Ignatia Webs blog post – the future of mobile learning
I was very pleased to see this positive blog post review of a chapter I recently published in an open access book on mobile learning, which the blogger, Inge De Ward, also tweeted. Inge’s blog and Twitter feed must be quite popular, judging by the large number re-tweets that ensued. Please take a look at the blog post, and also the article (the blog contains a link to it)
Last weekend I participated in the 2013 Global Day of Coderetreat, joining the session running at the Xero offices in Wellington, New Zealand. Along with 2,000+ other software developers across 165 locations on all continents, I spent the day honing my software craftsmanship, pair programming with other developers, using test driven development (TDD), and working within a range of changing and challenging design constraints. A coderetreat is an opportunity to look at the same programming problem (typically Conway’s Game of Life) from multiple perspectives, without the pressure to create a finished product but using the opportunity to reflect on how we build software. I would recommend that all software developers, at whatever level of skill and experience, take a look at the coderetreat.org web site and keep a look out for upcoming coderetreats in their local area. If you can’t find one, why not run one yourself? All the information you need is on the web site. The only people who won’t gain anything from it are those who just want to show other people how great they (think they) are. Fortunately, these people are a tiny minority of the software development community. Most of us will embrace the opportunity to challenge themselves and learn from others, in a day of coding that is surprisingly enjoyable.
Cloud analytics – Using cloud based services to analyse big data
Last week I presented on cloud analytics at the Massey ecentre’s ‘Into the Cloud’ event. The slides are now available on Slideshare.
Too much money chasing not enough IT grads
According the the government’s careers web site, taking data from TradeMe, 6 out of the top 10 paying jobs in New Zealand in 2013 were in Information Technology. The top paying job was IT project manager at $225,000. Strangely, this is a bad thing, because it shows the effect of demand outstripping supply. We just don’t have enough students taking IT and other computing degrees to meet the needs of the NZ IT industry. If we can’t find the skills, the potential benefits to the economy of IT enterprises will be lost and we will be back to cows and timber. Everyone, from the MoE to the schools to the universities, is trying to do something about this, but at the end of the day, an IT career somehow needs to be a more popular option for those still in education.
The Hotel California of Cyberspace
A great article from the New Zealand Listener web site about how the British science fiction writer J.G.Ballard predicted social media back in 1977. He didn’t make it sound very appealing. we are all just prisoners here, of our own device.
The future of the Performance Based Research Fund
An interesting article on the Tertiary Education Union web site about the future of PBRF, and comments made by Jonathan Boston, one of its original architects. Among other negative effects of continuing with a 4th round of PBRF, Boston warns of a ‘research treadmill that deadens the soul rather than inspiring the mind’.
