Archive for April, 2009
runoff from melting snow collects beside Stoney Trail, freezing overnight.
It’s been awhile since I logged into SecondLife. I updated my app and fired it up today, after talking with Patti about possibly holding a TLC session in SecondLife to help expose faculty to the concept. I don’t want to be championing it, but many faculty are curious, and a guided tour might be helpful. I decided my previous avatars – a Cylon Centurion and a Dark Wraith – were maybe a bit far from what I need to look like when talking with faculty. So I updated my avatar to something I can relate to.
I can’t seem to get the clothes to be a bit looser, so it’s a good thing I’m in such awesome shape.
I’ll be gathering location landmarks to build a tool of some interesting (and not interesting) things in SecondLife. So far, I want to start with the NOAA island, the NASA museum, and a handful of other places. Any recommendations?
we went for a quick bike ride around the neighbourhood after supper tonight. spring is here. awesome.
it’s pretty easy to compare messages sent by various mass media outlets via twitter. it’s also pretty surprising how they spin the same information in different ways.
update: mainstream media never fails to disappoint. an hour after posting this, CBC went live with the actual story, in line with how the Herald spun it on their first try. sigh.
Yesterday, I found a post from a student on a code-sharing forum. My gut reaction was that it was an attempt at plagiarism. I made a comment on Twitter along those lines, and got some pushback. Isn’t that just student-centric networking? Isn’t the student just using their network as part of their learning?
Here’s the post:
At first blush, that doesn’t seem so bad. The student is posting a question, asking for feedback. If this was on their own blog, I may not have thought twice about it. Sure, they’re asking for a full solution, rather than a more generalized “what angle should I take in solving this?” but as long as they cite where the solution came from, that may not be academic misconduct (but likely is, given the “solve this assignment for me” phrasing).
What made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up was the section immediately below the student’s post:
In my opinion, and I could be wrong about this, this feels like it’s crossed the line. It’s not a generic forum for sharing solutions, it’s a recruitment website for hiring people to solve problems.
Is this just a natural extension of connectivism and student-centric networked learning, or is this plagiarism? Is this any different than hiring students to write term papers, theses and dissertations?
now THIS is more like it 
already +7˚C at 7:30am. the snow’s melting fast – won’t be long before spring’s here for reals.
25 years worth of old computers, going to a new home today – including my old Amiga 1000, and workhorse Power Mac 8600/300. there’s no turning back now… sniff
but, we DO have a basement again, and the pool table isn’t covered with piles of old hardware. worth it!
evan and his “brother from another mother (and father)” walking home from the playground.