brown(e)learning

Last week my students learned what little the class schedule affords about classical test theory and reliability. Basically, they only know that e = x - t, that reliability is the opposite of e, and how to interpret a few reliability coefficients. (Keep in mind these are practicing teachers, not psychmetricians.) During the lesson they played with a spreadsheet that calculated KR-20 coefficients.

One of them asked me where I found the “program” (he meant spreadsheet). When I told him I wrote it he asked, “Do you ever get bored?”

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ABC news is reporting that a school teacher in Washington State has been suspended for refusing to administer the state-mandated standardized science test to his students. I support the teacher’s right to participate in civil disobedience, and I also support the districts right to reprimand him for his actions.

However, I don’t support the headline “Seattle Teacher Says Tests Kill Learning,” especially when the article only addresses the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). The fact is that tests have been used for centuries, and the formal study of testing goes back over a century. The field is well aware of the possible negative consequences of testing, but these consequences may be local to the specific test, administration, or even examinee. Claiming that “tests kill learning” is a bold assertion indeed.

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This semester I took what I thought was a logical and practical step forward: I refused to distribute or collect paper-based materials in any of my courses. The college uses a well-deigned and capable (minus its lack of real SCORM-conformance) learning management system, and there are computers available in every classroom. Although I made this decision on ecological and logistic grounds, I should have given it more thought than I did.

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Using video analysis software in teacher training is not new. In fact, several researchers have recently demonstrated its potential (see references). However, all of the research to date has viewed video analysis as something added to the typical teacher training curriculum. None have attempted to integrate it into the required preservice field experience.

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I ran across this article in a student newspaper which reports the visit of Ed Catmull, President of Pixar Studios, to a college animation program. He recounts the story of Pixar’s Toy Story 2 in much more somber tones than I had heard it before. Because of internal issues on the production team, the studio decided to redo the movie with an entirely new team. And this was only nine months before the movie’s release date.

“We just had an idea that was a good idea and we put a team on it and they screwed it up; they couldn’t do it,” Catmull said. “And we put a great team on it and they fixed it. It’s absolutely clear the issue for us has nothing to do with finding that idea. It’s all about putting together a team that works well together.”

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Arabic Without Walls has won the 2008 Esperanto “Access to Language Education” Award, presented by the Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium (CALICO). Though the award was officially presented to Sonia Shiri, Robert Blake, and Kirk Belnap, the AWW program would still be languishing in organizational purgatory if not for the tireless efforts of the esteemed Margaret Merrill.

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I reported some comments about the Blackboard patent fiasco in 2006. Back then, it was very obvious to those in the know that the “innovations” Blackboard claimed were created by others almost 40 years prior. That didn’t keep Blackboard from suing a competitor for patent infringement (and winning).

Now the Patent Office has finally done some due diligence and revoked all 44 of Blackboard’s patents. Unfortunately, this is a non-final action, which means Blackbaord will appeal, and may convince the patent examiners to reject the rejection. Let’s hope not.

Here’s a clip from the report:

My presentation with Charles Graham (during a session sponsored by the TACTL special interest group) went well. The best part was presenting in the same session as Tanya Tripp, who I’ve always felt is a very conscientious researcher, and a team from Arizona State West, who I cited in both my measurement project and dissertation.

My slides are now available on the TICS webpage.

This is perhaps the most disappointing day in my short career. I am registered to attend AACE’s SITE conference in Las Vegas, and I am scheduled to present tomorrow morning. However, I was supposed to be there already. Continental Airlines has rescheduled my reservations (without my consent) three times, delaying my trip a total of 36 hours, and making it impossible for me to present. My mentor, co-author, and good friend, Dr. Charles Graham, will present in my stead.

We will give a similar (but shorter) presentation at AERA later this month. That conference will be held in New York City, so even if the weather is bad, I can drive there.

Many academics get used to talking with people who have know idea what they (the academics) are talking about. It’s nice to get a little affirmation that we’re not totally crazy.

This afternoon I was completing a grant application that involves several non-faculty personnel in the department. After weeks of on-and-off planning, one of them said to me, “You know, this might actually work.”

It’s a small token, but a token nonetheless.