Random Walk in Learning

Big History - Story of Human evolution

2012-01-22T12:22:00.000+11:00

XO 3.0

2012-01-16T15:38:00.000+11:00

Blog-o'-the-Month

2012-01-03T12:15:00.000+11:00

As this blog has been selected as the Blog-o'-the-Month at STE Island's Bloggers Hut in Second Life, I welcome some new readers to my blog. I will try, in this month, to post my feelings of using virtual world and to a more extended way the use of role-based learning. To start off, here are some posts I have written on the subject. Second Life as a potential learning platform Virtual World

Season Greeting

2011-12-26T13:22:00.000+11:00

Please accept, and/or renew, without obligation, implied or implicit, the best wishes, referred to as this greeting hereafter, for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, politically correct, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, non-specific sexuality, celebration of the winter solstice holiday in the northern hemisphere and summer solstice holiday in the southern hemisphere,

Book Review: Interview with Gods

2011-12-24T10:44:00.001+11:00

If you read this book as a novel, the plot is too simple - a group of friends (members of a non-political, non-violence ecologically focused group called One Planet) were contacted by "External Consciousness". In order to protect the information these people got, the USA secret service killed them all. The "meat" of the book is the five chapters presented as the interviews with External

China tops U.S, Japan to become top patent filer

2011-12-22T11:32:00.000+11:00

China as an emerging economy, her pace of progress is accelerating. Economy develops, first by imitation. R&D is Repeat and Duplicate. Until one can do what others can do, there is no way to join the innovation bandwagon. Once one has mastered all the techniques, innovation can start. After 30 years of importing technology, China is now poised to create her own. The story of high speed rail

Book Review: The Next Decade

2011-12-21T17:10:00.000+11:00

It seems that Friedman is an author whom if you read one of his book, you have read all. In the review of The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century, I deposed that he has missed a number of key factors which will affect the next 100 years. In this book, I was expecting to read a proper analysis of the leading up to the current financial situation and what are the policy options for

Book Review: The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century

2011-12-20T12:20:00.000+11:00

With the advantage of writing this review 10% into the 21st century, I can point out the important factors that Friedman has missed in this book. Friedman does not show an understanding of the Chinese culture which is rising rapidly and hence has misjudged the implication of a powerful China. He is absolutely correct that China was more like an isolated island, with difficult to penetrate

Book Review: Take Five!

2011-11-30T19:19:00.001+11:00

I got a pre-release reviewer copy of Kaye Hagler's Take Five! from LibraryThing First a couple of comments then I will describe the good points of the book. 1. The author started with During my twenty plus years as a teacher in elementary, middle, and high school classrooms, I have tried almost every bell-ringer on the market. After all, the bell-ringer serves as a valuable classroom

Was Linda Katechi sincere?

2011-11-23T14:37:00.001+11:00

As the Chancellor of a University, was she naive enough to believe that police would not use inappropriate force? If yes, she did not deserve to be the Chancellor. If no, she did not deserve to be the Chancellor. Hindsight is always prefect. But the moral call, which is the critical attribute of a leader, is not to commit wrong so that hindsight would be unnecessary. That's the leadership.

Quantum Levitation

2011-10-31T17:32:00.001+11:00

They must be enjoying the water slide - I mean the ducklings...

2011-10-29T23:07:00.001+11:00

Only if I can see more of this everyday

2011-10-22T11:10:00.002+11:00

Only if I can see more of this everyday, USA will be in a path of regaining her greatness.

Finally, there is one positive thing coming out from USA

2011-10-17T14:54:00.001+11:00

I have been trying to find something positive about the current social environment in USA, ... Finally, schools in USA are providing children with more healthy food. [source]

7inch tablet

2011-10-12T18:03:00.000+11:00

I wrote earlier the availability of a low cost 7inch tablet from India. Recent research indicates that it is NOT the cheapest 7inch tablet - China and Taiwan were able to produce better specification 7inch tablet at lower cost than India. A report from AsianCorrespondent claimed the Aakash (the Indian 7inch low cost tablet) is DOA - dead on arrival, just like Indian's low cost car - Tata' Nano.

Low-cost (USD50) electronic tablet proves worth in Indian classroom

2011-10-05T10:58:00.000+11:00

This makes Kindle Fire, Full Color 7" Multi-touch Display, Wi-Fi (USD199) looks very expensive. OK, the Indian low cost tablet is more like a single function device, but so is Kindle Fire. :-)

Dog as a player companion in Basket ball and volley ball

2011-10-02T11:38:00.000+11:00

LEGO Lancer Assault Rifle

2011-10-02T11:19:00.002+11:00

Limit of human endurance

2011-09-07T11:56:00.000+10:00

You are required to hold your breath as you watch this video.

