Thanking @otaviocc for his excellent Micro.Publish Obsidian Community Plug-in.

Learning with an AI Buddy

ChatGPT cannot yet write a better essay than a human author can, nor can it code better than a garden-variety developer, but something has changed during the 2023-24 academic year for me. I’m watching students leverage AI as a sort of souped-up Clippy to produce simple code snippets. Students …

My 16yo daughter insists we keep paying for Canva Pro. In return for the favor, she helps me upskill with Canva Magic Studio.

“Internet architecture is where technical creativity and incentive design intersect.” – Chris Dixon

It is nice to have a local pub who offers our teens comfortable seating.

Very interested to see how Ireland’s plan to restrict smartphone usage in schools will pan out. www.insideview.ie/2023/11/i…

Trying to configure a master list containing watering holes where dozens of the educators I used to follow on Twitter hang out nowadays. I reckon every month 6-10 educators who I know have left Twitter since it was Elongated.

Whenever I see our local river starting to churn at a higher level, I remember how 50% of the global population (approx. 3.5 bn people) live in countries most vulnerable to climate change, bearing the impact of a crisis they did not cause. Thinking of Marshall Island people at the moment.

Big Fan of Mem.ai and soon it's reading email threads

In the mid-90s, I was so happy with a flat-text indexing service called AskSam. I’d install the software from a set of floppies and it would keep track of all sorts of notes I had scattered across my laptop. Today, I still have a scattergun approach to information and I’m using a much …

I spent a week in Leiria Portugal learning how to mash up unbridled creativity with structured critical thinking. www.linkedin.com/pulse/tha…

Watching the normally welcoming mood of the Irish public shift to a tribal mode as immigrants hear the siren song of generous social welfare. www.insideview.ie/2023/10/g…

Starting to heat the house now that I’m positive COVID.

Life Without Free Will

Adding another Sapolsky to my shelf: Determined: Life Without Free Will amzn.eu/d/fahSyJi A cleverly irreverent take on free will. Refreshing to read Sapolsky’s critique of those who schooled me to “pull yourself up by your bootstraps”. And if you want the most elegant description …

I am starting a 2800 km journey as a passenger and the first 110 km offers more comfortable and spacious seating than my Ryanair seating.

Using my blog as a link list today

I asked my Feed Readers for news items about immigration, asylum seekers, and backlash concerning European policies. Here are a few links that surfaced. European Community Migration Policy www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheet… Smuggling Migrants to Ireland www.breakingnews.ie/world/spa… EU …

Because it is raining hard outside, all the seats in the student canteen are occupied, some as laptop work stations.

Reflecting on Problem Solving

I’m using my Microblog to journal about problem-solving. **** Interpersonal problem solved. I had to sort out a serious leg infection. It meant checking into the hospital twice and taking more than 60 strong antibiotics. **** My professional life problem. I am at the tail end of teaching …

Engaged with the Gibbs Reflective Cycle

I’m attending a week-long seminar critical thinking series in Portugal with people from Finland, Germany, Holland, Iran, Ireland, and Portugal. Today’s in-class assignment has us drilling down into the Gibbs Reflective Cycle. I think I’m going to make a Sway about the findings …

Getting Value from MSFT Copilot

Impressed with some of the facets of Microsoft Copilot. Much of the student work I now get uploaded into SharePoint can be cross-referenced by colleagues who teach alongside me but never enter my classrooms. Now they can dynamically see the evolution of student portfolios as core elements percolate …

I scored no points on another of those “been there dun dat” surveys.

Critical Thinking and Creativity

I’m taking a short advanced programme about Creativity and Critical Thinking. In some corners, critical thinking is at odds with creativity. In my life, critical thinking processes help me question, analyze, and evaluating, while creativity helps me produce clever ideas and explore multiple …

Ready for a note-taking session at work.

CompSci Majors Are No Longer Safe

As Kelli Maria Korducki explains in The Atlantic, computer science is no longer the safe major. From the time I left high school, computer science degrees have been sold as one of the safest paths to job security. Through several downturns, coding jobs kept spawning and wages are very good. By the …

“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” – Bertrand Russell

Watching the writers thinking about returning to work. “New transparency in streaming data means Netflix and Disney Plus will have to change how they work,” writes Alex Cranz. www.theverge.com/2023/9/26…