End-of-Year Shopping

   We all know what the holiday season is about.  It’s a time to gather with friends and family. It’s a time to appreciate what is good and right in your life. It’s a time to help others.

   And we also know that somehow, the altruistic instinct to give gifts to those who are part of your life has somehow been transformed into a shopping extravaganza that lasts from the Thanksgiving week-end through the twelve days of Christmas, and beyond. No matter your faith or philosophical position, it is almost certain that you will become caught up in this consumer frenzy.

   That said, I’d like to take PC World’s Top 100 “Best Products of the Year” and distill the list for educators who are interested in what’s new in technology. Increasingly, it’s harder to distinguish if a device is for school or for leisure time. So consider this list a work and a play list for yourself or for someone near and dear.

-        Amazon Kindle Paperwhite: By many accounts, this is the best dedicated reader on the market. It’s not a fully functional tablet; it’s a dedicated e-reader that works equally well outdoors and indoors. Different models can access content via wireless or 3G.

-        Samsung Galaxy S III: This is the best selling Android phone.  It’s very full featured but people like using it because it’s got a great display and it works smoothly.

-        Lenovo Ideapad Y580: Though I’ve never used this particular model, Lenovo (a corporate descendant of IBM) has made very good computers for years. This model gets high marks for speed and features, though at 6.2 pounds, it’s not an ultralight.

-        Microsoft Surface RT: In case you missed one of the big tech stories of this year, Microsoft is plunging into the hardware business with a phone and tablet utilizing the Windows 8 system. The Surface is their tablet.

-        Dell Ultrasharp U2713HM: It’s a stand-alone 27” monitor that is LED backlit and has very sharp resolution. If you’ve got a computer (PC or Mac) and want to hook up a monitor for better viewing, this model could be a fine choice.

-        Jawbone Big Jambox: Jawbone makes speakers. This model is fully portable and pairs wirelessly with Bluetooth-enabled iOS and Android devices. So if you have a smartphone or tablet and want to play music, etc. and want it to be heard by others, this is a great solution. (Think about a speaker to take with you on your patio or to a tailgate event.)

-        Kickstarter: This web site is not new this year, but during 2012, it’s really come into its own. It is a crowd-funding site. You look for projects you are interested in and you can become a sponsor. (Generally, there’s a concrete incentive based on your participation level.) Or you can get funding for your project.  Have a project in mind?

-        Sony Bloggie Live MHS-TS55: Remember the Flip camera? Remember how Cisco bought the company and then shut it down? Many people were not happy. This Sony pocket-size video camera fills the niche, and adds wireless streaming capability.

-        Asus RT-N66U: This is a router so you can set up a wireless network in your home.  The performance of this unit is excellent. Streaming signals should carry without any break-up. A home wireless network opens up digital possibilities not otherwise available.

-        Western Digital My Passport 2TB: This external drive really should hold ALL your pictures, video files, music and documents. It carries 2 terabytes worth of information. That’s a lot. A simple USB connection to your computer gets you started.

Online Course Work

   I've been giving some thought to online course work lately.  The Educational Life section of the NY Times ran a lead article categorizing 2012 as "The Year of the MOOC."  In virtually every issue, the Chronicle of Higher Education includes mention of online course work as an integral part of the contemporary undergraduate and graduate curricula. At GSB, conversations with faculty reveal a full range of attitudes towards online education, from enthusiasm to curiosity to disdain. For a school whose students range from 3 year olds to high school seniors, what does it mean?
   It's probably best to start with some definitions.  An online course is more than a class that meets regularly but houses much of its curricular information on a web site. It's a course where the students meet the curriculum on a web site.  The web site virtually always includes two functions: it houses information and it serves as a chat space where students and the teacher can comment on class materials and responses of students to those materials. Because the course is web-hosted, online courses are not limited by geography.  Students from any location can enroll with equal ease. Teachers serve as webmasters for the course site.
   MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) are a certain kind of online course. Massive refers to enrollment which can exceed 100,00 students. Open refers to admission policies. There are none. All are welcome. MOOCs came in to prominence through the efforts of M.I.T. and Standford. Both schools had the faculty and the institutional support to host MOOCs.  Harvard and UC-Berkeley have followed suit. When it became apparent that this new model of course offering was attractive, a few for-profits got involved, most notably Coursera.
   MOOCs have attracted significant press for a few reasons.  For one, they offer a counter-intuitive approach to educating people. Most assume smaller class size is generally better; MOOCs count enrollment by the tens of thousands. They also offer a new model of placing value on learning for accredited universities. Dating back to the 19th century, course credit was the concrete result of course mastery. With MOOCs, course credit is generally not given. Rather, certificates are awarded to designate specific competencies. And no doubt, the fact that schools like M.I.T., Harvard, Stanford, Wellesley and Berkeley are promoting the movement has brightened the spotlight on MOOCs.
   Independent schools like Gill St. Bernard's School value a variety of learning characteristics that include small class size, a personal relationship between faculty and students and between school and families, and a learning environment where students learn from one another.  It's hard to square these values with online course offerings. My guess is that few current GSB students would willingly exchange a class they have now for an online equivalent.
   Does this mean that online learning has no place as we consider the future of a GSB education? My guess is no; we will see online course work become part of a student's course of study with increasing frequency.  Right now, there are many school districts offering online course work to high school students as part of the district's offerings. There are also private companies formed with the purpose of delivering online course work to students as needed. The ability to broaden our curricular offerings exponentially will be hard to resist. And in the near future, we may see GSB-generated online courses available to summer school students.  Without the constraints of geography, these courses could be open to any interested student. 
   Many of our own faculty have taken some online course work. It's commonly offered at a great many undergraduate institutions and virtually all graduate schools. I've spoken to many about the experience of being a student in an online course, and most say pretty much the same thing; there's plenty of work and there is definitely legitimate learning. It's different than a "physical class," but not necessarily less worthwhile. Given the growth of online course offerings and the very rapid growth of MOOCs, I felt compelled to learn more so I'm signed up to begin a MOOC in January.  It's on data visualization. I'll be sure to use this forum to offer updates on my experience.
   Interested in learning more? Below are a few web sites to check. There are thousands of additional sites for those who are really interested.
     1. How online courses work
     2. MIT's OpenCourseWare
     3. An analysis from The Minnesota Daily
     4. A study by the Southern Regional Education Board surveys 2000 HS and MS students
     5. edX is the consortium of schools offering MOOCs
  

Data Visualization

   Earlier in November, I mentioned that I wanted to do a post on MOOCS, Massive Online Open courses.  I still want to do that post, but once again, another topic has pushed a discussion about MOOCs further into the calendar year.

   Data Visualization, or Data Viz, is an emerging technology field that combines skills connected with three fields: communications, design and programming.  My guess is that if you’re reading this, you’ve seen many examples of Data Viz, especially after this recent election cycle.  Data Viz takes a data set and portrays it visually.  These infographics are often eye-catching.  Additionally, many are interactive, allowing the viewer to control the data that is viewed or create an opportunity to see a relationship between sets of data.

   It may sound a bit complicated, so it might be helpful to think of Data Viz as graphs and charts on steroids.  In the Data Viz world, programmers attempt to give viewers new and useful ways to examine data. The premise is that a well-crafted visualization may allow a viewer to understand a data-driven topic in a new and useful way.

   Here’s an example that portrays relative incidences of a number of diseases as they are found around the world. 

For a full look at this visualization, click here.

   Mike Bostock works for the NY Times and is responsible for many of their notable data visualizations.  Bostock's  map of Hurricane Sandy’s wind speeds as the hurricane came ashore might be of interest, given recent events. Click on the “Next” button towards the top of the map to see the information change over time.

For a full look at this visualization, click here. Click on the “Next” button towards the top  of the map to see the information change over time.

   Treemaps are one fairly familiar data visualization type.  Here, a finite amount of data is first divided into component parts. Then, these parts are represented by different sized sections proportionally to the total data set. In the following example, the US stock market is divided into categories of stocks (health care, financials, consumer goods, etc.) and these sections are further divided. Scrolling over this treemap yields deeper market data. See for yourself right here.

   This outstanding example pops up now again as someone’s emailed favorite: http://www.gapminder.org/world/  It is really beautifully done and shows how, with the right representation of data, new understanding is created.  In this case, the relative wealth of nations as it connects to life expectancy is portrayed over the last two centuries.

   It’s worth considering that Data Viz (also known as DV to insiders) is a growing field of academic study. Course work, and even concentrations within majors, has become part of computer science programs and design programs.  Journalists, social scientists, graphic designers and scientists increasingly find DV part of their field.  My guess is that it won’t be long before data visualization finds its way into high school curricula.

   Interested in  exploring the topic further?  There are many sites to check. Here are a few to get you started.

http://infosthetics.com/

http://visualisingdata.com

http://bost.ocks.org/mike/