The invisible part of MOOCs is the massive collection of data on the behavior of students. Here, we're talking about Learning Analytics and Big Data which should be used to improve the next generation of MOOCs. This is a common practice of Web 2.0, the improvement process à la Google that exploits the data of its millions of users to improve its search engine. Here, students' data are a goldmine.
It is not easy for a teacher to find the sources of confusion and less effective pedagogical approaches from the small samples of data collected with a class of 20 students each year. Moreover, those students are pretty similar (the sample is statistically pretty homogenous). At the contrary, a MOOC with its thousands of students from all around the world and with very different backgrounds can use effective statistical data mining methods to detect problems and improve teaching. MOOC can also use machine learning to discover situations (or patterns) where students have common problems, in order to present evidence or explanations to help them.
More, compared to human, a computer never gets angry and it is always ready to resume its explanations, making it an ideal teaching tutor.
Do you see the potential for continuous improvement of MOOCs mainly due to Big Data, the secret ingredient of MOOCs in the long term?
It's as if a bunch of people were brought up to believe human beings aren't adaptable to some moderate temperature hikes. We are, only stupid ones aren't.
It sounds like the Exxon CEO: .
Fossil fuels will warm planet, but humans can adapt
Therefore, no problem for people rich, young and in good shape.
Just too bad for the others and wild animals!
I've found indecent and immoral to read these disconnected comments.
Few months ago, a couple of key GWT developers have left Google to create a startup.
But Google keeps the project alive and well and they will deliver a brand new version 2.5 version of GWT to Google I/O 2012.
Futhermore, GWT wrappers for the Google+ API have just been released (http://code.google.com/p/gwt-google-apis/).
From my experiences, there is two extremes use cases with a gray zone between.
For great and complex client-side project (desktop like web app), you should take GWT and MVP (Model-View-Presenter) framework like GWTP (http://code.google.com/p/gwt-platform) with eventbus, activities and places. You've got Eclipse tooling, visual editor, debugger and jUnit testing. As bonus, get a generated JavaScript code that runs faster than handwritten JavaScript. This is the software engineering playground.
That said, to write HelloWorld and small cute web apps using jQuery or any JavaScript librairies could do the job quicker and keep the craftman happy.
Rather than trying to compete on general research against Google, Bing's strategy is to select the targeted queries as the search for goods and services (travel, shopping, health, local searches., etc).
The idea is bright, especially since such queries are the most likely to bring the $ dollars from advertisers. However, the trick is good but I see nothing that Google cannot ultimately counter...
Rather than trying to compete on general research against Google, Bing's strategy is to select the targeted queries as the search for goods and services (travels, restaurants, cars, etc). I cannot comment on the outcome but the idea is very good especially since such queries are the most
likely to bring the $ dollars from advertisers. However, the trick is good but I see nothing that Google cannot ultimately counter...
Furthermore, GWT has a JavaScript Native Interface (JSNI) that allows automatic inclusion of external JavaScript and directly interacts with JavaScript from Java and vice versa.
I might perhaps add that GWT compiler generates faster JavaScript than you can write by hand!
Finally, there are extensions available GWT-Ext and GWT-Query which does what Ext-JS and jQuery does but calls the GWT compiler to produce optimal code.
GWT is nothing less than a completely original approach to web development. So, its client-centric approach could hurt old Web habits, particularly server-minded coders.
Furthermore, there are now maybe hundreds of JavaScript Libraries and Ajax Frameworks. A cleanup is in order. Of course, it takes some time...
These facts can explain the relatively slow adoption of GWT.
That said, let me simply explain our experience.
So we ask ourselves: Which tool will be the good one considering our project itself, our team composition and our future developments? So we did a small survey.
After some exploration, our short list of preferred or most likely tools includes RSF with Dojo/Dijit, JSF with RichFaces, jQuery, ZK and GWT the Google Web Toolkit. Further review concluded that the best technology was the Google Web Toolkit.
At the end, our main argument was that our team is essentially composed of Java developers with little knowledge of JavaScript.
