Realizing that the Fall semester was fast approaching, I hurried this weekend to finish my final paper for Prof. Black's class. I mentioned this paper last month here on the blog, which using uses semantic analysis as a way of categorizing texts (using TCR as the text-base). The paper is included here as an attached Word file if you are interested. Abstract: The aim of this paper is to test both the practical use value and the psychological underpinnings of Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA), which is a statistical theory and method for extracting and representing the contextual meaning ...

There will be only one orchestra left on earth, giving nightly worldwide concerts; when all universities will be combined into one super-institution, conducting courses by radio for students in Zanzibar, Kamchatka and Oskaloose; when, instead of newspapers, trained orators will dictate the news of the world day and night, and the bedtime story will be told every evening from Paris to the sleepy children of a weary world; when every person will be instantly accessible day or night to all the bores he knows, and will know them all: when the last vestiges of privacy, solitude and contemplation wi...

Legal Guide for Bloggers The Electronic Frontier Foundation believe it's best to become familiar with the law BEFORE you get sued for something published on your weblog.

Hi Everyone, Attached please find the note that Hui Soo summed up (with some small modifications from Lin) of today's EdLab Seminar session on “how to support teaching through online tutorials/educational programs.â€? The session was very informative to me. The solutions from both small groups confirmed me of my own belief in creating an active online community of teachers/practitioners, in addition to providing resources, cases, quick tutorials for beginners, good and bad practice examples for professors/instructors about teaching. The results were not what I had intended, which was...

Google has just released Google Talk, an IM program that is set to compete with AIM, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo's IM client. It might be worth installing this in the lab, and seeing what Google has brought to the game. I did read an article on MSNBC that indicated that Google employeed open standards when developing this tool, and that there is the potential of programatically embedding this tool in web applications. Let's stay on top of this as it may provide a means o...

Check out this article in Yahoo Finance about Digital Backpacks. There are obviously lots of implications for education as people are able to think of additional features to load into the Digital Backpack. Currently, the product includes: 1) Merriam-Webster's (TM) Pocket Dictionary, 2) a choice of one SparkNotes(TM) Study Guide, 3) classic literature, 4) a free 30-day trial of Microsoft® Student Graphing Calculator, 5) specialized Web content such as HOMEWORK HUB from Scholastic.com, and 6) Web pages and learning modules created by...

This article from the New York Times discusses the persistence of video rental stores in the face of new competition from online alternatives. What is interesting for us is the way in which old habits and forms hang on amidst the growth of new alternatives. As we think about the transition to a newly configured education sector, we should anticipate that current forms will persist.

This article from the New York Times discusses the decline in sales of educational software. The change has been dramatic, and there seem to be multiple explanations. One particularly interesting aspect noted in the article is the interest in including feedback mechanisms in new educational software to allow parents and students to assess their own skill levels. In some cases the feedback mechanism triggers a repeat of material when mastery has not been accomplished. This could be an example of what we have been discuss...

Thought this might be of interest:RSS4LIB.