Find x

2011-09-06T22:28:00.006+10:00

A proof that woman equals problem.

2011-09-06T22:28:00.001+10:00

Color E-ink paper

2011-09-06T17:19:00.003+10:00

2 million minutes

2011-08-30T13:39:00.000+10:00

Out of the 2 million minutes available to teenagers in USA, India and China, how much time are spent studying? The national prosperity of a country depends on the productivity of her citizens. For high value jobs, the ability to understand hard science and mathematics are critical. Is USA on track to produce the citizens she will need for global competition? Here is a documentary: 2 million

How to land a plane which has lost one of its two wings?

2011-08-28T19:43:00.005+10:00

Teachers

2011-08-15T14:05:00.000+10:00

The video is only 3:34 mins. The punch line is the very last sentence.

Logical fallacy

2011-07-14T10:21:00.000+10:00

I was sent an email containing the following statements. Politics aside, I like to comment on the logical fallacy committed by the sender. Statement: If any other of our presidents had doubled the National Debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would You have Approved? If any other of our presidents had then proposed to Double the debt again within 10 years,

How do differential gears work?

2011-07-06T16:42:00.002+10:00

Does Kindle ruin your potential date?

2011-07-06T09:58:00.000+10:00

I got a Kindle DX for over two months now. I have had a few people ask me what I have in my hand. Oh, it is a good conversation starter! With my aging eye-sight, DX is worthy of all the extra money over the normal Kindle.

When a truck and a tourist bus met...

2011-05-04T11:42:00.000+10:00

Co-operation and understanding are the key.

Perpetual Motion Machine

2011-04-29T14:38:00.000+10:00

We know from Science that perpetual machine is impossible. But think again. Obviously this is not a single instance. Here is another example. So is Science wrong? If you want to make one, here is how.

The power of stepping into the shoes of others

2011-04-26T22:50:00.000+10:00

If this 18-minute talk has changed your point of view, imagine what a 3-week playing the role of your enemy would enable you to understand. Imagine the transformative effect of your course to your students if you allow your students to experience stepping into the shoes of others. That's the power of online role playing. If you want to try, I am ready to help you.

Big History

2011-04-14T12:32:00.000+10:00

XO-3 prototype tablet coming in 2010

2011-01-16T15:00:00.002+11:00

Superpower China Built by Unseen Hands

2011-01-07T14:43:00.000+11:00

If you are wondering why Chinese students work so hard, here is why...

USA needs someone like Daniel Ellsberg as the next president

2011-01-06T18:47:00.002+11:00

I just watched the movie/documentary The Most Dangerous Man In America. USA citizens should seriously consider asking Daniel Ellsberg to be the next President.

Season Greeting

2010-12-20T10:39:00.002+11:00

Graph theory in 4 min.

2010-12-09T16:31:00.001+11:00

Creative Learning with Serious Games

2010-11-26T14:46:00.000+11:00

The latest issue of International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning is on "Creative Learning with Serious Games". Here are the contents: Creative Learning with Serious Games (Aristides Protopsaltis, Lucia Pannese, Sonja Hetzner, Dimitra Pappa, Sara De Freitas) Emotions in Serious Games: From Experience to Assessment (Luigi Anolli, Fabrizia Mantovani, Linda Confalonieri, Antonio

It took more than courage to drive like this...

2010-11-25T17:10:00.002+11:00

Amazing U-turn...

Green School

2010-11-20T18:14:00.000+11:00

A report from ABC (an Australia broadcaster) here. A talk on TED:

Free energy

2010-11-10T20:57:00.000+11:00

A basic principle in Physics, at least in the realm of our everyday size, energy is conserved. That means that perpetual machine is an impossibility. However, here are two videos on youTube which claims to produce free energy with over millions of views. Power is not just voltage. Power is voltage times current. By increasing the number of turns in the rotor, we can get a higher induced

Changing Education Paradigms

2010-11-02T17:32:00.002+11:00

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Creativity - with an evolutionary twists

2010-09-27T11:40:00.000+10:00

Why are the most complex organisms on this planet reproduce sexually? As we move into the era of ideas, we can copy evolution and let ideas to have sex. The answer is the exchange of ideas. The ability to combine and recombine ideas. I am presenting two ideas here. Can you let these ideas to have sex and try to produce a child-idea? How these idea sex impact on how we should teach?

Steven Johnson: Where good ideas come from

2010-09-23T10:12:00.000+10:00

You never know, you can learn something everyday....

