Thomas Education

Yikes!  As we see in my previous post, I just finished reading Feed , by M.T.Anderson.  That young-adult novel posits a future America dominated by the computerized brain-interface purchased at birth.  Dystopia, indeed. I now read of Waze's newest integration with Google, wherein advertisers can purchase a notification to automatically appear on a Waze user's screen when the driver stops near a particular property ( Dunkin Donuts is only 1 minute away! Aren't you hungry for a super-glazed special? ).   The term is a "Zero-speed Takeover" banner ad.  Now, this could benefit small businesses, encouraging drivers to stop at a place they might not usually consider.   However, it is Much More Likely to be manipulated by larger corporations that have the brilliant staff and the marketing budget to devise devilish schemes to stimulate our dopamine-receptors and loosen our credit cards.  My elder son has expressed a great distaste for Waze, tha...

Feed by M.T. Anderson My rating: 4 of 5 stars Feed is a quick read, and a great Young Adult dystopian novel that presents some images that will stay with you. I have long predicted some sort of advertising-sponsored biohack, starting with earbuds progressing to implants -- the author takes it to a logical conclusion. The main protagonist/narrator is frustratingly adolescent: we keep yelling at him to "just say something!" but he is tongue-tied, and defaults to inaction whenever possible. Let's here refer to Sherry Turkle's "Alone Together" for further confirmation of this generation's increased inability to hold a full conversation, even more than the typical adolescent inarticulateness. Yet these characters do not rage against the machine. They are witting participants in this brave new world. What great fodder for discussion in a tenth-grade classroom, or with the adolescent in your household. Although the plot devolves into the stereotype YA i...

I just now find that Turnitin is being acquired by Advance (the parent company of CondeNast, parent of The New Yorker)! Here's a link to the article.  The article includes some analysis of Turnitin both as a product, and as a business, so it is a good overview of the issues.  https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-03-06-turnitin-to-be-acquired-by-advance-publications-for-1-75b Yes, as a teacher and parent I bemoan the need for something like Turnitin (i.e. plagiarism detection), but recognize its helpfulness in the classroom.  To their credit, Turnitin long tried to disavow the term "plagiarism detection" and instead focus on its quasi-LMS functions surrounding the "similarity analysis".   They had started to add grammar-checking as well, which would I think further legitimize the whole tool, and speed students' development of writing ability.  Yes, of course every student's every sentence should be read and commented-upon carefully by...