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Special of the Day: Essays and Exams à la Carte

By on April 13, 2013 in Social Commentary, Technology

MOOCs + Cheating = Easy If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know I’ve been writing about the drawbacks of accrediting online courses. I’ve also been reading blogs written by pro-accreditation educators, many of whom are quick to assert that “old-guard” teachers are afraid of incoming technologies. Many also feel that online education, like open [...]

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Online Degrees: Your Cheating Heart

By on April 5, 2013 in My life, Social Commentary, Technology

Online-ed is being touted as the future of all education. A lot of teachers are saying, “Not so fast.” Here’s why:   These days, education experts of all stripes are getting infected with the technology bug and are making a lot of statements about the future of brick and mortar institutions, statements blithely predicting the [...]

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Globalization, Education and the Case of the Missing Toilets

By on March 30, 2013 in Social Commentary, Technology

Promoters of MOOCs want us to believe that educational technology is fair, apolitical and will benefit everyone. I’ll be using Chrystia Freeland’s Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else to frame my argument. Freeland is a Canadian who hails from Peace River, Alberta. She currently lives in New York and [...]

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A Murder is Announced: the Death of the Classroom

By on March 18, 2013 in My life, Social Commentary, Technology

This article is about the impending death of classroom teaching; the psychics are two e-tech enthusiasts from Silicon Valley.  A revolution is coming to U.S. higher education, one that will sweep away an archaic business model, erase the value of many venerable brands, and enhance the brands of new entrants and nimble incumbents. It will [...]

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Transparency on the Internet: Do I really want to know?

By on February 20, 2013 in literature, Social Commentary, Technology

I’m using a story from Canadian author Alice Munro as an analogy for open data. I spend the first few paragraphs discussing it — then, on to open data. In Alice Munro’s “Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage,” Johanna Perry, a homely housekeeper, lands the delectable but down-and-out Ken Boudreau: He had figured out by now [...]

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Mock Heroism and the Theatre of Cunning

By on February 8, 2013 in literature, Social Commentary

In this article, I take a look at heroism using recent events in Canadian healthcare and the IT world. More specifically, I write about my hospital experience, Aaron Swartz’s suicide and Hamed Al-Khabaz’ expulsion from Dawson College, in Montreal. All thoughts here are my own. In Timothy Findley’s novel The Wars, a young officer, Robert Ross, defies [...]

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Theatre Review: Waiting for the Barbarians

By on February 1, 2013 in Art and other show reviews, Montreal-1

Playing at the Segal Centre, until February 17, 5170 Ch. Cote-Ste-Catherine, Montreal, H3W 1M7, 514-739-7944. This review will appear on the website WhereAreTheShows dot com.  J.M. Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians is a journey into the darkest reaches of the colonial mind. Set in a timeless frontier town on the edge of civilized South Africa, it [...]

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