As a matter of fact, GWT Cross-Compiler takes client side Java code and generates cross-browser JavaScript. When compiled the Client-side is then pure JavaScript and HTML. You can see JavaScript as the 'assembly language' of the browser.
Our project, OpenSyllabus was entirely written with GWT and Java. So, we have never debug not even one line of JavaScript code for a project which has much as 400 MB of source-code (for both client and server side).
In the ideal world, the Java developer would never have to write JavaScript code. This is a fulfilled promise of GWT.
With GWT, Google bets on the 6 millions Java developers community out of here.
Advantages of GWT:
* Development time efficiency is our favorite advantages of GWT
* Only one language : JAVA
* GWT applications are faster than traditional page-based equivalents, and definitely require fewer HTTP round-trips
* Requires no browser plug-ins, Web Start or JVM
No downloads, no installations
* Powerful & efficient in resources usage both network & server
* Compatible with all recent desktop browsers
* Open source, free and well documented
* Supported and improved by Google and Open Source community
* Rapid development and debugging with common IDEs as Eclipse
* Familiar to Java developers, particularly those having Swing experience
* Benefit from the Open Source Google API ecosystem
Disadvantages of GWT
* Need a good knowledge of Java
* Components (Widgets) are from different sources and qualities
* The built-in UI components library could be more extensive
* Depends on cross-compiler performances
* We have to keep an eye on security issues.
Inherently Ajax (GWT and JavaScript libraries) create more opportunities for possible attacks if the application is not designed with security in mind.
* GWT is a Toolkit not a FrameWork
This means that GWT does not prescribe a way to build an application. So, for large application we have to set our own guidelines
* CSS support
It was the worst cross-browser problem we encountered
GWT is not magic but has the potential to be the "next big thing" for Web 2.0 development
I did not succeed to install eclipse plugins from TPTP (Tracing and Profiling Tools Platform) on my Mac.
I think, but I'm not sure, that something is missing, something like platform specific software agents to run up the profiler on Mac.
Then, I myself reminded a news about the release of the NetBeans Profiler for Mac OS X.
http://profiler.netbeans.org/
What an experimental stuff! This is definitely the PROFILER for Java! (Cross my heart, I'm not working for Sun and I'm still using the eclipse IDE).
I had to download and install NetBeans 5, an eclipse import module and switch to JDK 5.
Bingo, just like that... and all is running fine on my PowerBook.
Slashdot Mirror
In fact, many years of funding by the Public Health Agency of Canada. http://www.brandonsun.com/busi...
I think, it's an hoax. Isn't it?
Greetings Dr Agarwal,
The invisible part of MOOCs is the massive collection of data on the behavior of students. Here, we're talking about Learning Analytics and Big Data which should be used to improve the next generation of MOOCs. This is a common practice of Web 2.0, the improvement process à la Google that exploits the data of its millions of users to improve its search engine. Here, students' data are a goldmine.
It is not easy for a teacher to find the sources of confusion and less effective pedagogical approaches from the small samples of data collected with a class of 20 students each year. Moreover, those students are pretty similar (the sample is statistically pretty homogenous). At the contrary, a MOOC with its thousands of students from all around the world and with very different backgrounds can use effective statistical data mining methods to detect problems and improve teaching. MOOC can also use machine learning to discover situations (or patterns) where students have common problems, in order to present evidence or explanations to help them.
More, compared to human, a computer never gets angry and it is always ready to resume its explanations, making it an ideal teaching tutor.
Do you see the potential for continuous improvement of MOOCs mainly due to Big Data, the secret ingredient of MOOCs in the long term?
Claude Coulombe
Montréal
It's as if a bunch of people were brought up to believe human beings aren't adaptable to some moderate temperature hikes. We are, only stupid ones aren't.
It sounds like the Exxon CEO: . Fossil fuels will warm planet, but humans can adapt Therefore, no problem for people rich, young and in good shape. Just too bad for the others and wild animals! I've found indecent and immoral to read these disconnected comments.
Few months ago, a couple of key GWT developers have left Google to create a startup. But Google keeps the project alive and well and they will deliver a brand new version 2.5 version of GWT to Google I/O 2012. Futhermore, GWT wrappers for the Google+ API have just been released (http://code.google.com/p/gwt-google-apis/).
