Lazyteacher

Wired has a new series out dedicated to the implications of massive sets of data, toiling microprocessors, and advanced mathematics.  The upshot is that–with the amount of petabytes out there and with the ability to make increasingly accurate predictions based on that information–we will no longer need to rely on the messy, rule-of-thumb kinds of theories that mere carbon-based lifeforms might cobble together. So says Chris Anderson:

This is a world where massive amounts of data and applied mathematics replace every other tool that might be brought to bear. Out with every theory of human behavior, from linguistics to sociology. Forget taxonomy, ontology, and psychology. Who knows why people do what they do? The point is they do it, and we can track and measure it with unprecedented fidelity. With enough data, the numbers speak for themselves.

This is tremendously exciting. Gimme a problem any problem.  Unsure about which public policies would be the most effective in combating poverty while still maintaining a roaring economy?  Just enter the entire historical database into you battery of Crays, push th red button, listen for the gently rocking motion and out spits the answer.

Or not.

Wired has a number of short articles that is meant to extend their thesis–a strategy which is a Wired hallmark and one of the aspects of the magazine that makes it better than just a mix between Engadget and People for Geeks.  Still, the individual articles start to show how limited the approach is so far. One article mentions how EU uses a database to monitor news events and sends out “geotagged ‘clusters’ for given events.” Hmmm.  That’s not so sexy.  Though one experimenter says,

“We have lots of data, and lots of things we can try to model predictively,” says Horvitz. “People think in terms of trends, but I want to build a data set where I can mark something as a surprise — a surprising conflict or surprising turn in the economy.”

So maybe if we took the data we might be able to predict something or mark it a “surprise?”
Hey where’s my superpredicting, all-powerful, Star Trek computer? It’s not a whole lot of fun if the best the ComputerOverlords can do is to send you Google Alerts. Still, it’s not over yet.

In an article entitled, “Chill out, your computer knows what’s best for you.” at Physorg.com, the anonymous authors (aka the writers of the press release they published) suggest that computers are just this close to taking over. Even Bob Costas better watch out:

Many potential applications for CHIL technologies have also been identified and suggested in the catalogue. One of these is to use SmarTrack, a real-time system that provides accurate information about the spatial location of people in sports analysis.

During TV coverage of a sporting event, real-time tracking of each player would allow for online analysis of the important phases of the game to support the commentators.

Why stop there? Why not have the computers tell the quarterback where to throw and the linebackers which gap to shoot. All of your free will are belong to us!

Wall-E, we’re coming for you.

Image Credit: Flickr Logical Chaos tigerplish

…or at least minor depression.

Last year, one of out tech support teachers had a set of clickers for free won at a door prize. I’ve always imagined the hilarity that must ensue at a tech lottery: milling crowds of blinking tech people salivating over laser pointers and webcams.  90/10 M/f ratios. Acronyms flying out into the ether.  Backchannel twitters filling the air…A glorious technohaven/glimpse into the future.

Teaching with clickers is an enterprise fraught with doubt, even though I had what might be reasonably termed success with them.  My AP Rhetoric class could go through multiple choice test questions and I could get a good, quick evaluation on which types of questions were difficult for them (i.e. anything about tone or those maniacal questions involving roman numerals). My regular 10s took quizzes and the clicker software automatically recorded their answers and printed out their score. Almost as good as ScanTron.  But I thought the most useful way of using Clickers was in guided discussions about values and attitudes.

You can put up a statement like:

I think most of what I learn in school will have little impact on my life.

and ask students to rate the statement according to how much they agree or disagree with the statement.  1-being agree totally and completely 3-being neutral, meh while 5-being disagree totally and completely. Clickers have a magic effect on participation; no one lackadaisically clicks a clicker. It’s always done with spastic abandon.  In a discussion like this, a quick 10 minute (or on the fly–shh!–don’t tell anyone) prep will get you a good 30-40 minute discussion on the questions.  First, you have the asking of the question, then the vote, then the Reveal! look at that pretty graph.  Finally, individual students talk about why they completely agreed with the idea that school will have little impact. It’s a great way to start a unit or even conduct a midway point snapshot of where students’ feelings are.  It would be interesting to do a pre and post value check and see if the experience of reading, say, The Things the Carried or All Quiet on the Western Front has changed students’ opinions about war.

Unfortunately, I’ll be bereft of clickers next year.  The tech people giveth and they taketh away.  But my pathetic Twitter feed (more on that later) has just given me a couple of options for next year even if I don’t have the cool quasi Wii handhelds to play with.

• Poll Everywhere is a service that lets you ask poll questions and then receive answers through the web or cellphones.  The superpower here is that you can use either computers or cell phones to answer. When you stick with a set of 30 respondents per poll, the service stays free. You can also get the results downloaded into a PowerPoint slide. Still, it doesn’t record the respondents unless you spring for the next upgrade up so it wouldn’t work for quizzes.  There is some talk about certain schools qualifying for discounts, but that wouldn’t apply to us.
• There are a host of other free-ish poll services including PollDaddy, Freepolls, PollMonkey, SurveyMonkey, and Zoomerang. These offer various levels of support and ability depending on the service.
• I’m also interested in backchannel chat services like Chatterous or CampFire but my District bans such site like they are scurrilous plagues, so it would be hard to fall in love only to be ripped untimely from their bosoms.

Any other ideas for Clicker replacements?

See also this .pdf about 7 rules for clickers, this Wired article about the same, Clickers: A Classroom Innovation by Derek?, and then this breakdown from Vanderbilt U.

Image Credit: Flickr 21/365 New Clicker!  hcobb826’s photostream