That's just eye candy. The real benefit of this is if you a barcode, or a bottle of laundry detergent or a distant landmark, like Stone Mountain in Georgia, and then get relevant information. I know what Stone Mountain is, but someone from out of town wouldn't, so they wouldn't have the name to search...and location based option, while useful, would give you WAY too many results.
That said, it'll be nice on a few rare occasions, but generally it will be used just for fun. As long as it is free, that's fine with me.
As soon as they have books that I can check out of the library, where I can read it easily AND watch a video relevant to the content, I'm right there with you.
I know...I know...I could have my laptop/netbook AND the book beside me, but I'm lazy like that.
Oh, and also, the librarian at my university always got mad when I took notes in the margins of her books. She also made me pay for the damn book if I kept it forever.
My guess is that those who are looking for a specific source of information when it comes to general news is relatively small. Most people will look at the summary on Google and then click the link. I am relatively particular about these kinds of things, but I often check the name of the source, only after I've gone to the page and read the article.
I think Microsoft and Murdoch are grasping at straws. Maybe not, and if not, then Google will have to jump on board, but I'd put my money on other sites quickly absorbing the traffic that did go to those sites.
I think this is all just an excuse for Google to turn up its nose at Microsoft by making them look like they're dragging their heels.
Really? I very seriously doubt that they did this just to turn their collective nose up at Microsoft. Might it be that they want a more usable browser, so they get more eyes on their own products?
I believe, though MS balked at supporting a non-final language.
Wouldn't you consider the fast pace of development a reason to at least support the most obvious standards. If our browsers wait for the final standards, that will slow the development process down. Now before you come flaming back at me, I'm not saying everything should be released bleeding edge, but there has to be some place in the middle that could be effective. You have to admit, IE hasn't had a stellar record of being a progressive, or even current browser.
There are a lot of things about private school we could use, but the claim they have the best teachers is more an element of marketing than quantifiable fact.
Give most teachers fifteen kids in a class, without nearly as much bureaucratic interference, and with parents who value education enough to pay a large sum of money to send their kids to private school, and you would think they were far better teachers than they would be if in the public school system.
But, I do think teachers should be held to a higher standard than they are at public schools. They should in turn hold students to higher standards. Also, the ability to quickly fire bad teachers, like they have in private schools, would go a long way to help. Of course, in order for these things to happen, people need to voice their opinions by taking an interest in local school board elections. They are the ones that often hamstring local schools.
I would like to think I'm a decent teacher, and I loathe that there are teachers in the system stealing a salary, so in theory I love the idea of performance based pay, but the problem comes when you start to try and determine what are the indicators for good performance.
Standardized tests are what people generally assume would be the measure, but I have some issues with teachers beginning to teach the test. I hope that wouldn't happen, but I know some teachers that would do it for the money. Those are the same ones who get masters or doctorates from questionable universities rather than from a school that would help them do their jobs better.
More importantly, many good teachers, who work well with lower performing students, often get a disproportionate number of kids that have academic issues. Counselors and administrators tend to wink, wink those kids into a class with teachers they know are good. Not a bad move, but if we were paid based on students scores, the good teacher would be punished.
The major issue that causes the most problems is implementation. Invariably, states and school boards try very hard to make these things work, but they don't have the money or the follow through to create a valid measure of student success. So, unfortunately, even if there is in theory a great means of paying teachers based on performance, the implementation will almost certainly be flawed.
I'd like to see administrations have the ability for fire bad teachers which would alone get rid of a large part of the problem. Let's start there.
That might be true in the lower grades. I teach high school, and for the most part, we know what we are teaching from year to year. Not always...sometimes we get thrown that curve ball though.
Except that is explicitly stated in contracts for professors. Teachers don't have a clause like that. I also do my lesson planning on my own time, since my free period is filled with bureaucratic chores.
No one is required to buy them from any source. Most school districts purchase supplemental lessons and resources when they purchase the textbooks. Now these are generally really bad lessons, but no one requires teachers to buy lessons from these sites. It is a teacher's prerogative to do so.
I don't know if I agree. We teachers are hourly employees. That's why we have to make up snow days.
If my lesson plans are done outside of school - which mine are - and aren't explicitly required by my district - which mine aren't - then what I do on my own time is my business, literally if I decide to sell them.
If you want to pay teachers overtime for all the work they put in at home preparing for class, I am sure a lot of teachers would be happy to see the additional pay.
I figured this out once. I would almost double my salary...
Most teachers are not on salaries, but are on an hours plus contract. Meaning we are contracted to work a minimum number of hours, but they can then make us work more. That's why teachers have to make up snow days.
My father is a school administrator (and has been for districts large and small) and I can tell you a significant portion of the budget goes to buying lesson plans*.
