Archive for March, 2009
FAIRly obvious
March 31st, 2009
A very brief post today, as work away from home beckons for me. However, I thought that this might be of interest and use to the NZ/Australian graduate job seeker:
What I Didn’t Know Then
March 29th, 2009
A Singlular Experience…
March 27th, 2009
Just started what might be to coolest class of my graduate career. (Oh, forgive me, second coolest, professor _______ .)
Just to give you a taste, this is a quick run-down of my discussion group (about a quarter of the participants in the class):
Vasileios Paliktzoglou - Greece
Frank Kiel - Germany
Johan Hellström - Sweden (in Uganda)
SaraJoy Pond - USA
Andrés Moreno - Spain (in Finland/Sri Lanka/Kenya)
Xavier Justino Muianga - Mozambique
Thai Bui - Viet Nam
Sören Norrgård - Finland
Rajarshi Sahai - India
Lenandlar Singh (Len) - Guyana
Notice anything? I am the ONLY American! (I’m also the only woman. Somehow I don’t find that quite as exhilarating…perhaps I should.)
I am so excited to be part of an active discussion on issues I am completely passionate about (using information and communication technologies for development) with people from all over the world, who are all commited to (and unquestionably capable of) changing the world.
If you’re interested, the class is using the as a discussion forum. I can’t imagine anyone would object to lurkers…or even sporadic contributions.
2009 Annual Conference, Pre-Conf. Event Game & One More Hot Job!
March 24th, 2009
Canada: Legal profession protected and backward
March 23rd, 2009
Canada’s top news magazine Maclean’s had a good a while ago about the shortage of lawyers in Canada. Unfortunately, too many people in this country cannot find a lawyer when they need one, and if they do, the services cost so much that more and more people have taken to defending themselves in court, including in highly sensitive and complex matters such as divorces.
The problem is a multi-faceted one. Tuition fees for law school have reached astronomical levels, and universities keep only a limited number of spaces, which means that as many as 80 per cent of qualified applicants are turned away regularly (at the University of Calgary Law School, the rate of rejection can easily be as high as 85-90 per cent). For them, that leaves only two options: move halfway across the country and study law at a university far away and, thus, incur even more costs for living away from home, or give up on the idea of becoming a lawyer altogether. It seems most of the students rejected choose the latter option.
With tuition running sky-high and spaces limited, prospective law students have nowhere else to go – unlike in other countries that are far more advanced in this respect than Canada. In the UK, you can study law by correspondence or online, even through such prestigious institutions as the University of London or Nottingham. The fees of these LLB programs are only a fraction of what it costs to study law in Canada. And if that is still too expensive for some, Britain’s venerable Open University offers law degrees as well.
In California, there are a good twenty or more “virtual law schools”. No LSAT is needed, and generally these schools try not to put up too many barriers to admission. Graduates can practise law only in the state of the California, but individuals can get certified in other states too, for example, by upgrading their training with a Master’s degree in law. Some of them have also managed to become members of the ABA (American Bar Association) by applying to take the bar exam, despite their “virtual degree” from California, asking to be judged on their own merits.
Canada: Legal profession protected and backward
March 23rd, 2009
Canada’s top news magazine Maclean’s had a good a while ago about the shortage of lawyers in Canada. Unfortunately, too many people in this country cannot find a lawyer when they need one, and if they do, the services cost so much that more and more people have taken to defending themselves in court, including in highly sensitive and complex matters such as divorces.
The problem is a multi-faceted one. Tuition fees for law school have reached astronomical levels, and universities keep only a limited number of spaces, which means that as many as 80 per cent of qualified applicants are turned away regularly (at the University of Calgary Law School, the rate of rejection can easily be as high as 85-90 per cent). For them, that leaves only two options: move halfway across the country and study law at a university far away and, thus, incur even more costs for living away from home, or give up on the idea of becoming a lawyer altogether. It seems most of the students rejected choose the latter option.
With tuition running sky-high and spaces limited, prospective law students have nowhere else to go – unlike in other countries that are far more advanced in this respect than Canada. In the UK, you can study law by correspondence or online, even through such prestigious institutions as the University of London or Nottingham. The fees of these LLB programs are only a fraction of what it costs to study law in Canada. And if that is still too expensive for some, Britain’s venerable Open University offers law degrees as well.
