Archive for November, 2013|Monthly archive page
When do tablets make sense in education?
The False Promise of Classroom Technology – Businessweek.
What I’ve argued relates to resource constraints and to the evident fact (to me) that tablets, along with adequate teaching, which I liken to the old notion from Mao’s China of the Barefoot Doctor: A sufficient number of “good enough” teachers to help other students master the course skills. But I don’t believe that tablets and MOOCs are a panacea. Rather, they offer what Tim Berners-Lee wished for the Internet, when he created it, that it would be a medium, not a replacement for politics, and that what mattered, and matters still, is the human not the technology.
African polygamy: Past and present | vox
It’s easy to ignore history but it’s a mistake to do so. Past economic and political conditions affect present circumstances, unto the fourth generation, at least, or so it seems from this bracing study on polygamy.
These results pose challenges to existing theories of polygamy. The distribution of polygamy in Africa does not fit an explanation rooted in the gender division of labour. I find no evidence that educating women in the present reduces polygamy. Further, I find that history matters. Pre-colonial inequality, the slave trade, and colonial education all predict polygamy rates in the present. I find limited evidence that African marriage markets have responded to economic growth and fluctuations. The largest elasticities that I find are in response to changes in child health. This is consistent with theories that see polygamy as a strategy for men to increase fertility, making wives and surviving births per wife substitutes.
The Staple Theory & Aspects of Pioneer Economies
The Staple Theory at 50: Who’s your grand daddy? Watkins, Innis and W.A. Mackintosh | rabble.ca.
It’s a pretty interesting read and in conjunction with Stross’ recent _Neptune’s Brood_ (which owes a fair amount to Krugman and is really an experiment on the role of time in economic valuation and which also ties into NZ economists’ efforts toward a dual monetary system), clarifies much of the economic topography both of Canada and Australia, where natural resources have persisted in shaping the nations.
Toronto’s Rob Ford Problem : The New Yorker
Comments (3)Why, exactly, did a reasonable kind of place like Toronto elect its current mayor?—you have to conclude that it doesn’t matter anymore. Why we did it is the least of our problems. The only point worth making at this juncture is that Rob Ford turned out to be a staggeringly bad choice.
Oh Canada…
Our Nation’s Businesses Suffer From Canadian Disease | Diane Francis.
I find myself agreeing with much of the argument presented, though I would look to the formation of provincial monopolies (or otherwise dominant corporations) closely tied to politicians and parties. The end result is pretty much the same: smug profit machines operating within provincial boundaries and relying perforce on the US as a market for raw goods, resources. And I can’t help seeing that the efforts by the Tories have only worsened the situation.
On Moocs
A perspective on MOOCs as experimentation | john hawks weblog.
Quote:
The real challenge for a MOOC is to make the students into active participants. To give learners a meaningful opportunity to help build knowledge instead of just witnessing others building it. That is where true learning happens.
Of course, the student really does in fact have to learn things, not just get the impression that she has. And then the other hard part is proving that she has indeed learned what she thinks she has–as well as other things that may not have been ostensibly part of the course, like how to think about interesting questions that can be solved in a reasonable period of time.
newspeak 