My favorite quotes: “[Blackboard is] a one-stop shop where students can come and get absolutely any access to me, any access to the teaching assistants.” — Philip Wirtz “[Open source] classroom management systems [like Sakai and Moodle] are becoming increasingly popular because they allow schools to adapt the software to meet their needs.” “Even though…
Michelle remarked my blog posts over the years have become technical. I wanted to say “too technical”, but I don’t think she actually wrote that. Instead of writing about the personal aspects of my work I only write about the mechanics. Over the years I’ve read quite a bit about the trouble people get into…
Today is Ada Lovelace Day to celebrate women in technology and science. I’ve read women need role models more than men. If true, then movements like this to promote those who are doing great work in fields like technology are good. First a little about Ada. Ada [Lovelace[ called herself  “an Analyst (& Metaphysician),” and the…
In ten years (by 2020), the goal of the Obama administration is to have 60% of the American population hold at least a 2-year post-secondary degree and graduate college-ready high school students. I’m hoping the first, stated as “We will raise the proportion of college graduates from where it now stands [39%] so that 60% of…
Seth Godin’s post, Try Different, assumes we should try as hard as we can. If you ever reach the point you are trying as hard as you can, then you probably have passed the point where you should try another approach. Once the effort has exceeded the value of the work, something is wrong. This is…
Some quotes from the Overcoming Bias blog from the book Hard Facts. (I’ve cleaned up some spelling errors.) Merit pay for teachers is an idea that is almost 100 years old and has been subject to much research. In one study conducted in 1918, “48 percent of U.S. school districts sampled used compensation systems that…
Here is a shocking idea. People get college degrees because graduates are valued. This leads to parents sending more kids to college who get degrees. Eventually higher education reaches the point where the overabundance of graduates decreases the value of a degree. Weak students have been admitted for years. Universities struggle to identify who will…
The state gives employees 15 holidays in addition to the generous accrual of sick and vacation. Where I work only schedules 12 of the holidays. So we get 3 to take whenever we wish. I poorly planned and ended up having to take two this month or lose them. Today ended up being one of…
At the request of my boss, I added this disclaimer. Positive things I say here about Blackboard are okay. Negative things require distancing my employer from me so the defamation lawsuit comes to me not them. 🙂 This is a personal weblog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer.