The Center for Digital Government has released rankings for state performance in several areas (including education). You can find whether or not your state made the top 10 and read about the accomplishments of the most highly ranked states.
What Works?
The U.S. Department of Education and the No Child Left Behind initiative are now soon to offer us all a web-based “What Works Clearinghouse?”. The idea is to get research methodologists together to identify standards for quality research (I guess the peer review process has been deemed inadequate) and to use the standards developed (e.g., random assignment of subjects) to identify quality research to answer specific questions teachers might have. A draft of the standards is available at the web site.
Hmmm … I used to think that organizations like the American Educational Research Association had this as their core mission. I have spent a good part of my professional career attempting to distill research for nonresearchers. I am of the opinion that some of the most essential questions do not have simple answers. The question of What Works is often determined by the more essential questions of what are we trying to accomplish.
Still — if some group feels there are some obvious processes that have been overlooked in attempting to specify “what works” I guess I am willing to read what they have to say.
The Man on the Street Views the World
The World History Project Cindy works on had a session for Grand Forks teachers today. The guest presenter was UND professor Dr. Kim Porter. Among her professional interests is the collection and use of oral histories. One example she presented to the group was the “Man on the Street” recordings made the day after Pearl Harbor. If you take the time to listen to the comments, the comments about war, what the country should do, will bring immediately back to the present. This material is part of the impressive collection of primary sources that make up the American Memories Collection (Library of Congress).
The Man on the Street Views The World
The World History Project Cindy works on had a session for Grand Forks teachers today. The guest presenter was UND professor Dr. Kim Porter. Among her professional interests is the collection and use of oral histories. One example she presented to the group was the “Man on the Street” recordings made the day after Pearl Harbor. If you take the time to listen to the comments, the comments about war, what the country should do, will bring immediately back to the present. This material is part of the impressive collection of primary sources that make up the American Memories Collection (Library of Congress).’
Are college profs contributing to the (Internet) addiction of students?
I work in a psychology department so my professional interests (technology, education) are a little out of the mainstream for my colleagues. Like all of us with diverse interests that bring us into contact with diverse groups of people, every once in a while, there is an intersection of interest areas that offers a unique perspective typically not noted by those totally focused on a specific area. (Now with this build up, I hope you find the following post to be interesting.)
I have been reading a review paper written by a graduate student (Brent King) focused on the topic of Internet Addiction. His paper considers various theoretical perspectives on Internet Addition before attempting to argue for a behavioral model of addiction. I was aware of a couple of studies in this area (e.g., Kraut, et al – Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and well being, American Psychologist, 53, 1017-1031), but I had no idea that this “problem” was receiving the amount of attention that it has.
One study that caught my eye (Kandell – Internet addition on campus: The vulnerability of college students. Cyberpsychologgy and Behavior, 1, 11-17) argues that college students are particularly vulnerable to Internet Addiction. This vulnerability is a combination of:
a) Characteristics of the Internet — active, controllable
b) Developmental sensitivities of typical college students – engaged in identify formation, desire for meaningful, intimate relationships — alternate online identities may be perceived as safe
c) Characteristics of the environment — free time, easy access to the net, expectation that students use Internet as a productivity tool
What strikes me about this list is that I would consider all of these to be positive opportunities — including the fact that college itself is an environment that encourages the exploration of alternate values, vocational possibilities, belief systems (at least as I read the psycho-socio developmental literature). I suppose there is a problem when one becomes so infatuated with the “Internet world” that it replaces reality. I sometimes wonder the same thing about those of us who have spent our lives in college settings — certain properties of this “life” offer an alternative to what some would argue is reality. I think I have found a new addiction — perpetual student — the addiction to college life.
Internet addiction? Sitting here in my office, by myself, typing away to a faceless and perhaps fabricated audience, I am starting to become concerned. Time to go home and watch television.
Google and Blogs (and other strange words)
This is interesting. A report just surfaced claiming that Google has purchased Pyra (the company responsible for Blogger.Com). Collecting innovative Internet technologies under one roof I guess.
Levy on Google
Steven Levy, one of my favorite technology authors (see Hackers, Insanely Great), has an article on Google in the Dec. 16, 2002, issue of Newsweek. I have to admit I did not know Levy was a Newsweek editor. I have always associated him with his books.
The Levy article provides interesting insights into the business, technology and social phenomenon that is Google.com.
Google is the 4th most popular destination of the web. It contributes to searches offered by the 1st (AOL) and 3rd (Yahoo) most popular sites.
Google makes money by licensing its search technology and from ads targeted to searches. However, the ads are delivered in a separate screen area and in text so as not to annoy searchers. Web users seem to be annoyed by ads in general, but tolerate and may even find the Google approach of value.
The major advantage of Google is the ability to quickly offer the answers searchers want. Sounds obvious – but this objective is difficult to achieve. The goal might be translated as the hits at the top of the list generated by the search must satisfy the question users have in mind (see Get Lucky option – take me immediately to the top site on the list). Major contribution to this success seems to be PageRank – using information about other sites linking to target site to assess usefulness.
The article identifies many applications of Google I would not think of. For example, check out the background of a potential date. I found http://googlefight.com/ kind of interesting. Enter two search phrases (e.g., people) and see which has the greatest online popularity. I tried Mark Grabe vs. Cindy Grabe. Any guesses? Google has become a what of doing things.