The Star Wars Identities

The Telus World of Science Edmonton is currently hosting an exhibition called Star Wars Identities. I'm all about science, but you had me at "Star Wars." Walk around a big room filled with actual props and costumes from the movies? Woot!

I went to SWI on the opening weekend with my good friend--and fellow nerd--George. (You should do the same. Er, but get your own friend. They don't have to be named "George," either.) He does an awesome Chewbacca, and his impression of a TIE fighter is...eerie. Go ahead and geek out, that's what it's about. Well, actually, it's about more than that, and that's what really impressed me about the exhibit.

The developers of the exhibit have added depth, meaning, and personal relevance to what otherwise might be a big room full of dusty old things. As you go through the exhibit, you create a Star Wars-universe character of your own, making choices about many aspects of its (your?) life. There are 10 different components: species, genes, parents, culture, mentors, friends, events, occupation, personality, and values. These are ordered ontogenetically--er, that is, reflective of human development, from childhood to adulthood (or "Origins, Influences, and Choices").

It became clear to me pretty quickly that there was some actual science behind this, and some careful thought. The developers consulted with scientific committee, including two neuropsychologists, three psychologists, and a some other experts in related scientific fields. For example, mention is made of the influence of different parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, or uninvolved) from the point of view of Anakin versus Luke. And the personality component brought up the Big 5 personality traits of agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness. (Try this Big 5 personality test yourself.)

At the end of it all, you get to choose to be either good, or, you know, choose the Dark Side. And then you see the character who you created. Here's mine:

The character in the background on the right is the one created by my friend George: a Jedi named Juh. (Yeah, so we're not great at coming up with names. What, is "Jar Jar" any better?)

Actual science and Star Wars together. Cool. Star Wars Identities runs until April 1, 2013. Highly recommended.

Why aren't you studying?

Update 1/20/2013: Wired.com has an article on Star Wars Identities.

The Cost of Education

There's an interesting article in the December CAUT Bulletin. According to a Harris/Decima teleVox poll commissioned by CAUT (the Canadian Association of University Teachers):

"More than half of Canadians say they would be willing to pay more taxes to allow governments to increase post-secondary education funding."

Other questions in this survey asked people how institutions should respond to government cuts, and 52% said that administration costs should be reduced. Other options included increasing class sizes, cutting salaries, and raising fees (i.e., upping tuition or creating new and interesting ways of making students pay more).

In a finding that warmed my heart, 47% of respondents thought that professors had the best interests of students in mind (higher than private donors, administrators, or governments--all three together getting only 41% of people's votes). That's nice, even though I'm not a professor.

If you could send this information to the provincial Minister of "Enterprise" and Advanced Education and the Premier, that would be nice.

Why aren't you studying?

The Listening List: 1

A while ago, I made a list of some of my favourite recent reading. Now, here are some things that I'm listening to on my digital media player. (No, it's not a i-device.)

I'm lovin' Freakonomics radio. I read the books, the blog, and the tweets, but I just can't wait until each "radio" podcast is delivered (in my sleep!). The bits about behavioural economics are the gravy on top of the ice cream, but the "hidden side of everything" segments are fascinating and surprising. Recent topics include: where management consultants came from, why mass transit may not be so good for the environment, and how to maximize your Halloween candy haul. Economics has never been so interesting.

The Nerdist podcast (podcast network is more like it now) has something for everyone--whatever your geek niche. Examples: video games, comics, sex. Episode #250 featured Alton Brown. Wha--? Chris Hardwick and Alton Brown? Squee! (Plus, AB was on an episode of the Nerdist Channel's Dork Fork. See? Something for everyone...) My favourite part of the episode was when AB dropped an F-bomb. That ain't ever gonna happen on Iron Chef.

A TED talk that has gotten considerable attention (3+ million views) is one by author Susan Cain, who talks about being an introvert and writing her book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. If you're an introvert like me, you owe it to yourself to at least watch the video. Extroverts can watch it too: it may help you to understand the other 30-50% of the population.

Finally, I actually do have music on my player, too. Some people like to play "I'm listening to music that's so obscure you've never heard of it and never will." I understand that; I liked Madonna Louise Ciccone's music of the early 80s, then everyone was listening to her and I lost interest. So here's my totally obscure contribution: the new Nena album, Du Bist Gut ("you are good"). I bought this old-school on CD from Amazon.de but also put it on my player.

In German-speaking countries, this selection is not obscure at all. The first single debuted at #2 on the charts. And the singer isn't an unknown either. You may know her from the worldwide #1 1980s hit 99 Luftballons/99 Red Balloons. She didn't disappear after that; she's released an album just about every year for the past three decades--even some children's albums. To me, she's the sexiest 52-year-old grandmother (!!) on the planet. *dreamy sigh*

What are you listening to?

