Posts Tagged ‘Jeopardy’
Tuesday MOOCs, and More!
* Professor Leaves a MOOC in Mid-Course in Dispute Over Teaching. The details on this are fascinating:
Gary Matkin, the dean for distance education at Irvine, said the problem had stemmed from Mr. McKenzie’s reluctance to loosen his grip on students who he thought were not learning well in the course.“
In Professor McKenzie’s view, for instance, uninformed or superfluous responses to the questions posed in the discussion forums hobbled the serious students in their learning,” said Mr. Matkin in an e-mail.
Irvine officials, however, “felt that the course was very strong and well designed,” he said, “and that it would, indeed, meet the learning objectives of the large audience, including both those interested only in dipping into the subject and those who were seriously committed” to completing the course.
Twitter user @cjprender has a slightly different take.
* MOOCs: What if the cure is worse than the disease?
Perhaps I’m overly cynical, but I think the real root of MOOC-mania is an edifice complex on the part of university presidents and trustees. The last time I checked, the average university president in this country served for about four years before moving on to greener pastures. It used to be that the easiest way to leave a legacy on campus would be to build something. With bond financing nearly impossible to come by these days, the easiest (but not necessarily least expensive) way to build something is to create a virtual campus.
* ’8 College Degrees with the Worst Return on Investment.’ Stupid vital careers necessary for the smooth operation and reproduction of social goods! Why don’t you get paid, son?
* Bérubé: The Humanities, Unraveled.
* These serene Chinese landscapes are actually photographs of landfills.
* Don’t Panic, But Thousands of Dolphins Were Spotted Swimming Away Off the Coast of San Diego.
* Don’t hate the player; hate the game.
* Alligator OK to eat on Lenten Fridays, archbishop clarifies.
* Forthcoming Film Is Defense of For-Profit Colleges, Critics Say.
The narration for one of the film’s early promotional trailers includes references to the “attack” on the proprietary sector by policy makers, politicians, unions, and other critics who “protect the flawed status quo.”
“Many politicians continue to manipulate the truth and serve the interests of the unions in order to keep the private sector from serving adult learners, creating a virtual, permanent underclass,” says the narrator in one clip that was on the Web site of Fractured Atlas but was replaced afterThe Chronicle inquired about it.
Unions! I hate those guys.
Unexpected Boxing Day Links!
My baby’s selfish decision to start vomiting ruined my plans to finally see The Hobbit. So instead I’ll clear some tabs:
* If you want a vision of the future, imagine me and @adamkotsko arguing about revenge in Tarantino, forever.
* The End of the Community College English Profession.
* Jeopardy! is running its online contestant search again.
* Meritocracy watch, from the archives: In both data sets, Krueger and Dale, like other researchers, find that students who attended more selective colleges tend to earn higher salaries later on than those who attend less selective colleges. However, the researchers not only looked at the schools that students attended but also where they were accepted and rejected. They found that where a student applies is a more powerful predictor of future earnings success than where he or she attends.
* The Heat, The Avengers, and the peculiar American love of the overdog.
* Surreal Illustrations for Fairy Tales that Don’t Exist Yet.
* Eminem, master of Donkey Kong.
* Wikipedia’s timeline of the far future.
* Thomas Frank blames academia for Occupy’s failures. Now the lead editorial of the next Jacobin is devoted to denouncing Frank.
* A report from NRO’s annual cruise.
* FBI Considered It’s A Wonderful Life Communist Propaganda. Don’t ever change, you lovable scamps!
* 12 Obvious Science Findings of 2012.
* Could a captive tornado power an entire city? What could possibly go wrong?
* STUDY: Antarctica Is Heating Up Even Faster Than Previously Thought.
* Pulp Scifi Under Japanese Totalitarianism.
* And a few days late: Santa’s privacy policy.
Wednesday Night
* Roger Craig had never been on Jeopardy! before, but by the end of his first day of taping, he’d won five games in a row, the most lucrative day for any contestant in the show’s history, including the most lucrative game in the show’s history. His secret? A web app that modeled the show’s all too predictable question sequences.
* From Think Progress: According to a new study conducted by Stanford University, “the portion of American families living in middle-income neighborhoods has declined significantly since 1970” due to rising income inequality. While 65 percent of families used to live in middle-income neighborhoods, now just 44 percent do, while one-third of families live in either upper- or low-income areas (up from 15 percent). The data used in the study only goes through 2007, so didn’t even take into account the effects of the Great Recession.
* A worrying sign: Public Opinion Turning Against Occupy Wall Street.
* A better one: Poll shows most favor recall of Wisconsin governor.
* Quentin Tarantino’s The Inglorious Mr. Fox.
* And Oregon tries out voting by iPad. Which Angry Bird is the right choice—for the children?
This! Is! Srinivas!
I wish I’d remembered to mention it earlier in the day, but my friend and former co-blogger Srinivas will be on Jeopardy tonight. Check your local listings. He’ll be the skinny kid with a funny name who thinks Alex Trebek has some money for him, too.
UPDATE: Srinivas dominant before the first commercial break! He makes it look easy. Take that, returning champion Babatope Ogunmola. Take that, “Joanne.”
UPDATE 2: Alex goes right to Srinivas’s well-known participation in the National Spelling Bee during the introductions. Srinivas looks taken aback—what else does Trebek know?—but remains cool and collected.
UPDATE 3: At the end of the first round, Srinivas is in a close third, 3400 to 4200 to Babatope’s punishing 5800. Obviously Trebek’s barbs have gotten inside his head.
UPDATE 4: More taunting from Trebek at the start of round 2: All right, Srinivas, it’s up to you. Then he brings up the Spelling Bee again! Damn you, Trebek!
UPDATE 5: Srinivas retakes the lead!
UPDATE 6: And promptly loses it again on “the father of condensed milk.” Damn you, Gail Borden.
UPDATE 7: Steals an answer from Joanne by being able to properly pronounce “Nosferatu.” Sometimes it pays to know how to spell.
UPDATE 8: Daily Double for Srinivas at the end of Round 2. Srinivas bets 1500—playing it safe. Should have bet it all—he nails it with “What is Stalingrad.” Takes the last question in the round as well, ending Round 2 in second place: Babatope with about 10,000 and Joanne with about 15,000, Srinivas has about 13,700. The category: World Authors.
UPDATE 9: Here’s the answer:
In 1898 he wrote, “As for the person I have accused … they are … embodiments of social malfeasance.”
SPOILER ALERT: Click the [+/-] to read on.
Babatope guesses Voltaire (wrong), but bets $0 and holds steady. Srinivas goes second, answering Emile Zola (right) and betting it all ($13700). A risky maneuver. Joanne also answers Zola, but strategically underbets—only $5000—leaving Srinivas the surprise comeback kid with over $27,000! Srinivas wins the pennant! He’ll be back tomorrow!