In California, there are a good twenty or more “virtual law schools”. No LSAT is needed, and generally these schools try not to put up too many barriers to admission. Graduates can practise law only in the state of the California, but individuals can get certified in other states too, for example, by upgrading their training with a Master’s degree in law. Some of them have also managed to become members of the ABA (American Bar Association) by applying to take the bar exam, despite their “virtual degree” from California, asking to be judged on their own merits.
An dealt with standards viable for commercial deployment (WiMAX & LTE). Incumbent operators and new ISPs will utilize this technology to extend the reach of connectivity. Here, the discussion will focus on two attempts to extend network coverage to indigenous communities in North America. The first example is a venture launched by commercial operator in New Mexico and the second is a research project based out of San Diego, California.
In the United States, Native American reservations remain some of the most unconnected populations, but these underserved and forgotten communities are Indigenous communities in New Mexico can look forward to
Sacred Wind is building a fixed WiMax network using Fujitsu access gear over the 3.65 GHz unlicensed band to extend phone and broadband access to a community that the telecom industry seems to have forgotten. Of the 8500 households distributed among thousands of square miles, only 29% have phones, but after Sacred Wind’s $70-million project is complete, John Badal, Sacred Wind’s chief executive officer, hopes to have more than 90% of the population connected to voice and broadband through some combination of copper, fiber and wireless point-to-point and point-to-multipoint technologies.
The emergence of new wireless technology means connectivity and limitless possibilities for these communities. Based at the University of California, San Diego, the (HPWREN) works to build wireless network connectivity over a wide expanse of terrain in Southern California.
HPWREN addresses education needs of rural indigenous communities
Funded by a National Science Foundation grant, HPWREN is a research project that is utilized by:
- researchers in a wide range of science and engineering disciplines
- planning agencies working in disaster management and emergency services
- Native American communities building distance education capabilities
outlining project initiatives. Below is a map of their current network deployment:
Map of Research and Education Networks in the San Diego area. Click image to view in Hi-resolution
For Pacific Island nations, the low rate of Internet take-up in the population represents a market failure on two fronts: the provision of backhaul and last-mile service. Where market failures exist, it is the prerogative of regulatory bodies to step in to address the underlying issues. It’s absolutely critical that regulators put in place appropriate incentives to get operators to deploy networks to as wide a segment of the population as possible.
Where communities still remain outside the reach of new expanded service, the duty of the regulatory body should be to fund efforts like those undertaken by HPWREN to continue to push for connectivity to communities on the margins. The newly convened Telecommunications Authority of Fiji (TAF) is to fund its operation from levies collected from operators. Setting aside a portion of these dollars to fund projects that expand the coverage area (while providing benefit to academic researchers and distance education) might prove worthwhile. It could be an effective driver for industry to continually improve on network performance.
An dealt with standards viable for commercial deployment (WiMAX & LTE). Incumbent operators and new ISPs will utilize this technology to extend the reach of connectivity. Here, the discussion will focus on two attempts to extend network coverage to indigenous communities in North America.
In the United States, Native American reservations remain some of the most unconnected populations, but these underserved and forgotten communities are Our first examples comes from Sacred Wind, an operator serving Indigenous communities in New Mexico. Their investment in new wireless infrastructure that is commercially viable means a dramatically different outlook for their customers:
Sacred Wind is building a fixed WiMax network using Fujitsu access gear over the 3.65 GHz unlicensed band to extend phone and broadband access to a community that the telecom industry seems to have forgotten. Of the 8500 households distributed among thousands of square miles, only 29% have phones, but after Sacred Wind’s $70-million project is complete, John Badal, Sacred Wind’s chief executive officer, hopes to have more than 90% of the population connected to voice and broadband through some combination of copper, fiber and wireless point-to-point and point-to-multipoint technologies.
Our second example differs from the first because it is not the project of a telecom operator. Based at the University of California, San Diego, the (HPWREN) works to build for research purpose, experimental wireless network connectivity over a wide expanse of difficult terrain in Southern California.
