CANDORVILLE » Confirmation Bias – always a concern as a researcher, but important for all citizens as well
May 31, 2011 in Public Interest
via candorville.com
Monthly Archives: May 2011
Eli Pariser on “The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You”
May 31, 2011 in Public Interest, Technology
The internet is increasingly becoming an echo chamber in which websites tailor information according to the preferences they detect in each viewer. When some users search the word “Egypt,” they may get the latest news about the revolution, others might only see search results about Egyptian vacations.
via democracynow.org
This is a great issue that we should be discussing. While these technologies are getting to know us better and better with each visit, this knowledge ends up catering to our immediate tastes, which often results in a sort of tunnel vision approach to content delivery. At one time, people fretted over this aspect of communities (social networks), but I’m much more concerned about corporations catering to their perceptions of my desires and, even scarier, the lack of information gathering on these topics that are seen as less desirable.
“Moodle” Official Music Video – Great student project…I kinda hate Moodle too, though.
May 31, 2011 in Giggle-Worthy, Technology
Moodle 2+ has been a nightmare and I don’t see it improving…ever. I’m going to ditch it as soon as it’s convenient to do so. However, it could be worse. I could be forced to use Blackboard 
This is a fun student project pimping the virtues of Moodle.
Give children feedback to improve standards in school, says new guide | Education | The Guardian
May 27, 2011 in Education
Give children feedback to improve standards in school, says new guide
Reducing class sizes or setting homework contribute little to raise standards, research finds
Jeevan Vasagar, education editor
New guidance also advocates teaching approaches that encourage pupils to plan, monitor and evaluate their own learning. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty ImagesForget school uniforms and streaming by ability: schools will raise standards if they focus on giving children effective feedback.
via guardian.co.uk
So, methods win out. Who woulda guessed?
I had a professor at Indiana who swore up and down that class size was the only thing that has made a difference. I repeated that time after time, until I was cornered and asked, “Where is the evidence?” Then I found that there isn’t much. In fact, there is a lot that says there is no difference.
Now I know what should have been clear before. If anything makes a difference, methods do. It’s not how many students are in the class, but rather what you do with them in the class.
Now, these are differences based on test scores and we all know that test scores don’t mean much, right? You do know that, right? The fact is that the test scores they use are reliable, not necessarily valid.
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