Response to my week 1 slackers guide was quite nice thank you very much so i thought i would take a run at doing week 2. I found the title of this week a touch intimidating but found the actual articles quite approachable. There is something going on with data out there, and we are increasingly at the mercy of the data that is out there and, if nothing else, knowing something about it makes us a little more paranoid.
Week 1 skimming
There’s a reason why people are addicted to the ‘top ten’ reasons style posts. They’re easy to skim. My pick for skimming this week is The Telegraph article on the 10 ways data is changing how we live. It gives you that 10,000 foot view of why you should care about big data… some of the other articles might drill you with ‘content’ and ‘research’ about his topic, but my selection will allow you to just kinda drift through the content and get a vague sense that you know what is going on. Which, of course, is how we like it.
Notes on some of the other resources
- For those of you interested in getting started thinking about how to interpret data… I really like this blog post from the extra resources list. http://www.dataists.com/2010/09/the-data-science-venn-diagram/ A beginners guide to figuring out what the charts might mean and connected to a bunch of other resources.
- If you’ve never read “more is different” it’s a classic. it says that… uh… more is different. Is short and approachable.
- stephen wolfram’s TED talk. Interesting brain candy, and a nice introduction to his work, but not really the sort of thing that leaves you with a sense of what its going to do for you.
- This one... a gonzo style interview with a dude who’s been in the industry and gives you an interesting background into how the web ACTUALLY works from a web perspective and how new data has changed that. You’ll need a bit of server understanding (and care about it) to get the full understanding, but it’s a really cool introduction. I liked it 🙂
This week’s activity
SNAPP is uh… kind of a snap. I haven’t poked too far into what I’ll be able to do with it but the video offers you the opportunity to look like you’ve done the test… which is what we are looking to provide here at ombuds central. Feel free to watch the vid, get a quick sense of what SNAPP is, and speak offhandedly about it at your next staff meeting.
http://research.uow.edu.au/learningnetworks/seeing/snapp/index.html
This week’s presentation – Ryan S.J.d Baker
This is a more content based presentation than the one we saw last week. It’s got that ‘what is it, give me an example of it, move to next sections’ kinda presentation. If you like your things ordered and your definitions where you can reach them, this is the presentation for you. This is the end of the business that i am very, very suspicious of. The speaker is talking about how students manage their work inside their specially structured educational software. Build software, create it so you can test things, and then draw conclusions from that. Suspicious of it… but still happy that i saw the presentation.
Don’t tell George, but i found the middle part of the presentation where george was asking questions, to be the most valuable for getting a sense of what they actually do with the testing. (you can pick that out by checking out the blue progression lines at the bottom of the screen and pick the spot where there’s a big space between slides)
great post Dave, thanks. I’m just getting into the swing of the course and figuring out how to manage it most effectively for my needs. These links are really useful.
Sheila
Thanks Dave. I really appreciate your comments.
Hi Dave. I want to elaborate on how I used your blog this week. I read/scanned the suggested readings and viewed the videos and tried the software. Then I came here and re-read an article I hadn’t spent much time on initially and realized what I’d missed. The same with your video. I did try SNAPP but hadn’t exploreed the filtering possibilities. I’m in student mode right now and the discussions in Moodle are more applied than I can contribute to at this point but this blog is keeping me involved and inspiring confidence.
Hey Dave. In the hopes that it will add to your motivation to keep posting your weekly LAK11 reviews, let me share how your posts are my best way into the course right now. I’m a learning analytics newbie with a more than full-time job who is also engaged in required doctoral coursework so I don’t have much free time. Your posts give me a great overview for the week. Even at my busiest, I can at least make time to read your post, check out the links you’ve highlighted, and watch your “homework” video. I’m planning to attend the LAK conference next month. If you’re there, I owe you a beer or two. Thanks! Ani