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Re: [xmca] The business of education
Huw
Is the machine able to discern what the students are feeling about their
grade - teachers do this and help set realistic goals to motivate her
class. Sh may also be aware of personal problems that are interfering with
work.
The most important role of the teacher is to communicate attitudes, values,
and beliefs by embodying them. The Me-Me generation is already handicapped
by the loss of authentic social contacts. Then we let them be taught by
machines -- what happens to relationships as they grow up?
This is terribly important, but equally, the theory of knowledge as being
linearly constructed - this is the sanitized more modern version of
programmed instruction. Good teachers may be moving in a particular
direction, but they construct knowledge *across *domains. In troubled
schools with demoralized staff using machines might be seen as a helpful
adjunct (they might motivate students for a while), but values and beliefs
are once put on one side.
Sorry to go on about this.
Carol
On 30 July 2013 19:46, Huw Lloyd <huw.softdesigns@gmail.com> wrote:
> " One definite perk for instuctors: the software does most of the grading
> for them."
>
> Looks like the machine has been there a long time, Carol.
>
> Huw
>
> On 30 July 2013 17:37, Carol Macdonald <carolmacdon@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > We already have young people who only know how to talk to people over
> their
> > social media and not those next to them. Now we don't have the teachers
> > mediating ethics and values in their relationships with their learners.
> > Perhaps the new generation will only be able to mediate their
> relationships
> > of every kind through machines - are those relationships with people
> going
> > to survive this assault.
> >
> > (The epistemology of learning as linear is a huge problem, but its
> effects
> > on relationships that are more dangerous.)
> >
> > Carol
> >
> > On 30 July 2013 15:26, Wagner Luiz Schmit <wagner.schmit@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > > Hello,
> > >
> > > This just came out:
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-big-data-taking-teachers-out-lecturing-business
> > >
> > >
> > > Wagner
> > >
> > > On Wed, May 22, 2013 at 10:30 AM, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > > > And lots of people marvel at the progress, Helena.
> > > > bait and switch.... and pay taxes like Apple!
> > > > :-)
> > > > mike
> > > >
> > > > On Tue, May 21, 2013 at 10:23 AM, Helena Worthen <
> > > helenaworthen@gmail.com>wrote:
> > > >
> > > >> Hello -- the letter from Meister is really worth reading. It
> explains
> > > why
> > > >> MOOCs need the CSU system (and other public higher education
> > > connections)
> > > >> more than CSU needs MOOCs.
> > > >>
> > > >> Although short-term, the linkup with Coursera to offer MOOCs in
> > various
> > > >> disciplines appears to solve the immediate problem of how to expand
> > > access
> > > >> to already crowded, booked-up, high-tuition face to face classrooms,
> > it
> > > >> solves a different problem for Coursera and other big MOOC
> companies.
> > > >>
> > > >> That problem is, long-term ‹ and this is an important problem, since
> > > >> Coursera, like the other MOOC companies, is a private company, like
> > > >> Facebook, LinkedIn, Yahoo, Amazon, etc. -- how to make money. Right
> > now
> > > >> MOOCs are free, or at least some are free. How can they figure out
> how
> > > >> much to charge? How much are they "worth" --?
> > > >>
> > > >> The simplest way to figure that out would be to hook up with a
> state
> > > >> university and say, "Our class is worth three credits at San Jose
> > State,
> > > >> and tuition at San Jose State for three credits is $2,400, so our
> > class
> > > >> should cost $2,400." But it can get much, much more fine-grained
> > than
> > > >> that, since all kinds of personal information gets collected when
> > > someone
> > > >> enrolls in a class.
> > > >>
> > > >> Bottom line- without the hookup to established institutions, all the
> > > MOOCs
> > > >> offer is celebrity teachers doing what are essentially TV shows or
> > > >> audiotape classes (you may have noticed that the price on Great
> > > >> Teacher-type audio tapes have crashed from $299 to less than $100
> > > >> recently). So no matter how celebrated a professor is, it's the
> hookup
> > > to
> > > >> an institution that makes it possible to establish market value. And
> > > make
> > > >> huge money in the long run.
> > > >>
> > > >> Which is basically gutting the public education system and
> > transferring
> > > >> its authority to exchange credits for tuition to a private company.
> > > >>
> > > >> Another argument for free public higher education -- the only way
> that
> > > >> public education can compete against a for-profit system.
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >> Helena
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >> On 5/11/13 1:30 PM, "mike cole" <lchcmike@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >>
> > > >> >The following letter from the UC faculty association president
> seems
> > > worth
> > > >> >distributing. Fraught futures.
> > > >> >mike
> > > >> >
> > > >> >
> > > >> >
> > > >> >CUCFA President Meister's Open Letter to Coursera Founder Daphne
> > Koller
> > > >> > http://cucfa.org/news/2013_may10.php
> > > >> >
> > > >> >......
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >> >http://cucfa.org/news/2013_may10.ph<
> > > http://cucfa.org/news/2013_may10.php>
> > > >> >__________________________________________
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > > __________________________________________
> > > > _____
> > > > xmca mailing list
> > > > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > > > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Carol A Macdonald Ph D (Edin)
> > Developmental psycholinguist
> > Academic, Researcher, and Editor *EditLab.net*
> > Honorary Research Fellow: Department of Linguistics, Unisa
> >
> >
>
>
--
Carol A Macdonald Ph D (Edin)
Developmental psycholinguist
Academic, Researcher, and Editor *EditLab.net*
Honorary Research Fellow: Department of Linguistics, Unisa