK. Maybe it wouldn’t be cost effective to tear down all those mile markers, but just imagine the jobs it would create to start adding kilometer markers to every highway in the U.S. of A.


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Friday, February 5, 2010

The Truth About College Plagiarism

The Truth About College Plagiarism: "Despite all the concern over increased plagiarism in the Internet age, concrete figures on the trend are hard to come by. In a new working paper, Brian Jacob (an occasional Levitt co-author) and Thomas Dee conducted a natural field experiment at a 'selective post-secondary institution' to shed light on the determinants of student plagiarism."

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

WSJ: Playfish creating social game based on 'well-known EA brand'

I have the feeling that this could be a big development: if not for Playfish, at least in the sense that something big's afoot for social networking.


WSJ: Playfish creating social game based on 'well-known EA brand': "

The Wall Street Journal today examines 'Why Playfish Sold Itself to EA.' Um, wouldn't you sell yourself for $300 million? While such an investigation might seem trivial, the WSJ calls in Playfish president and GM Kristian Segerstrale, who reveals that several hundred million is merely chump change. Playfish certainly considered a road to riches paved in the arduous process of going public as an independent company, but 'as we advanced our conversations with EA, what became clear was that this would be genuine opportunity to accelerate our pace of growth and build a billion-dollar business faster,' Segerstrale explains.



To realize this dream -- to get rich really quick -- Playfish clearly saw it would take more than its prowess as a stand-out developer in the burgeoning social games arena. It would take brand power. According to the WSJ, as suggested by Segerstrale, 'there will be a social game based on a well-known EA brand this year.' Hardly a revelation, to be sure, but it's at least confirmation of a killer strategy. Take an established IP -- likely EA's The Sims -- and adapt it for a network of social gaming experiences that spans persistent platforms like Facebook and the iPhone. Oh, so that's why Playfish sold itself to EA.



[Via Develop]

JoystiqWSJ: Playfish creating social game based on 'well-known EA brand' originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments"

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Playing History - History Games

Not a perfect site, but there are some interesting games for students.

Playing History - History Games: "Playing History is a collection of 128 games related to topics in US and World History as well as civics and geography. The games come from a variety of sources across the web. Feedback on every game and suggestions for future additions are welcomed by the hosts of the site. Visitors to Playing History can search for games by using the tag cloud, by using the search box, or just browse through the entire list. I clicked on the tag 'Supreme Court' and found nine games that I could use next fall in my US Civics course.

Applications for Education
Playing History offers a wide array of educational games for use in elementary, middle, and high school social studies course. Find a game that matches your curriculum and add it to your classroom website or blog to provide your students with fun review activity that they can use at home or at school.

Here are some related resources that may be of interest to you:
HeyZap - Strategy Games for Your Class Website
Think About History Trivia Game
200+ Free Games for Your Class Blog or Website


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Seventh Circuit Rules Dungeons & Dragons A Threat to Prison Security

Finally, the true danger of d&d is revealed. It explains a lot.

Seventh Circuit Rules Dungeons & Dragons A Threat to Prison Security: "

Dungeons Dragons dice.JPGPredictably, I used to play Dungeons & Dragons in high school. Just as predictably, I didn't lose my virginity until I stopped. It's an established fact that Dungeons & Dragons is a bigger threat to human reproduction than all the gay marriages in the world.



But I did not know until this day that D&D could also pose a security risk. A Wisconsin prisoner, Kevin T. Singer, sued Wisconsin's Waupun Correctional Institution after the guards confiscated his D&D materials.



Why did the prison guards take away this guy's D&D paraphernalia? I'll let Judge John Tinder of the Seventh Circuit explain:



Waupun's long-serving Disruptive Group Coordinator, Captain Bruce Muraski, received an anonymous letter from an inmate. The letter expressed concern that Singer and three other inmates were forming a D&D gang and were trying to recruit others to join by passing around their D&D publications and touting the "rush" they got from playing the game. Muraski, Waupun's expert on gang activity, decided to heed the letter's advice and "check into this gang before it gets out of hand."