Why aren't you studying?

The Crunch Time

It's crunch time for me--and for you. For me, I've got 18 projects due for my "other employer" for a December 1 deadline. (No, that's not a typo: eighteen projects.) Then, I've got 2 more projects due later in the month. That's on top of marking term papers, prepping exams, and getting courses ready for next term.

As for you, you should be well underway writing your term papers--not deciding on topics, or looking for papers and books to read. If you want the best possible mark, now is go time.

Not getting the marks you want so far this term? It's not too late. I've written posts on improving exam prep, learning, and studying; just click on the Category links on the right side of this page. I've also got a page of study resources for you.

The Student Success Centre has workshops coming up soon, but you better hurry, time is running out! Need help writing your term paper, the Centre for Writers is still open, but only until the last day of class (but that's when your term papers are due anyway, right?).

Why aren't you studying?

The Snow Day

I knew it was going to be a bad day when, in driving my older daughter to school, there were two collisions on the way. Her school is less than 2 km away. Then I saw traffic backed up for at least six blocks. Yup, a bad one. I got home to pick up my younger daughter and take her to daycare, but had to shovel the driveway. And then I got stuck. That’s why I’m at home writing this blog post while watching Elmo’s World.

I’ve never missed an exam in my life. (Once, as a student, a snowstorm made me late for an exam--but it made everyone else late, too.) And I’ve never been snowed out of getting to class. Today, both of those perfect records have fallen.

There was good news and bad news about the exam. The good news was that my stalwart teaching assistant lives close to campus and was able to hike in and proctor the exam. Students, stuck in the snow, wiped out in the ditch, or abandoned by the transit system, were sending me a blizzard of emails and tweets asking what to do. My brilliant solution? Hold the exam again, during the next class. Brilliant, except that the Associate Dean (Undergraduate) of Science sternly reminded the Department of Psychology that that’s not allowed--exams have to take place according to the syllabus. No exceptions. That’s the bad news.

It would have been nice to get more advance notice about this snowfall. Environment Canada’s weather office issued a snowfall warning at 9:15 a.m. MST. Really? By this point, ETS had tweeted about weather delays, the Edmonton Police Service had told people to stay off the streets, and I was up to my knees shoveling snow. Don’t need a warning at that point. When I checked the weather last night before going to bed, only 6-10 cm of snow was forecast for today. The 9:15 warning predicted up to 25 cm, with my end of town already hammered by 18 cm.

Obviously, we can’t prevent a snowstorm, but knowing about it more in advance would have been a big help.

Why aren’t you studying?

The Udacity Partnership

Earlier today the UofA signed a MOU (memorandum of understanding) with Udacity to develop a research partnership about MOOCs (massive open online courses). In a MOOC, the entire course is done online, for free. You may or may not get some kind of credit for participating and completing it; you may have to pay for a certificate. So far, you can't use these MOOCs for credit towards an actual degree.

This morning at 10:00, a group of instructors, researchers, and administrators met with Sebastian Thrun, who cofounded Udacity. (Yes, this is one of the "secret projects" I'm currently involved in. Now it's not a secret anymore.) Thrun, who gave a talk about MOOCs on campus last month, showed us his content creation system, which runs as an iPad app. Even in pre-alpha, it was pretty slick, allowing videos, sketches, and interactive quizzes to be put together to create a course, which can also be "consumed" via an i-device.

MOOCs raise many important questions about pedagogy (the "science of education"), instruction, interactivity, and the role of universities. We're thinking about those. But the reason I'm writing this post is to get the view of students on MOOCs.

What do you think about free, online courses? Would you take one? Why? What would you want to get from it? Would it help your mom learn about psychology (or whatever your major is)? Or for your younger sister in high school, who hasn't decided what topic to study in post-secondary education (much less her future career)? Would you take it to supplement what you're learning in your in-person, for-credit class? Or would you want to get your whole degree online, instead of going to meat-space classes? (Hmm, isn't that already available?)

Why aren't you studying?

The Open Comments: 5

With midterms done/coming up or whatever your case may be (in my case, always both), it's time again to open it up for any comments you have.

Questions? Concerns? Can't hear me in the back? Don't wait until the end of term evaluations to tell me. I know I've been a bit low energy recently--this darn gastroenteritis. Ooh, that reminds me: it's time for my annual flu shot again. Are you going to get one? I don't know about you, friend, but I don't want to be laid up in bed during finals.

Why aren't you studying?