This week is attack of the climbers! The pole beans have exploded and are quickly making their way up the tomato cage I provided for them. They are also looking lustily at the hanging garden’s wooden A-frame. The snow peas…
The distance education paradigm: A dalliance with success
What is the value of a university? The building and land have value. The resources and materials for research are often expensive and even priceless. The trade and product of a university is the talent and intellectual capital that is…
Lift 2007: Sugata Mitra shows how kids teach themselves
Sugata Mitra from India using a window in a wall tests with extensive rigor the idea of whether children can teach themselves with educational technology. This strikes at the heart of our standard thoughts on how education, pedagogy and learning…
The 2009 High-density Garden Blog – Week 3
After a great start we have seen one set back. The zucchini has died. We are not sure why, but it is definitely gone. We are planning a post mortem to determine the cause.
TED: Liz Coleman’s call to reinvent liberal arts education
This is an interesting if dry discussion on the current state of higher education and how liberal arts have devolved from generalized concepts to ultra specialization. At Purdue University Calumet a group of professors have tried to bring civic minded…
Review: How to talk about books you haven’t read by Pierre Bayard
Sometimes a book comes along that just by the title you have to read. In a rather thin book you find between the hard covers a discussion of the love of reading. The different ideas of how to read. Though…
Review: The Paideia Proposal by Mortimer Adler
This book as part of the movement that doesn’t appear to have gotten off the ground is an influential to me short story of what education could become. The book is fairly old so we can see how little effect…
Review: Blackfoot is missing by William Owen
This book is a work of fiction looking at the special operations forces working in Northern Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos near the end of the war. The author provides and excellent view into the fictional world of these actors with…
Review: Securing SCADA systems by Ronald Krutz
The author Ronald Krutz takes the reader through the various elements of cyber security as it is applied to SCADA systems. Documenting the various protocols and issues in depth the author mentions some very specific threats to cyber security that…
Review: Cyberpower and National Security edited by Franklin Kramer et. al.
“Cyberpower and National Security” edited by Fraklin D. Kramer, Stuart H. Starr, and Larry K. Wentz is a deep dive book into the substantive literature and ideas of the interaction between cyberspace, conflict, people, politics, and the diplomacy of deciding…
The 2009 High-density Garden Blog – Week 2
Our first update has lots of new developments! This is one of my favorites parts of growing a garden. We have sprouts, blooms and even a tomato!
The 2009 High-density Garden Blog – Week 1
In the Summer of 2008, we tried something a little different for the garden. We knew we did not want a huge garden, but I wanted a little something. We experimented with three hanging planters for tomatoes. The planters came…
The Web 2.0 Bomb
It slices, dices, mixes, mashes, julienne fries, stirs and when you’re done lights venture capital cash on fire while creating social earthquakes. It is Web 2.0 the term used to describe social media. The new best thing in tech, half…
Spring 2009 Commencement
My address if I was asked to give one to my graduates. Today each graduate steps from the halls of academia into the world around them. Unlike other school commencements many of you have already been living in the world,…
Tourney of home offices: A minor contribution
I’ve been tagged in the tourney of home offices by my esteemed colleague Shane. This little round robin was set up by the infamous Zenpundit. I thought about cleaning it all up before I snapped some pictures but that wouldn’t…