Category: Education


  • There is a story circulating that the iPad improves Kindergartners literacy scores. This title implies the hardware device or iOS is responsible for the improvements when much more likely there are specific applications responsible. After all, putting an Mac in a classroom with software designed to help literacy is more likely to improve literacy than…

  • There are a bunch of new positions which were just posted. We need analysts, database administrators, and an operating system / hardware specialist. The list: Database Administrator SQL Server for us Desire2Learn, an eLearning system. We have other projects needing Oracle DBAs too. System Support Specialist Linux, Windows, VMWare. Includes Desires2Learn but also other projects. Business Systems…

  • Bror Saxberg is a thought leader in the field of learning science, cognitive science and artificial intelligence. As the Chief Learning Officer at Kaplan, Inc., Bror is responsible for the research and development of innovative learning strategies, technologies and products across the Company’s full range of educational services offerings. He also oversees future developments and…

  • Curiosity

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    In Curiosity Is Critical to Academic Performance, curiosity was measured as a strong factor like conscientiousness and intelligence for academic success. Capacity and speed acquiring information, staying on task, and motivation to work with information are all good things. At the end of article, I found this interesting. Employers may also want to take note: a…

  • Cheating

    In yesterday’s Underground Back Channel post, I wrote: Because students are engaging in forbidden activity these conversations are underground. Well, the smart ones. Some are having these conversations on Twitter where one party of the conversation is not private and anyone (like a nosy DBA like myself) can see it. If they are used to…

  • During first couple years at my first real job post-college, a friend of a friend would IM me questions about how to solve computer problems for which he could not figure out the answers. These requests started as me doing the work for him with dubious promises of doing the same for me. (I knew…

  • Student workers made up most of the IT work force when I was working at a university. The labor was cheap (no health or retirement benefits, $7-15 an hour) compared to hiring staff. For the grunt work, in my case making web pages and moving files, it was convenient. Sure training them was a hassle,…

  • Work PR piece about the team for which I work. The ITS GeorgiaVIEW Team provided an example of tenacity when Blackboard, a product that enables universities to host classes online, released a security bulletin announcing a vulnerability which allowed a student to view a course’s full grade book by manipulating the course URL.  Although the…

  • Guard Dead Paper?

    Seth said, “What we don’t need are mere clerks who guard dead paper.” Whenever, I read “mere”, “only”, or “just” as a descriptor, it makes me sad someone (even me) relies on obvious straw men. Librarians already do more than guard dead paper. It just makes it easier to knock them down and kick them while…