ICS 131: Social Analysis of Computerization

Lecture 12:

Education & Academia

Announcement

Visitor from overseas

• What time/day is it?

• What are you doing in Japan?

• Quick conference report.

• Thoughts on the impact of time zones on academic research.

• Any questions for Eric?

Teleconferencing

• Pros, cons

Impediments to collaboration?

Academic conferences

How many of you plan to be researchers?

Key Idea

• Computerization is changing academia in research, teaching and service areas.

Research

New Research Areas

• Computer Science

• Mobile computing

• Ubicomp

• HCI

• CSCW

• Many more

Rapid change of technology

• Affects funding model– Need substantial equipment budget

• Different publication model (conferences vs. journals)– Fast publication is important

Online Publications

• Acceptance and respectability

• Rate limiting step - peer review

• Online library resources

• Google Scholar vs. Windows Live Academic Search

Industry outpacing certain areas of scholarly research

• Graphics

• Biotech

• Others

Teaching

Powerpoint

• Powerpoint doesn’t make bad presentations.

• People make bad presentations.

Instant Feedback in the Classroom

• Multiple choice inputs at each seat

• Online discussion

• Other kinds?

E-learning

• Online courses

• What are the benefits?

• What attributes of traditional learning settings does e-learning miss?

Service

New Service Roles

• Web site is a major part of public face of department.

Hiring

• The Web Search

• Expectations?

• Extracurriculars?

• Is it public? Should it be fair game?

• Compare to letters of recommendation from known colleagues.

The Meaning of Email Addresses

• wmt@uci.edu• wmt@ics.uci.edu• bill_tomlinson_ab94@post.harvard.edu• badger@media.mit.edu• badgerStuckInFrankfurt@hotmail.com• btomlins@indy1.calarts.edu• no@no.com• and several more…

• How many email addresses do you have? What do they say about you?

Key Idea

• The American people see that computation can play a role in education, but it’s not clear what that role should be.

Teaching about computers vs.Teaching through computers

• Is there a clear separation?

No Child Left Behind Act

• G. W. Bush

• Jan 8, 2002– “Increased accountability”– “More choices for parents and students”– “Greater flexibility for states, school districts

and schools”– “Proven educational methods”

Problems with NCLB

• NY Times, Feb 23, 2005: “A bipartisan panel of state lawmakers that studied the effectiveness of President Bush's No Child Left Behind initiative assailed it today as a flawed, convoluted and unconstitutional education reform effort that had usurped state and local control of public schools.”

Federalism

• Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Teaching to the Test

• Vs. Teaching to the Student

• Stifling creativity?

• Conscientious objectors

Accountability

• What disciplines lend themselves to accountability?

Purchasing of the media

• Washington Post, Jan 8, 2005: “The Education Department paid commentator Armstrong Williams $241,000 to help promote President Bush's No Child Left Behind law on the air, an arrangement that Williams acknowledged yesterday involved "bad judgment" on his part.”

Topic for Discussion

• University admissions is now largely done online. Different admissions committees have different tools for viewing/searching.

• Questions:– What kind of applicants does online admissions favor?– How would you change your application for graduate school knowing that

professors will be able to search the full text of your application?– What is the next step in technological change for admissions process?– Does online/searchable admissions make the process better or worse?

Why?

• Please take 5 minutes to discuss.

Today’s experts

please come up front!

VU, HENRY LINHCHANG, ANTHONYCHEUNG, ANDREW CHI CHONDANIEL, JOHN MICHAELISRAELSEN, AMBERKOU, STEPHEN THOMASLEONARD, SHAWN T.POPLI, RAHULPOPOV, ANTON KOSTADINOVAVAKIAN, ARMEN YEGHIAMAC, LONG SEI

Announcements

• 2 students have quota exceeded

• Please turn in long paper