2010-09-09T14:46:00.000+10:00

What do you do when it is difficult to find a parking lot?

RSA Animate - The Empathic Civilisation

2010-07-03T11:39:00.000+10:00

Can you erase data on your hard drive using a magnet?

2010-07-01T10:57:00.000+10:00

Neodymium Magnets are strong magnets. In an experiment by one of such magnets' seller, we would expect a positive result. Well, K & J Magnetics did an experiment trying to erase the data of a harddisk. With the hard drive running, we were not able to disrupt the contents of the drive at all. 100% of the files were completely intact and accurate. This result completely surprised us! My own

The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

2010-06-23T21:28:00.002+10:00

Is the day of hand writing over?

2010-06-09T11:17:00.001+10:00

People has been twittering for a while now. How about filing in forms on paper? i don't know if it natively supports this, but it would just be a matter of sweeping this device over the form, right?

Data gathering for future argmented reality

2010-06-07T09:48:00.002+10:00

This is a crowdsourced project to put old photos or stories overlay on top of google street maps. Thinks about how awesome this could be in a few years when there’s an augmented reality app for cell phones.- source

Science literacy

2010-05-28T10:03:00.001+10:00

Donald Bell at CNet wrote More-concrete specs are now taking shape, including an ambitiously low power rating of 1 watt per hour (compared with the 5 watts per hour required by the OLPC laptop) [my emphasis] "Watt" is a power unit. It is defined as 1 Joule per second. Watt per hour means nothing here. From the context, the new XO-3 tablet will consume only 1 watt or 3600J per hour. As a

learning Revolution

2010-05-25T18:50:00.002+10:00

Future of ebook reader

2010-04-15T15:28:00.000+10:00

If nothing else, this will be a very good ebook reader. The Pixel Qi display is readable under direct sunlight.

Food to life as computer to education

2010-03-22T15:46:00.000+11:00

What would be your response when you received a notice from school something similar to the following email? From: Margaret Bennett Date: Friday 22 August 2009 3.40pm To: David Thorne Subject: computer room Hello David I tried to call you but your phone is off. Just letting you know that Seb bought a flash drive to school yesterday and copied a game onto the school computers which is against the

Role-based E-learning: A Guide to Designing and Moderating Online Role Plays (Paperback)

2010-03-20T09:11:00.000+11:00

A new book on role-based e-learning, from your truely, co-authored with Sandra Wills and Elyssebth Leigh will be available from Amazon from December 2010. From the Introduction: This book offers an overview of a form of blended e-learning which provides students with authentic learning experiences through role-based activities. It describes a particular approach to learning design that places

Converting classroom courses to online

2010-03-16T09:29:00.000+11:00

Use a print-based framework for your finished product; however, augment the print-based material with short audio-video tutorials (created with Adobe Captivate) that show students the piece of software in action. The context of why there is a need to convert from an existing instructor-led course to an online one is unclear, nor is the content and audience. It is very difficult to give a general

When data is free...

2010-03-10T10:50:00.002+11:00

Joke

2010-02-26T12:38:00.003+11:00

Here is a little joke which started me thinking...An older man goes into the Doctor’s surgery.They always ask at the doctor's reception why you are there, and you have to answer in front of others what's wrong and it can be embarrassing.There's nothing worse than a Doctor's Receptionist who insists you tell her what is wrong with you, in a room full of other patients. I know most of us have

Typography

2010-02-26T12:30:00.001+11:00

Peom by Taylor Mali

Quote

2010-02-26T12:25:00.000+11:00

In the age of Google, if you don't know something for more than ten minutes it's your own fault. - Unknown

Science resources

2010-02-20T23:39:00.001+11:00

Cassiopeia Project are videos available for science teachers which anyone can use for free.

Dome construction

2010-02-20T20:38:00.000+11:00

This can be a very good science/mathematics project

Reflection - Peer Instruction

2010-02-08T12:18:00.003+11:00

It has been a few days since I watched the Peer Instuction. The lessons learnt can be summarized below:1. We should start advocating evidence-based instruction design. This is NOT news, but have educators been serious about evaluating the effectiveness of the learning design based on measurable student achievements?2. The key to success of the peer instruction is to get the students to discuss

Peer Instruction

2010-02-04T21:24:00.002+11:00

I have just spent 1:20:00 watching the following youTube. The method is brilliant. It can be used in almost every subject. I don't want to spoil the fun of watching it. If you are really have no time, highlight the white area below the movie, I have a summary there which should take about 10 sec. to read.The students are asked to read a prescribed text before class. During the class, a problem

The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination

2010-02-04T17:33:00.002+11:00

by J.K. Rowling at 2008 Harvard Commencement MeetingAbsolutely inspiring and brilliant. The full text is also available from the link above.Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had no idea then how far the

Oscillating chemical reactions

2010-02-01T17:36:00.002+11:00

Belousov-Zhabotinsky reactionMercury beating heart

RC star

2010-01-29T10:30:00.002+11:00

This is a remote controlled plane made from pieces of garbage. It really flies too.Why don't school science classes have students designing some of these?