A gang? A gang that needs to be checked? I've never been to prison, but I have watched Oz. I'm forced to believe one of two things: (a) any D&D "gang" member would find themselves tossing salads faster than you can say "saving throw against horrific prison justice ... fails," or (b) if you could beat up the D&D kids in your high school, then you can go to Wisconsin, commit violent crimes with impunity, get sent to prison and live like a God.



Singer sued the prison for violating his First Amendment rights. The district court ruled with the correctional facility on summary judgment, and the Seventh Circuit affirmed.



Does that mean we get to hear the Seventh Circuit argue that D&D is gang-like? Yes it does. Will that be hilarious? More fun than hacking through an encampment of goblins with a dwarven ax of immolation.



Details after the jump.

Singer collected the affidavits of numerous prisoners and statements by three role playing game "experts" (i.e., eunuchs), who all stated that that Dungeons & Dragons is not a gang. The prison had the testimony of Captain Bruce Muraski, a gang specialist. His testimony makes me wish that we had better gang specialists:



[Muraski] explained that the policy was intended to promote prison security because cooperative games can mimic the organization of gangs and lead to the actual development thereof. Muraski elaborated that during D&D games, one player is denoted the "Dungeon Master." The Dungeon Master is tasked with giving directions to other players, which Muraski testified mimics the organization of a gang. At bottom, his testimony about this policy aim highlighted Waupun's worries about cooperative activity among inmates, particularly that carried out in an organized, hierarchical fashion.


Look, I know the title 'dungeon master' sounds scary and important. But don't let the words confuse you. We're talking about a guy who sits around all day drawing maps and debating whether a cloak of anti-venom can protect you from a fictional rat bite. (Note: It can't, rats have diseases, anti-venom contemplates poisons, those are two completely different things. Please don't tell my wife about this.)



But, the Seventh Circuit bought Muraski's logic:



Singer maintains that his fifteen affiants delivered compelling testimony challenging Muraski's assertion that D&D could promote gang-related activity. His eleven inmate affiants--who collectively served over 100 years in prison--all testified that they had never heard of any gang-related or other violent activity associated with D&D gameplay or paraphernalia. In Singer's view, this testimony adequately rebuts Muraski's testimony that D&D gameplay mimics the organization of a gang and as a consequence could lead to gang behavior. In our view, it does not.


Okay, 11 people who have been in prison for a hundred years say that linking D&D to gang behavior is ridiculous. In response, the court ignores them on the "silly criminals" theory of jurisprudence:



The question is not whether D&D has led to gang behavior in the past; the prison officials concede that it has not. The question is whether the prison officials are rational in their belief that, if left unchecked, D&D could lead to gang behavior among inmates and undermine prison security in the future. Singer's affiants demonstrate significant personal knowledge about D&D's rules and gameplay, and offer their own assessments that D&D does not lead to gang
behavior, but they lack the qualifications necessary to determine whether the relationship between the D&D ban and the maintenance of prison security is "so remote as to render the policy arbitrary or irrational." ...

(Of course, many of Singer's affiants are present or former inmates, but their experiential 'expertise' in prison security is from the wrong side of the bars and fails to match Muraski's perspective.) The expertise critical here is that relating to prisons, their security, and the prevention of prison gang activity. Singer's affiants conspicuously lack such expertise.



The Seventh Circuit conspicuously lacks the expertise in Dungeons & Dragons or role-playing games, but they get to wear the robes. I just hope they're happy when, stripped of their D&D responsibilities, Singer and his merry band of players join the Nation of Islam, become radicalized, and trade in their multi-sided dice for singled-edged blades.



I mean, let's be clear, it's not like Singer is a peaceful man. Singer is in jail on a life sentence for first degree murder. He killed his sister's boyfriend with a sledgehammer (and now you see why I suggested that Singer probably plays a Dwarf, warrior class). If he's found an outlet for some of his more violent tenancies, isn't that a good thing?



The court says that it is not a good thing, not necessarily:



While Cardwell and his other affiants, including a literacy tutor and a role-playing game analyst, testified to a positive relationship between D&D and rehabilitation, none disputed or even acknowledged the prison officials' assertions that there are valid reasons to fear a relationship running in the opposite direction. The prison officials pointed to a few published circuit court cases to give traction to their views. We view these cases as persuasive evidence that for some individuals, games like D&D can impede rehabilitation, lead to escapist tendencies, or result in more dire consequences.


