Wednesday, December 17, 2008

visualization

Why are social networks popular on the internet?

maybe it helps in identity formation, decision making control (and informed decisions via data mining), or sense of community.

My opinion is self obsessed* visualization of one's status, identity, and community. How many friends you have, movie preferences, likes and dislikes, photos, groups you join, etc are all public. Its almost like a self perceived ranking amongst not only your peers, but against the local community and communities afar. A virtual popularity contest masked as a communication tool. Lets face it,the communication is one sided and delayed.

(stepping down from soapbox)

But its the visualization that I think is popular. You can see your quantity of "friends" and how you relate to them. How you organize or categorize them. Which circle they might be in with you. Plus you can meet new people and see how that relationship or connection evolves.

Its also safe from personal contact, like IM, but is more than words, thus the focus on visualization.

This epiphany I had stems from realizing that most learners of college age tend to be more visual than not. Thus the popularity of these social networking sites might be evidence that visual learners are becoming more plentiful. I don't know the stats on this to be sure, but I will attempt to find out.

*Not everyone is self obsessed. If you have more than 50 friends, your obsessed. 50 is a not-so-random random number. It is age dependent is a way that I should not attempt to quantify.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

personality type

http://www.41q.com

Your personality type:

Independent, original, analytical and determined. Have an exceptional ability to turn theories into solid plans of action. Highly value knowledge, competence and structure. Driven to derive meaning from their visions. Long-range thinkers. Have very high standards for their performance and the performance of others. Natural leaders, but will follow if they trust existing leaders.

Careers that could fit you include:

Scientists, engineers, professors, teachers, medical doctors, dentists, corporate strategists, organization founders, business administrators, managers, military, lawyers, judges, computer programmers, system analysts, computer specialists, psychologists, photographers, research department managers, researchers, university instructors, chess players.










So, I am INTJ.

Judge for yourself:
http://kickinglettuce.blogspot.com/

http://typelogic.com/intj.html

Now what do I do with this information...

Friday, December 5, 2008

School

1. Bribe them ... oh I mean offer a reward to learn [Roland Fryer]. Paying for good grades 50 bucks for an A per 5 weeks per class. Great guy. What a stupid idea. Its not that I dont think it will work. Because lets face it, money makes things happen.

A physical reward for EVERYTHING is not something we should teach our kids. What if the reward (learning for example) ceases to be the worthy? What new innovation will have to be created? Perhaps an app from the Apple store? Maybe a discount on car insurance (oops already done). Maybe entrance into college? or the fast lane to a well paying job? damn and damn.
College's look at grades ... sort of. well paying jobs look have standards as well but I am pretty sure they are as rigorous as a university entrance exam.

Maybe you noticed my sarcasm. Please Reread. Oh ... you want a reward for reading this far. Here you ...
Sucker. Made you read.

2. Selling advertisements on exams and quizzes to pay for the copy paper its printed on. Ingenius. How is it that most people bitch and moan about taxes, but are able to donate countless dollars to charities such as schools. At this rate, after paying taxes, after paying insurance, I will need to pay a fee for
A. registering my kid to go to school
B. calculators and computers
C. fundraising for the school
D. sports equipment
E. test paper and ink
F. books
G. bribing the kids to learn

so where does the money go that we already pay?

Its true. Kids have 1 job. It is not:
1. babysitting the family
2. playing video games
3. talking on the phone
4. facebooking, myspacing, or bullying

Its going to school and learning. Learning all about the world in which we live. How it works. Whats been done before. where we can gofrom here. what we know, what we dont know but want to know.

10,000 hours is what it takes to become an expert on something or so I havent read yet.
12 grades X 180 days X 6 hours/day = 12960 hours.

Showing up and staring at T & A, or the wall or the floor really doesnt do it. It takes work, effort, motivation and FAILURE. This is where the reward system may work. Not getting the A means no reward. A punishment for not getting an A. But the reward is in accomplishment, in knowing that you were challenged, and exceeding that challenge.

its the feeling often felt as a child when you do the monkeybars for the first time. or go down the slide by yourself. Confidence. If we associate this feeling with money, and then we teach our kids this association, we will miss confidence. This is something I have seen more of in recent years when I taught. lack of confidenceand accomplishment. The previous learning came easy tothem. they forgot how to recognize and overcome a challenge because they had no confidence or worse ... fake confidence.