Now that's is new

2010-01-24T18:10:00.001+11:00

CNN 360o video which you can pause, explore then continue.LinkAny educational use, people?

Bill Clinton speaks at Harvard

2010-01-18T16:53:00.001+11:00

Bill Gates Speech at Harvard

2010-01-18T16:14:00.002+11:00

Emergency preparedness

2010-01-14T15:16:00.003+11:00

Watch the following video and pay attention to the tone of the pilot.Imagine you were a passenger sitting on the rear left window seat and saw the puffing flame from the left engine. What would you do?We were unable to hear the messages the pilot would have given to the passengers. But if you were the pilot, why you could be calm and what would you do?ps

Aging

2010-01-07T21:57:00.002+11:00

Here are two talks from TED on aging. The first one predicts that at a certain point in the future when science is able to repair the damages due to metabolism faster than the generation of these damages, human can live as long as s/he likes.The second talk looks at areas in the world where there are exceptionally many people over 100 years old. In particular, draws out the nine basic

The neuron basis of learning

2010-01-06T22:21:00.001+11:00

from TED

iPhone as a musical instrument

2009-12-15T17:56:00.001+11:00

iPhone as a musical instrument WOW!

Science can be fun

2009-12-04T10:26:00.002+11:00

Norm Goldblatt at Wonderfest.org hosted by fora.tv

That's why I am fascinated by Physics

2009-12-03T22:28:00.002+11:00

That's why I am fascinated by Physics when I was young and why I am still fascinated by Physics some 50 years later. If looking at mother earth from one of Saturn's moon is not exciting enough, watch how science figure out the black hole at the center of our own galaxy.

On Knowing

2009-12-02T11:13:00.004+11:00

When we refer to knowing something, we usually mean know-how and know-what. These are knowledge that get things done. Let's taking cooking curry as an example. The know-how is the recipe, the method of preparation, the know-what is the knowledge of the right combination of different types of spices to make the dish.However, there are some useful know-x too. If I know someone who can make a good

Science Comedy

2009-12-01T10:39:00.001+11:00

This will be a very fun way to learn some Science:

New book on role-based e-learning (2)

2009-11-25T18:27:00.003+11:00

In the book, we talked about different types of rules:Rules of normal social behaviour Rules of physicsRules of engagement within the online role playRules defining structure and process of online role playSocial rules are guides and may be broken. Here is a good example when it should. From the angle of corporate training, what has gone wrong in the case of Qantas? Does Qantas actually know

e-book reader, game on

2009-11-24T21:04:00.004+11:00

I have Sony's PRS 505 for a while now and really enjoy reading with it. BUT I still want one with a larger display, color and ...My mind was set on Kindle DX, unfortunately, it is not available outside USA and is black and white only. It seems that there will be more choices when DX become available here. I am happy to wait.Slashgear reports that Qualcomm mirasol color video ebook readers to

New book on role-based e-learning

2009-11-24T16:13:00.004+11:00

Sandra Wills, Elyssebeth Leigh and I are writing a book on Role-based e-learning to be published by Routledge in the coming June/August. In one of the chapter, I have updated my model on the various dimensions a moderator plays in role play simulation. Previous, I have 5 dimensions:Administrator Guardian Angel Resident Resource Manipulative Devil Improvising Storyteller The new dimension is

Blocking News from Google, who will get hurt?

2009-11-23T18:30:00.004+11:00

MICROSOFT has held talks with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp over a possible plan for the software giant to pay the media company to remove its news websites from Google. [source]The source cited the biggest beneficiary to be the newspaper. I do not agree. In fact, it will spell the end of news paper.News are everywhere, news agencies competing against each other, bloggers "reporting" live and new

Local dad spoke only Klingon to child for three years

2009-11-23T12:27:00.002+11:00

I don't know what I can say about this.I know that a child will develop its intonation at the early age and will be very difficult to change later in life. I myself is a good example of speaking broken Cantonese-toned English. I also know that a child can simultaneously master several different languages almost effortlessly at the early years. However, is it best for the child to teach her a

Typist still exists today

2009-11-11T19:45:00.002+11:00

This Taiwanese student earns his school fee by typing. Only $40 Taiwan dollar (US$1.24) per 1000 words. But he can so 137 words per minute.This girl does 616 words in 1 min. 11.03 sec, averaging at 520.2 words per minutes.