No disrespect to your father, but most administrators think teachers use that stuff, but only the worst teachers do. I've been on several textbook adoption committees where most of the supplemental materials are purchased, and I'll tell you those lessons aren't good for the actual classroom. Those materials are to appease administrators and purchasing departments, so it looks like they are getting a good deal. They aren't.
I would agree that schools should take into account individuals, but remember that large swaths of the country don't have unions.
Meanwhile you have teachers who are flat out no good at their job (due to incompetence or complacency) making the same wage as an equivalently schooled and experienced teacher who is a natural and actually does a good job.
IMHO you have hit the nail on the head. This issue is the most important one facing education.
It's actually a lot more than that. The students go 180 days. Most teachers are on 190 day schedule, but - and this is important - almost all teachers spend a good part of their two months off working to plan their lessons for the next year. We still get a lot of time off, but it isn't nearly as much as people think. Generally I get to school at 6:00 and leave around 5:00pm carrying a huge briefcase full of essays to grade. I spend about an hour or two grading every night. Not every night, but most. I go to about 20 or more school functions to support my students every year and go to two or three conferences over the summer. Most of my colleagues work about as much.
, get rock solid job security after a few years, have great family health coverage,and are provided a pension plan that absolves them from having to pay the social security "tax" every paycheck like the rest of us who probably won't even get anything out of it.
Your points are true but only for those who stay in teaching. The attrition rate for teachers is extremely high. So, the points you make are only valid for a small group of the teachers that actually make it to be vested. For most teachers getting to "avoid" the SS tax just means they lose those working years for their eventual retirement, assuming SS isn't insolvent by then.
The new slashdot is way easier to participate on from dialup.
Shhh...If people start thinking/. discussions work, half the people here won't have anything to complain about and will have to go back to spending the day working.
Of all things, why should a *web browser* be a memory pig?
I get the point, and agree...somewhat. But isn't this creating a false dichotomy. One of the interesting problems we face is how we deal with an evolving web. Maybe the web browser is more of a memory pig is because of its expanded role. We do so much more now than when FF started its rise, so having additional features is a good thing. Maybe someone needs to fork (and heavily publicize) FF into a leaner browser, so we have one browser for those old computers that are only going to be looking at relatively static pages, and then one with a much larger feature set like the current FF.
Whether you agree with working with the evolving web through a web browser or think other programs should be developed as the primary tool for cloud applications, it would be hard to deny that until something else comes along, many new and exciting web apps need a more robust feature set.
Come on...this guy responds to someone, who calls him a fuck head for providing a link to information connected to the post, in a calm and measured way, and somehow he gets modded flamebait?
If that doesn't get fixed, I've lost the last little bit of trust I have in the/. mod system.
Slashdot Mirror
Some people don't know their asses from a hole on their face.
It's because their ship got stranded over Africa. These were just the worker bees that were left behind.
That's just eye candy. The real benefit of this is if you a barcode, or a bottle of laundry detergent or a distant landmark, like Stone Mountain in Georgia, and then get relevant information. I know what Stone Mountain is, but someone from out of town wouldn't, so they wouldn't have the name to search...and location based option, while useful, would give you WAY too many results.
That said, it'll be nice on a few rare occasions, but generally it will be used just for fun. As long as it is free, that's fine with me.
As soon as they have books that I can check out of the library, where I can read it easily AND watch a video relevant to the content, I'm right there with you.
I know...I know...I could have my laptop/netbook AND the book beside me, but I'm lazy like that.
Oh, and also, the librarian at my university always got mad when I took notes in the margins of her books. She also made me pay for the damn book if I kept it forever.
My guess is that those who are looking for a specific source of information when it comes to general news is relatively small. Most people will look at the summary on Google and then click the link. I am relatively particular about these kinds of things, but I often check the name of the source, only after I've gone to the page and read the article.
I think Microsoft and Murdoch are grasping at straws. Maybe not, and if not, then Google will have to jump on board, but I'd put my money on other sites quickly absorbing the traffic that did go to those sites.
Yeah! I'm with you...who needs those little niceties taxes get us, like roads and such?
Really? I very seriously doubt that they did this just to turn their collective nose up at Microsoft. Might it be that they want a more usable browser, so they get more eyes on their own products?
Wouldn't you consider the fast pace of development a reason to at least support the most obvious standards. If our browsers wait for the final standards, that will slow the development process down. Now before you come flaming back at me, I'm not saying everything should be released bleeding edge, but there has to be some place in the middle that could be effective. You have to admit, IE hasn't had a stellar record of being a progressive, or even current browser.
When I watched Nightmare on Elm's Street, I was convinced I would die if I went to bed.
There are a lot of things about private school we could use, but the claim they have the best teachers is more an element of marketing than quantifiable fact.
Give most teachers fifteen kids in a class, without nearly as much bureaucratic interference, and with parents who value education enough to pay a large sum of money to send their kids to private school, and you would think they were far better teachers than they would be if in the public school system.
