Free Range Learning

Last week I wrote a post on how Google's autocomplete function gives us an interesting insight into what theological and biblical questions are being asked .

Well, last night I ran across a December issue of the NY Times Magazine that had a fascinating article on the Google Search Algorithm as Extinction Model . Apparently a couple of research scientists recently had a bright idea:

Google's search engine uses an algorithm called PageRank to identify the most important Web sites on a given …

This image is from Google's autocomplete function. Although I couldn't begin to explain understand the algorithm that Google search uses, I know enough to know that it is based upon user's searches. That is, the things that people search for the most tend to be the most heavily weighted. So when I typed "why does the bible…" the autocomplete fills in the most popular searches that begin with the same phrase.

This is an interesting sociological (and theological) exercise, …

Thanks to Mary Hess for linking us to a fantastic article from First Monday: Insidious Pedagogy: How course management systems impact learning , by Lisa M. Lane.

Lane writes a superb critique of course management systems (CMSs), such as Blackboard , Moodle , and our very own JICS (i.e. MyLutherNet ). Lane's point is not that CMSs are bad, or poorly designed, or even that they should go away. Lane's point is that CMSs are "not pedagogically neutral shells for course content. …Course …

Liz Coleman, President of Bennington College , delivered an inspiring TED talk focusing on the role of education in community action, discussing how Bennington intends to "turn the intellectual and imaginative power, passion, and boldness of our students, faculty and staff on developing strategies for acting on the most critical challenges of our time..." Throughout the talk, Coleman stresses the need for citizens who are able to blend deep thought with action for the purposes of changing …

I admit it. I have some nerdy interests: photography, web technology, theology, media theory, & sci-fi movies, television and books. In the bad-old-days when there were only newspapers, books, and magazines, it was often hard for me to find out about the latest things going on in the areas of my interest. There just weren't enough people who shared my combination of nerdiness to justify the costs of printing magazines about this stuff in great quantities. But now in the era of blogs I don't have …

Jennie (from the library ) and I have recently been playing around with wordles. What's a wordle, you wonder? Well, it's basically a tool on the internet that generates word clouds. Word cloud? What's that? It's an image that is formed around text that you provide; words that are frequently used in the text are bigger than words that are used less often. The graphic image they produce offers a different perspective you might not otherwise see by just reading the text.

For example, …

Here's the latest Tech Talk. The topic this week: MyLutherNet: Registration and Student Records. Links mentioned in the talk:

• Registrar's web site
  
• MyLutherNet help wiki

 Hat-tip to BoingBoing for this article on how to reduce your online stress: delete your emails .

I used to have loads of folders, date-based folders, even … but for me all that amounted to was this elaborate procrastination system. I realized that if something can't be dealt with immediately, it needs to stay right in front of you. So it's either in my inbox or it's deleted. And if it sits in my inbox, then it has to be turned into action.

I have been trying over the past few months to keep …

Tomorrow, we, along with some folks from Computer Services and the Library are headed to Northfield for the annual GusDay conference . GusDay is an event designed for the technology staff from the Minnesota Private Colleges and other like-minded institutions to gather and share successes, challenges, strategies, and friendships. Representatives from Gustavus , Macalester , St. Thomas , Bethel , Carleton , St. Olaf , Augsburg , and many more will be in attendance.

It's a nice little conference …

We in Learning Design & Technology are pleased to announce that exciting changes are coming to MyLutherNet !

This January, Luther will be upgrading the basic software that runs MyLutherNet (i.e. Jenzabar Internet Campus Solution ) from version 6.4 to version 7. This upgrade will offer us more powerful tools for running online courses and faster performance from previous versions of MyLutherNet.

Then, in early February, we will roll out a new visual design of MyLutherNet. Our office has been …