It will be sunny one day. Letter written 6 years ago today sharp.

It will be sunny one day

At http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/10/it-will-be-sunny-one-day.html

Early-2006, during a bout of depression, a young lady by the name of Crystal Nunn wrote a desperate letter to Stephen Fry. (...)

Transcript follows. Image courtesy of Crystal.

Transcript
April 10, 2006

Dear Crystal,

I'm so sorry to hear that (...) I've found that it's of some help to think of one's moods and feelings about the world as being similar to weather:

Here are some obvious things about the weather:

It's real.
You can't change it by wishing it away.
If it's dark and rainy it really is dark and rainy and you can't alter it.
It might be dark and rainy for two weeks in a row.

BUT

It will be sunny one day.
It isn't under one's control as to when the sun comes out, but come out it will.
One day.

It really is the same with one's moods... ( more at http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/10/it-will-be-sunny-one-day.html )

Why learning management systems are not going away

At http://www.tonybates.ca/2012/04/04/why-learning-management-systems-are-not-going-away/
April 4, 2012 By Tony Bates

Contact North has just published online a series of six short papers (10-12 pages) under the title of Learning Management Systems: Disruptive Developments, Alternative Options and the Implications for Teaching and Learning. The papers are:

Module 1 - Learning Management Systems in Ontario: Who's Using What? (also covers all Canadian post-secondary institutions)

Module 2 - Thinking About Choosing a Learning Management System?

Module 3 - From Wikis to WordPress: How New Technologies Are Impacting the Learning Management System

Module 4 - Making Decisions About Learning Management Systems: Building a Framework for the Future

Module 5 - Different Approaches to Online Learning and the Role of the Learning Management System

Module 6 - 8 Basic Questions About Learning Management Systems: The Answer Sheet

These papers need to be read together – for instance modules 2 and 4 are separate bits of the same topic. Module 6 gives the short answers but just reading that will not provide the evidence on which the answers are based – and like all evidence, it is open to different conclusions.

How the study was done

My colleague Keith Hampson and I were responsible for developing these papers, which aim to go beyond comparing different LMSs by looking at their future, especially in the light of other developments in learning technologies, such as web 2.0 tools.

Keith did most of the original research, interviewing senior managers from the LMS companies and collecting data about the use and choice of LMSs in Canada. I focused on new technologies, and how they are being used, with examples drawn from mainly from Ontario (see Contact North's Pockets of Innovation) but also from British Columbia.

What the results mean to... ( more at http://www.tonybates.ca/2012/04/04/why-learning-management-systems-are-not-going-away/ )

Robotic Hands Get Delicate

Robotic Hands Get Delicate

At http://www.science20.com/news_articles/robotic_hands_get_delicate-88628

By News Staff | April 3rd 2012 01:00 AM

Robots don't understand subtlety - what is effortless to a human, like pouring juice into a cup, is a challenge for a machine. While one hand holds the glass bottle firmly, the other one must gently grasp the cup.

Researchers at Saarland University together with associates in Bologna and Naples have developed a robotic hand that can accomplish both tasks and the actuator is barely larger than a human arm. They use a novel string actuator, making use of small electric motors to twist strings, making the new robotic hand suitable as a helper around the house or in catastrophic scenarios.

The robotic hand was recently presented during a meeting at the Forschungszentrum Informatik in Karlsruhe. 

"We wanted to impart our robotic hand with a broad spectrum of human traits. Its artificial muscles should be able to deliver enormous forces by simple and compact means," said Chris May, scientist at Saarland University's Laboratory of... ( more at http://www.science20.com/news_articles/robotic_hands_get_delicate-88628 )

Too Much Homework Is Bad for Kids

At http://www.livescience.com/19379-homework-bad-kids.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Livesciencecom+%28LiveScience.com+Science+Headline+Feed%29

Natalie Wolchover, Life's Little Mysteries Staff Writer

Date: 30 March 2012 Time: 09:36 AM ET

Piling on the homework doesn't help kids do better in school. In fact, it can lower their test scores.

That's the conclusion of a group of Australian researchers, who have taken the aggregate results of several recent studies investigating the relationship between time spent on homework and students' academic performance.

According to Richard Walker, an educational psychologist at Sydney University, data shows that in countries where more time is spent on homework, students score lower on a standardized test called the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA. The same correlation is also seen when comparing homework time and test performance at schools within countries. Past studies have also demonstrated this basic... ( more at http://www.livescience.com/19379-homework-bad-kids.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Livesciencecom+%28LiveScience.com+Science+Headline+Feed%29 )

Kids Fail Less When They Know Failure Is Part of Learning, Study Finds

At http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/03/14/kids-fail-less-when-they-know-failure-is-part-of-learning-study-finds/

By Mikaela Conley
@mikaelaconley

Mar 14, 2012 7:00am

Kids perform better in school if they know failure, and trying again, is part of the learning process, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association.

The research included several experiments intended to see whether parents and teachers can help students succeed by changing the way learning material is presented to them. Study experiments included anagram problems and reading comprehension, and researchers found that kids who were told it's normal to fail and try again did better on the tests than those who did not receive such a pep talk.

"In this research, we showed that helping children to interpret difficulty, not as a sign of intellectual limitation but as the normal learning outcome, improved their performance on very demanding and difficult tasks and reduced their feelings of incompetence," said study co-author Frederique Autin, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Poitiers in Poitiers... (more at  http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/03/14/kids-fail-less-when-they-know-failure-is-part-of-learning-study-finds/ )