HPWREN addresses education needs of rural indigenous communities
Funded by a National Science Foundation grant, HPWREN is a research project that is utilized by:
- researchers in a wide range of science and engineering disciplines
- planning agencies working in disaster management and emergency services
- Native American communities building distance education capabilities
outlining project initiatives. Below is a map of their current network deployment:
Map of Research and Education Networks in the San Diego area. Click image to view in Hi-resolution
For Pacific Island nations, the low rate of Internet take-up in the population represents a market failure on two fronts: the provision of backhaul and last-mile service. Where market failures exist, it is the prerogative of regulatory bodies to step in to address the underlying issues. It’s absolutely critical that regulators put in place appropriate incentives to get operators to deploy networks to as wide a segment of the population as possible.
WiMAX technology is allowing Sacred Wind to address a concern and extend the reach of their business to customers who were previously unreachable. Similarly, the work of researchers in San Diego seeks to expand the capabilities of wireless networks, while also providing benefits for research and education. Taken together, these two examples highlight the potential of wireless technology.
Where communities in the Pacific still remain outside the reach of new expanded service, the duty of the regulatory body should be to ensure that operators are properly incentivized to continue the expansion of networks. For these still existing beyond the reach of connectivity, efforts like those undertaken by HPWREN should be utilized to further the expansion of network coverage.
The newly convened Telecommunications Authority of Fiji (TAF) is to fund its operation from levies collected from operators. Setting aside a portion of these dollars to fund projects that expand the coverage area (while providing benefit to academic researchers and distance education) might prove worthwhile. It might also serve as an effective resource to assist industry in continually improving network coverage and performance.
Tinkering for learning
March 23rd, 2009
I’ve just been thru a few blog posts which explore and extoll the possibilities of tinkering . Schools and formal educators are considering the possibility that giving the kids some time to read what they want would help them learn to read. Others are taking this idea and wondering if we could teach science by giving kids some tools and time to tinker.
The discussion started with a post by Dr. Stephen Krashen called . My reaction to this is that he has just built a case for unschooling. A few points:
- My reaction is that about 3% of the Americans have opted to homeschool their children. And a significant percentage of them are .
- I have no particular idea how Kashen’s approacho f giving space and time and the right environment fits into the context of large scale public schools. I do know that if you restructure the institutions and swtich to homeschooling or much smaller institutions that UnSchooling is successful in case after case after case.
- A definition for you: Many homeschoolers, when they start, go thru a “deschooling” phase. Again, you can check a to get a real definition but essentially, it’s the time when students and parents try to shed the school mentality. Kids tend to veg out watching TV and playing video games. Most kids, after a few weeks, start showing interest in learning and then the family starts to layer in a homeschool education program.
- But, the electronic game world and the net in general is so durn full of so many interesting things, some kids start learning and immersing themselves in a single narrow direction.
A second point that I’d like to make is following up post about tinkering (OK, I might be getting confused trying to listen to him talk and write this at the same time between meetings. I wish that were more hours in the day). His point reminds me of my core beliefs about education which were formed in my years producing video games. They are, as relevant to this discussion:
Video games are the single biggest success in education today. Kids not only spend hours and hours and hours learning to master detailed skills and strategies, they do it on an ongoing basis. That is, they keep playing and learning. They do it of their free choice. And they PAY for it. Pretty cool, huh? Contrast the video game phenomenon which a school system which labels all the kids ADD since they won’t sit still and focus and listen in class to the teacher talking talking talking talking…
Of course, I’m being a little glib. What the kids are learning in video games are to predict complex patterns, build strategies for resource allocation, build analytic and hand-to-eye skills, and figure out probabilities. They need to walk around a corner, encounter a monster, and then hypothesize on the probability of that happening. Was the death due to going around the corner or was the monster released when I rang the bell a minute ago. Huh, need to create and test hypotheses. Professional educators, uninvolved with gaming might initially say that video games have nothing to do with education. Others (ie What Video Games have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy by James Paul Gee), have written and documented in some detail how video games are the future of education.
My point is that games are closely related to the future of education, expecially in science and math.
Stephen’s post made me smile when he say that faced with feedback, most students “shrivelled when critiqued.” Of course, in the paradigm of learning by gaming, children don’t get critiqued, they get fragged (killed). Which doesn’t destroy them, it helps them build data on what works and what doesn’t.
He also talks about learning from the master. He should spend a few days in an online game world to see the respect and authority and impact that a True Master can have.
Humbly, John