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Australia has had a long tradition of public broadcasting via ABC radio and television (modelled on the BBC). Australia’s ABC has been staunchly independent and has acted in the role of political and corporate watchdog on many issues. And it is such a pleasure watching TV with no advertising. There was an interesting piece I [...]

I was stunned recently when a friend flatly refused to use Firefox. I was stunned because she is a Web developer, and because I thought she would have been more open to a vastly improved browser – one that makes surfing a much more pleasurable activity and one that makes Web development much easier. Why [...]

This is cool – an up to the second indication of the downloads of Firefox. [Update: This no longer exists, sorry!]

I attended the International Conference on Computers in Education today. Brief responses: Why do education conferences start with a transmissionist Keynote? Today’s was only so-so (by Joseph Krajcik on using gadgets in schools for integrated understanding). There was no attempt to engage the audience. Why don’t presenters check everything before presenting? Almost every speaker today [...]

This article on Meet Math is interesting on two levels: Mathematics comes alive in this interactive exhibition because it is made concrete. Many students struggle with the concepts of mathematics because the presentation is far too abstract. The project is a collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian educators.

Some of our students recently went on a service learning project in Cambodia. They travelled to Banlung, a very remote area of eastern Cambodia. The main activity was to document local culture, including legends, stories, myths, etc. They were obviously moved by this maturing experience. By living there, they had to learn some survival skills. [...]

Too many educational “games” are really “tell and test” type – boring. And the testing is mostly multiple choice – even more boring. We need fun, engaging multiplayer games that allow students to collaboratively solve real world problems.

I saw a great documentary yesterday on Putin’s meteoric rise to power. (The show was on Australia’s ABC Asia Pacific. The “Four Corners” programme on ABC is alone worth the subscription. I love the intelligence of public, non-corporate media…) Putin in his KGB days Such a bunch of scandals that allowed Putin into power! The [...]

When we first arrived in Singapore, we were amused at the weather forecasts, which said day after day, for almost the whole year… Tomorrow it will be 24° to 32°, with the possibility of rain. But today was very, very cool – minimum 24°, maximum 25°. Of course, in the aircon it was uncomfortably cold [...]

The ideas in Sydney Finkelstein’s book “Why Smart Executives Fail” could also apply to educational institutions. In a recent article, he described a company that was very positive and where divisions were very supportive of each other, but said they could be heading for disaster, since: [The] company has created an insulated culture that systematically [...]