Notebook

Math teaching of the future

Keith Devlin in Edge's questions for 2007 (what are you optimistic about) thinks that we are finally in a situation to get maths teaching right.

At one end of the spectrum he suggests that mobile phones to deliver learning materials in poor countries - and takes a swipe at the $100 laptop project.  At the other he also suggests that 3D virtual worlds are an ideal environment to teach mathematics, particularly basic mathematics.

Maybe not the beacon of hope the reader might have been looking for in these days of doom and gloom, but something to distract you for a few moments none the less.

Keith Devlin's response: http://edge.org/q2007/q07_2.html#devlin
Edge's questions for 2007: http://edge.org/q2007/q07_index.html

Simple Project Management

D. Keith Robinson has written a great short piece on simple effective project management.  The idea that project management can work best when it's simple and light-touch is certainly something I'd agree with.  I also thought the emphasis on reading up as much as possible about the project and sharing the information was something that isn't said often enough.

Included in his article was a link to a nice time tracking tool, Harvest.  Another step towards the dream of a time tracking tool that people actually use for more than a couple of days ;)

Geography elearning projects funded by GEES

There are two elearning projects among the small projects funded by the Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences subject centre (GEES) for 2006/07.

e-Learning or a-Gimmick? Evaluating the use of rich media in Geography fieldwork
A project based at Exeter, looking at the use of rich media in onsite fieldwork.  They'll be using ipod, PSP and mobile phones to deliver the material and evaluting the technology compared to (and/or combined with) traditional formats such as workbooks and handouts.

Enhancing Feedback Opportunities for Students through the use of Podcasting
Based at Chester, the project is not entirely clear to me from the description but it sounds like staff will be providing individual verbal feedback to students in the form of podcasts.  This feedback will be delivered using the students eportfolios.  The process will then be evaluated.

For a complete list, see the small scale learning and teaching projects for 2006/07.

Early Day Motion No 179 - Software in Education

MP John Pugh has tabled an early day motion to call for BECTA and the DfES to ensure schools can benefit from open source software.  So far it has 19 signatories.

The text is as follows:

That this House congratulates the Open University and other schools, colleges and universities for utilising free and open source software to deliver cost-effective educational benefit not just for their own institutions but also the wider community; and expresses concern that Becta and the Department for Education and Skills, through the use of outdated purchasing frameworks, are effectively denying schools the option of benefiting from both free and open source software and the value and experience small and medium ICT companies could bring to the schools market.

Notes from "The Politics of Code", Feb 2003

The session that made the greatest impression was the speech "Liberty by Design: the Public Interest in Code" by Alan Davidson of The Center for Democracy and Technology. These are the notes I made on the talk.

The problem: technical standards are boring, but they can have big effects on society.

For example, Open Pluggable Edge Services (OPES). OPES will allow servers in the centre to change internet content on-route. There are many possible beneficial uses for these, such as translation, virus screening and caching. There are also more worrying possibilities: censoring by the government (without an end user being aware), monitoring use, inserting adverts. Following consultation on this standard, a rule was introduced: the public must be notified if OPES is being invoked, and at least one of the parties involved (content owner or user) must agree to its use.

There are many obstacles to getting social issues considered when standards are being developed.  Some of the key ones are:

• not all decisions about them are made in the open
• lack of public awareness of what the issues are
• lack of understanding of the technologies
• lots of different bodies making decisions
• long time horizons from design to impact (2-5 years)
• inertia: once a standard is set it's very hard to change it
• standards set in one country can have global impact

But, with planning, we can lock-in the desired effects

How can we do this?

• get public and NGOs more involved in technical development
• create systematic mechanism's in technical development (e.g. a "policy impact assessment")
• more research on what the issues are and what to promote
• bridge the divide between technology and policy

A full programme and MP3s of the presentations can be found on the Politics of Code 2003 event website (follow the link to "proceedings").