How long does it take to type a-z?

2009-11-11T19:41:00.001+11:00

What about 0.3 sec? The following video shows a 5-year in Taiwan using all his 10 fingers.

Quote

2009-10-27T22:56:00.000+11:00

On online discussion:“Tell Your Story” encourages posters to share their perspective on a topic and avoid assuming they can know or can represent the perspective or thinking of others. For millennia, humans have learned through sharing stories. We’re wired that way. Telling my own story keeps me anchored in real events, emotions, intentions, and outcomes without second guessing the emotions or

What is it?

2009-10-15T16:45:00.002+11:00

The answer is this is a fan. Watch James Dyson's explanation:also posted at Sustaining Future

A New Explanation For the Plight of Winter Babies

2009-09-27T10:29:00.007+10:00

The initial comments at slashdots focuses on the accuracy of the data and soon shifted to speculation of the causes. In his book Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcom Gladwell writes about the birth month of players in the Ontario Junior Hockey League. More players were born in January than in any other month. Why? Read Chapter 1 of the book.Want to know the answer now? The explanation for

Computer Program Self-Discovers Laws of Physics

2009-09-26T12:01:00.002+10:00

While I have not given sufficient thinking on the implication of "The Petabyte Age" to have proper comment, I want to point out my underlying stance for scientific theory.Science focuses on repeatable observable events. We throw a stone up, it falls back down. Do it again, it falls again. So, we try to *understand* a collection of similar events (throwing the stone up, forward etc) by proposing

Whatever happened, don't give up.

2009-09-25T14:43:00.001+10:00

Random Acts of Kindness

2009-09-22T19:45:00.000+10:00

Does Random Acts of Kindness still exist?

Think before you post

2009-09-03T11:43:00.001+10:00

Online Sexual Exploitation

Amazon was sued in a class-action

2009-08-04T10:26:00.002+10:00

According to PCMag, two Kindle users – one of them a high school student – have filed a class-action lawsuit against Amazon after the company remotely deleted copies of George Orwell's "1984" from their e-readers ... for breach of contract, intentional interference with their belongings, as well as violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Washington Consumer Protection Act.In this

Who Owns eBooks you have paid for? - more

2009-07-22T10:57:00.002+10:00

In the original post, I thought Amazon only deleted the archived copies. It turned out that those copies on customers' Kindles were also deleted remotely. That is a complete new can of worms!Let's suppose I have bought a copy of 1984 on my Kindle and have backed it up on a local offline storage. Will the copy, I later put back on Kindle, automatically disappear as well?I was thinking of

Who Owns eBooks you have paid for?

2009-07-18T09:15:00.002+10:00

New York Times posted a story about "Amazon Kindle owners awoke to discover that books by a certain famous author had mysteriously disappeared from their e-book readers".Apparently, the publisher has changed its mind after selling some electronic edition of George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm and decided to take back the electronic copy and refund the customers.This causes a few questions:1. Is

Compound parabolics

2009-06-04T23:17:00.004+10:00

How can you design a parabola which can focus sunlight at the focus at different time of the day without tracking?Here is the answer:And a mould for creating the compound parabolic solar cookers

What's you call?

2009-06-04T18:05:00.007+10:00

Today on Australian Seven's "Deal or No deal", it is a classic probability case.In the last round, the contestant was left with his and his daughter's cases to open. The board has $4000 and 50cents. The host has been playing up for a mega-guess which would be $10,000. The bank offers $2020, should he accept it? (Answer in white below. Highlight to cheat and see my answer.)No. We can do much

Textbook, Learning Opportunities & Kindle

2009-05-10T12:21:00.004+10:00

One of my complain of the eBook reader is its display size. They are mostly 6" display, fitting a typical letter size or A4 size document to such a screen means displaying the document in 30% - which is very demanding on the eyes.Other larger format eBook readers are prohibitively expensive. Amazon's Kindle DX is like a fresh air in this dull market. Is there any cause of excitement for

Folding T-shirt

2009-05-06T21:45:00.001+10:00

Thisor thisEastern vs Western. You choose!

Online Image Tools

2009-04-24T11:06:00.003+10:00

Fro those who have an account on worth1000, you most likely will have received the same email about the launch of a new online image editing site: aviary. If you are not those, and you will like creating images, aviary may worth your visit.