Author Archives: alex

Badges: The Skeptical Evangelist

By alex | Published: 3/6/2012

I have been meaning to find a moment to write about learning badges for some time. I wanted to respond to the last run of criticisms of learning badges, and the most I managed was a brief comment on Alex Reid’s post. Now, with the announcement of the winners of this year’s DML Competition, there [...]

Posted in Research, Teaching | Tagged advisor, Alex Reid, assessment, Badge, Barry Joseph, computer technology, Department of Education, DML, education, Educational psychology, Evaluation, Evaluation methods, Evergreen State College, Formative assessment, genetic engineering, Georg Simmel, Heraldic badge, Heraldry, Herb Schiller, important applications, Learning, Mitch Resnick, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, potential tool, Symbols, Thought | 7 Comments

Rank Teacher Ranking

By alex | Published: 2/24/2012

There has been a little discussion on an informal email list at my university about the Op-Ed by Bill Gates in the New York Times that argues against public rankings of teachers. It’s a position that in some ways constrains the Gates Foundation’s seeming interest in quantifying teaching performance. It led to questions we have [...]

Posted in Teaching | Tagged Alternative education, assessment, Bill Gates, education, Education reform, Educational philosophy, Educational psychology, Gates Foundation, higher education, measurement, merit, Teacher, Teaching, the New York Times | 1 Comment

Open Analytics and Social Fascination Talk

By alex | Published: 12/16/2011

Posted in Research | Tagged analytics, assessment, badges, fascination, Health, learning analytics, metrics, quantified self, Video | 1 Comment

IRBs and Clean Secrets

By alex | Published: 12/8/2011

There’s a comment piece I wrote that appears in today’s issue of the journal Nature that talks a bit about the role of open data and IRBs. But I worry that perhaps in the number of iterations it made before publication the main point got muddied a bit. So here it is: Funding agencies and [...]

Posted in Research | Tagged Academia, Academic Publishing, education, Experimental design, IRB protocols, IRB-approved protocol, Protocol, Scholarly Communication, Science, the journal Nature | 3 Comments

Retreating on the Grades

By alex | Published: 8/21/2011

Heading into a new semester and assembling the syllabi (well, one–the other, once again this term, is in the hands of the students), I’ve decided to give up on my short-lived “no grades” policy. At least nominally. What happened? Well, at least pedagogically, I was fine with it. To recap, I was concerned that students [...]

Posted in Teaching | Tagged Academic grading in the United States, badges, Bell curve grading, Curricula, Education in the United States, Education reform, Evaluation methods, Grade, grading, Learning, online programs, Paper Chase | 9 Comments

Google plus what?

By alex | Published: 7/2/2011

Over the last few days, I’ve been exploring Google Plus a bit, in my spare time, along with a quarter million of my closest friends around the globe. There are already a lot of reviews… that’s not what this is. I find it to be an interesting entry point, and I’m curious to see what [...]

Posted in Technology | Tagged collaboration, Google, Google Inc., google plus, Googleverse, groupware, Human-computer interaction, Hypertext, identity management solution, social networking effort, social networks, twitter, Twitter Inc., World Wide Web | 4 Comments

Dirigible Avatars

By alex | Published: 5/16/2011

Not quite Blade Runner, but I like the idea of presenting myself in physical spaces as a giant airbag…

Posted in Technology | Tagged Aerospace, Airbag, Blade Runner, Dirigible, Robots, Themes in Blade Runner, Video | Leave a comment

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- @lrainie As it is, each time I start a class session with "Pack it up, pack it in, let me begin..." fewer and fewer recognize it. 2 days ago
- @lrainie It's hard for me to do anything menacingly, and I'd try it for a classroom entrance, but I suspect the reference would be lost... 2 days ago
- @lrainie That is my new goal! Channel Omar more often :). 2 days ago
- @lrainie Reducible in part to "who said it wasn't already all a game"? :) 2 days ago
- Word or two length predictions for social media game-changers over next decade? Me: Goggles, Badges, Social Sensors #gamechangers 2 days ago
- One more on the "higher ed is newspapers" meme. David Brooks: http://t.co/bUsz8sXA 2 days ago
- My students know I am not a fan of Flash. Rare exception: http://t.co/1ElX1Q8E 3 days ago
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