http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Pop-up_Potpourri_0x3a__Julialicious.aspx
My favorites:
Thursday, September 30, 2010
On the lighter side of things
Here is a link from an HCI class, with some "interesting" examples of feedback to the user:
http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Pop-up_Potpourri_0x3a__Julialicious.aspx
My favorites:
http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Pop-up_Potpourri_0x3a__Julialicious.aspx
My favorites:
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
About Dave
The time has come for us to speak loudly, and be heard. Sometimes strength is found in numbers, but other times, it can come from the powerful voices of a few.
As most of you know, Dave Small is a professor at the CISE department in UF. You may also know that the university is planning on letting him go in order to increase its rankings by eliminating professors without a Ph.D. (at least this is what we know to be the case). This is a clear case of a school behaving more like a business than an educational institution, because in the case of Dave they would be losing one of the best professors (if not the best) in the CISE department - better in many cases than many professors with a Ph.D. (and I have had some lacking professors with a doctorate degree). Some professors may be very good researchers and experts in their field, but teaching is a vocation. It is not a commonplace ability, and it takes a special disposition and years of practice to become a motivational role model and an excellent instructor - Dave is such a professor. Moreover, Dave also teaches courses that are very valuable to the DAS program, which is in its growing stages. Without Dave it is likely that the professors who would take over in his place will have little understanding of the needs of the program at a practical level, and will fail to provide the quality of education that the DAS program needs at this very moment. And this is without even mentioning that he is the coach of the programming team, and that if he left we would also have to say goodbye to invaluable courses such as Design Patterns, which he alone teaches.
I have taken several classes with Dave, and I used to be rather afraid of him. He can be rather intimidating and his demeanor can be said to demand a certain quiet respect. In fact, many people avoid him because of this and because his classes are known to be rather difficult; the problem is that by avoiding him they never find out that they would be taking some of the most beneficial classes they would take in the CISE department. Any student who has taken at least one of his courses can tell you that the quality of his teaching methodology, his expertise and the amount and depth of material covered is difficult to find elsewhere. This is not solely my biased opinion, you can ask other students of his and you will receive a very similar answer. The bias is there for a reason.
This isn't an angry letter of resentment towards the school's department. This is a plea, a request for reconsideration of the consequences of letting Dave go. Even more so, the department should see that the number of students who have spoken is a clear demonstration of the value of Dave Small as a UF professor. I will take this one step further; I am currently taking a class with Dave and I am graduating this semester - this won't even affect me directly. Nevertheless, I am truly concerned for the future of the DAS program and the department as a whole, because if these are the kind of decisions that are being made, with commercial regard for the quality of education and no importance given to the opinions of the students (the ones who give purpose to the existence of the school) then we can't expect great things from the CISE department, and we can't expect great students to emerge as CISE graduates.
The concern for the DAS program is of importance here as well. The school should recognize that it has taken rare potential under its wings and has every possibility of exploiting its inherent value; losing a professor so valuable in this program would be a great, great loss.
I'd like to ask students to please share your thoughts here as well, and to invite others who have had Dave in the past to also bring their thoughts forward. Soon after I would like to begin a signature list where we can all use comments to write our names and create a long list of names to petition the department directly.
It is time for us to show that this is something we truly care about and to do something about it, if not for us today, for those that will follow tomorrow. I think we also owe this to Dave, who has been an exceptional professor and role model, relentless in helping us challenge ourselves to become better individuals and professionals.
As most of you know, Dave Small is a professor at the CISE department in UF. You may also know that the university is planning on letting him go in order to increase its rankings by eliminating professors without a Ph.D. (at least this is what we know to be the case). This is a clear case of a school behaving more like a business than an educational institution, because in the case of Dave they would be losing one of the best professors (if not the best) in the CISE department - better in many cases than many professors with a Ph.D. (and I have had some lacking professors with a doctorate degree). Some professors may be very good researchers and experts in their field, but teaching is a vocation. It is not a commonplace ability, and it takes a special disposition and years of practice to become a motivational role model and an excellent instructor - Dave is such a professor. Moreover, Dave also teaches courses that are very valuable to the DAS program, which is in its growing stages. Without Dave it is likely that the professors who would take over in his place will have little understanding of the needs of the program at a practical level, and will fail to provide the quality of education that the DAS program needs at this very moment. And this is without even mentioning that he is the coach of the programming team, and that if he left we would also have to say goodbye to invaluable courses such as Design Patterns, which he alone teaches.
I have taken several classes with Dave, and I used to be rather afraid of him. He can be rather intimidating and his demeanor can be said to demand a certain quiet respect. In fact, many people avoid him because of this and because his classes are known to be rather difficult; the problem is that by avoiding him they never find out that they would be taking some of the most beneficial classes they would take in the CISE department. Any student who has taken at least one of his courses can tell you that the quality of his teaching methodology, his expertise and the amount and depth of material covered is difficult to find elsewhere. This is not solely my biased opinion, you can ask other students of his and you will receive a very similar answer. The bias is there for a reason.
This isn't an angry letter of resentment towards the school's department. This is a plea, a request for reconsideration of the consequences of letting Dave go. Even more so, the department should see that the number of students who have spoken is a clear demonstration of the value of Dave Small as a UF professor. I will take this one step further; I am currently taking a class with Dave and I am graduating this semester - this won't even affect me directly. Nevertheless, I am truly concerned for the future of the DAS program and the department as a whole, because if these are the kind of decisions that are being made, with commercial regard for the quality of education and no importance given to the opinions of the students (the ones who give purpose to the existence of the school) then we can't expect great things from the CISE department, and we can't expect great students to emerge as CISE graduates.
The concern for the DAS program is of importance here as well. The school should recognize that it has taken rare potential under its wings and has every possibility of exploiting its inherent value; losing a professor so valuable in this program would be a great, great loss.
I'd like to ask students to please share your thoughts here as well, and to invite others who have had Dave in the past to also bring their thoughts forward. Soon after I would like to begin a signature list where we can all use comments to write our names and create a long list of names to petition the department directly.
It is time for us to show that this is something we truly care about and to do something about it, if not for us today, for those that will follow tomorrow. I think we also owe this to Dave, who has been an exceptional professor and role model, relentless in helping us challenge ourselves to become better individuals and professionals.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Does education stifle creativity?
Another great TED talk, this time by Ken Robinson regarding the effects of education on creativity.
TED talk - Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?
TED talk - Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?
Friday, September 24, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
The Mind's Eye Series
3D animation as an art form in its early stages. The series was composed of a variety of animated shorts created in the late 80s and early 90s by a wide range of companies. Four video compilations were released with each having a different composer create a soundtrack to go along with the shorts. Here are a few:
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Light play on a building.
I stumbled upon this and thought it was worth sharing. I like how they fake shadows to make it look like the building is moving. Amazing!
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