tokyokevin: Kevin Ryan in Tokyo

Kevin putting it out there

  • Attention is Everything All At Once

    I’ve been basing grades in my classes on what I call Attention Units (AU=gold, get it?). Since studying 37.5 hours over a semester (15 weeks, 90 min class and 45 homework) is not measurable for proficiency, and because I run a class with a lot of individualization (personalized, differentiated), I can’t measure them on a specific set of language points or skills. I also find I can’t accurately measure how hard they work, which is a common fallback for language teaching. That leaves me with Attention, a more specific aspect of the “working hard” school of grading. I believe, especially these days with mobile and online learning, that this has become a viable option, both for measurement and curriculum. Let me explain.

    Some research about attention and it’s sibling, ignoring.

    Via Kottke and How to weather the storm.

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  • Remember Enron? Corruption and oil spills? It’s gone nuclear

    You can now buy a nuclear reactor for your home. From America’s favorite company. What could go wrong? From Slashdot.

    Spoiler, this is a SATIRE. It’s a fun fake. Had you going, though, right?

  • Attention Grabbing by Mr. Beast

    Mr. Beast of YouTube fame is expanding his empire with a new game show. This is a review of the show, complete with a short history of how Mr. Beast got there. A good lesson for where are attention is being guided. Take back control, folks.

  • Hot Stuff Checked

    Kottke points us to a new video (20 minutes) about hot sauces and the YouTube channel ….

    Besides talking about food, this is a good exploration into critical thinking.

    Bonus, this channel HowTown is going to be on my regular rotation of shows that are replacing my addiction (and dirty little secret) to reality TV with TV about Reality (I just made that up. A quick list of shows I check regularly: Cleo Abram with optimistic science, Dami Lee on architecture, Greens

  • Women and Men in University

    In this newsletter (blog post) Celeste Davis looks at the reasons why fewer men are going to college in the US.

    For every 1% increase in the proportion of women in the student body, 1.7 fewer men applied. One more woman applying was a greater deterrent than $1000 in extra tuition!

    This is also reflected in certain “Male” jobs and “Women’s” jobs. With the new political weather in the US, it will be interesting to see if this trend slows or accelerates. I’m guessing on the second.

    I’m hoping women will not give up and continue to “take over” more universities and departments and whole careers and career paths.