More dire consequences than what, precisely? He's already beaten somebody to death with a freaking sledgehammer; what the hell else can he do?



Sorry, obviously, this is where my bleeding heart gets the best of me. Because all this is about is punishment. It's not about rehabilitation, it's not about security, it's about old-school vengeance carried out by state actors. He killed somebody, and we as a society found something else he liked that we can take away. So we're going to take it away. It's Christopher Lloyd playing a Klingon in Star Trek 3 telling Kirk he won't beam up Spock 'because you wish it.'



I guess that is our right. I guess there is no compelling interest in making the life imprisonment of a murderer a little less horrible. But vengeance, even when legal, is still ugly. The Seventh Circuit just made a Lawful Evil decision here.



Singer v. Raemisch [U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (PDF)]



Game Over: Inmate Can't Play Dungeons & Dragons [New York Times]









Dungeons & Dragons - Crime - Dungeon Master - Crime and Justice - Prison"

High School, College Instructors Differ on Students' Readiness

High School, College Instructors Differ on Students' Readiness: "

What does it mean when far more high school teachers think their students are ready for college than do the college instructors who teach them? It means we have a pretty big disconnect between what high schools think is needed for success in college and what actually is needed.



This is not exactly news. We know there are many reasons that high school students fail to make it to college, or fail to thrive once they're there. But a new survey of thousands of high school and college teachers, conducted by ACT Inc., fleshes out a few of the key reasons why.



One reason is that high school teachers and college instructors have differing views of what skills are important in college. High school teachers, for instance, rate things like media literacy and financial literacy as far more important than do college professors, who value the content areas of math, English, and science more.



Another is that high school teachers think they've prepared their students for the rigorous types of reading they will encounter in college, but college professors disagree. Science and math teachers in high school say it's important for students to master reading strategies in those subjects, but they spend little or no time teaching such things.



Expectations play a role, too. High school teachers say that they or their colleagues have lower expectations for students who are perceived as not being college-bound.



These are key new findings of the survey. The report also reiterates many other interesting findings from earlier ACT curriculum surveys that are worth examining. For example, high school teachers tend to see as crucial for college a very wide swath of content and skills, compared with college professors, who believe in a shorter list of essential skills and knowledge.



This is interesting stuff to keep in mind as the debate about defining and measuring college readiness rolls on. The full survey is packed with data; a shorter version that highlights the findings and focuses on their policy implications is also available.





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How Madden is Raising a New Generation of Football Player [Sports]

How Madden is Raising a New Generation of Football Player [Sports]: "

When Denver's Brandon Stokely caught a game-winning pass against Cincinnati earlier this year, he veered parallel to the goal line en route to the end zone, to both burn time and celebrate. He told Wired it was a Madden-inspired move.

It's one of the more jaw-dropping anecdotal instances of how sports video games - specifically Madden - have raised a different generation of competitor, especially in American football. Increasingly, kids are reporting to the gridiron better versed in football terminology and more perceptive of circumstances on field, like disguised coverages and tricks to expose them.


And it's not just innate knowledge. Madden and other sims are increasingly used in preparation for actual games, Wired says:



At the Pop Warner Super Bowl in 2006, the winning team had 30 offensive plays, which it had learned through Madden. ('I programmed our offense into Madden to help me memorize our plays,' one 11-year-old told Sports Illustrated. 'It was easier than homework.') Dezmon Briscoe, an all-conference wide receiver for the University of Kansas, credited Madden 2009 with teaching him how to read when defenses 'roll their coverages' - move their defensive backs to disguise their strategy. Chuck Kyle, a high school coach who has won 10 state championships in football-mad Ohio, has programmed his team USA playbook into Madden and uses it to teach players their assignments. So have coaches at Colorado State, Penn State, and the University of Missouri, among other schools.



I can tell you that Madden's effect isn't limited to performers. Simulation-quality Madden taught me to recognize certain formations and coverages, and how I wrote about high school football is noticeably different before and after my exposure to the game. It may not have as profound an impact as 22 players on the field, all growing up playing Madden, but it too influences the public's knowledge and appreciation of a very complicated sport.


Game Changers: How Videogames Trained a Generation of Athletes [Wired]








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