But, I do think teachers should be held to a higher standard than they are at public schools. They should in turn hold students to higher standards. Also, the ability to quickly fire bad teachers, like they have in private schools, would go a long way to help. Of course, in order for these things to happen, people need to voice their opinions by taking an interest in local school board elections. They are the ones that often hamstring local schools.
I would like to think I'm a decent teacher, and I loathe that there are teachers in the system stealing a salary, so in theory I love the idea of performance based pay, but the problem comes when you start to try and determine what are the indicators for good performance.
Standardized tests are what people generally assume would be the measure, but I have some issues with teachers beginning to teach the test. I hope that wouldn't happen, but I know some teachers that would do it for the money. Those are the same ones who get masters or doctorates from questionable universities rather than from a school that would help them do their jobs better.
More importantly, many good teachers, who work well with lower performing students, often get a disproportionate number of kids that have academic issues. Counselors and administrators tend to wink, wink those kids into a class with teachers they know are good. Not a bad move, but if we were paid based on students scores, the good teacher would be punished.
The major issue that causes the most problems is implementation. Invariably, states and school boards try very hard to make these things work, but they don't have the money or the follow through to create a valid measure of student success. So, unfortunately, even if there is in theory a great means of paying teachers based on performance, the implementation will almost certainly be flawed.
I'd like to see administrations have the ability for fire bad teachers which would alone get rid of a large part of the problem. Let's start there.
That might be true in the lower grades. I teach high school, and for the most part, we know what we are teaching from year to year. Not always...sometimes we get thrown that curve ball though.
Robert Hanlon
Fixed that for you.
Except that is explicitly stated in contracts for professors. Teachers don't have a clause like that. I also do my lesson planning on my own time, since my free period is filled with bureaucratic chores.
No one is required to buy them from any source. Most school districts purchase supplemental lessons and resources when they purchase the textbooks. Now these are generally really bad lessons, but no one requires teachers to buy lessons from these sites. It is a teacher's prerogative to do so.
I don't know if I agree. We teachers are hourly employees. That's why we have to make up snow days.
If my lesson plans are done outside of school - which mine are - and aren't explicitly required by my district - which mine aren't - then what I do on my own time is my business, literally if I decide to sell them.
I figured this out once. I would almost double my salary...
Most teachers are not on salaries, but are on an hours plus contract. Meaning we are contracted to work a minimum number of hours, but they can then make us work more. That's why teachers have to make up snow days.
No disrespect to your father, but most administrators think teachers use that stuff, but only the worst teachers do. I've been on several textbook adoption committees where most of the supplemental materials are purchased, and I'll tell you those lessons aren't good for the actual classroom. Those materials are to appease administrators and purchasing departments, so it looks like they are getting a good deal. They aren't.
kklein is also right about this issue.
I would agree that schools should take into account individuals, but remember that large swaths of the country don't have unions.
IMHO you have hit the nail on the head. This issue is the most important one facing education.
It's actually a lot more than that. The students go 180 days. Most teachers are on 190 day schedule, but - and this is important - almost all teachers spend a good part of their two months off working to plan their lessons for the next year. We still get a lot of time off, but it isn't nearly as much as people think. Generally I get to school at 6:00 and leave around 5:00pm carrying a huge briefcase full of essays to grade. I spend about an hour or two grading every night. Not every night, but most. I go to about 20 or more school functions to support my students every year and go to two or three conferences over the summer. Most of my colleagues work about as much.
Every school day, nearly a thousand teachers leave the field of teaching. - http://www.all4ed.org/files/archive/publications/TeacherAttrition.pdf (PDF)
Your points are true but only for those who stay in teaching. The attrition rate for teachers is extremely high. So, the points you make are only valid for a small group of the teachers that actually make it to be vested. For most teachers getting to "avoid" the SS tax just means they lose those working years for their eventual retirement, assuming SS isn't insolvent by then.
I wish I had mod points. I would give you a +1 funny for sure...
Shhh...If people start thinking /. discussions work, half the people here won't have anything to complain about and will have to go back to spending the day working.
I get the point, and agree...somewhat. But isn't this creating a false dichotomy. One of the interesting problems we face is how we deal with an evolving web. Maybe the web browser is more of a memory pig is because of its expanded role. We do so much more now than when FF started its rise, so having additional features is a good thing. Maybe someone needs to fork (and heavily publicize) FF into a leaner browser, so we have one browser for those old computers that are only going to be looking at relatively static pages, and then one with a much larger feature set like the current FF.
Whether you agree with working with the evolving web through a web browser or think other programs should be developed as the primary tool for cloud applications, it would be hard to deny that until something else comes along, many new and exciting web apps need a more robust feature set.
Responsible Mods needed...
Come on...this guy responds to someone, who calls him a fuck head for providing a link to information connected to the post, in a calm and measured way, and somehow he gets modded flamebait?
If that doesn't get fixed, I've lost the last little bit of trust I have in the /. mod system.