From my experiences, there is two extremes use cases with a gray zone between. For great and complex client-side project (desktop like web app), you should take GWT and MVP (Model-View-Presenter) framework like GWTP (http://code.google.com/p/gwt-platform) with eventbus, activities and places. You've got Eclipse tooling, visual editor, debugger and jUnit testing. As bonus, get a generated JavaScript code that runs faster than handwritten JavaScript. This is the software engineering playground. That said, to write HelloWorld and small cute web apps using jQuery or any JavaScript librairies could do the job quicker and keep the craftman happy.
The troll did not understand or he pretended not to understand. The iPad is a consumer device not a computer.
Rather than trying to compete on general research against Google, Bing's strategy is to select the targeted queries as the search for goods and services (travel, shopping, health, local searches., etc). The idea is bright, especially since such queries are the most likely to bring the $ dollars from advertisers. However, the trick is good but I see nothing that Google cannot ultimately counter ...
Rather than trying to compete on general research against Google, Bing's strategy is to select the targeted queries as the search for goods and services (travels, restaurants, cars, etc). I cannot comment on the outcome but the idea is very good especially since such queries are the most likely to bring the $ dollars from advertisers. However, the trick is good but I see nothing that Google cannot ultimately counter ...
Good JavaScript libraries like (jQuery ExtJS or YUI) makes much easier to use JavaScript but it's still JavaScript!
In fact, comparing Java and JavaScript is not a fair at all... From a software engineering perspectives, JavaScript is too weak to hold water.
As Brendan Eich, the JavaScript creator, himself recognises, JavaScript was designed to add a little bit of animation or a little bit of smarts to Web forms and Web pages.
Furthermore, GWT has a JavaScript Native Interface (JSNI) that allows automatic inclusion of external JavaScript and directly interacts with JavaScript from Java and vice versa.
I might perhaps add that GWT compiler generates faster JavaScript than you can write by hand!
Finally, there are extensions available GWT-Ext and GWT-Query which does what Ext-JS and jQuery does but calls the GWT compiler to produce optimal code.
GWT is nothing less than a completely original approach to web development. So, its client-centric approach could hurt old Web habits, particularly server-minded coders.
Furthermore, there are now maybe hundreds of JavaScript Libraries and Ajax Frameworks. A cleanup is in order. Of course, it takes some time...
These facts can explain the relatively slow adoption of GWT.
That said, let me simply explain our experience.
So we ask ourselves: Which tool will be the good one considering our project itself, our team composition and our future developments? So we did a small survey.
After some exploration, our short list of preferred or most likely tools includes RSF with Dojo/Dijit, JSF with RichFaces, jQuery, ZK and GWT the Google Web Toolkit. Further review concluded that the best technology was the Google Web Toolkit.
At the end, our main argument was that our team is essentially composed of Java developers with little knowledge of JavaScript.
As a matter of fact, GWT Cross-Compiler takes client side Java code and generates cross-browser JavaScript. When compiled the Client-side is then pure JavaScript and HTML. You can see JavaScript as the 'assembly language' of the browser.
Our project, OpenSyllabus was entirely written with GWT and Java. So, we have never debug not even one line of JavaScript code for a project which has much as 400 MB of source-code (for both client and server side).
In the ideal world, the Java developer would never have to write JavaScript code. This is a fulfilled promise of GWT.
With GWT, Google bets on the 6 millions Java developers community out of here.
Advantages of GWT:
* Development time efficiency is our favorite advantages of GWT
* Only one language : JAVA
* GWT applications are faster than traditional page-based equivalents, and definitely require fewer HTTP round-trips
* Requires no browser plug-ins, Web Start or JVM No downloads, no installations
* Powerful & efficient in resources usage both network & server
* Compatible with all recent desktop browsers
* Open source, free and well documented
* Supported and improved by Google and Open Source community
* Rapid development and debugging with common IDEs as Eclipse
* Familiar to Java developers, particularly those having Swing experience
* Benefit from the Open Source Google API ecosystem
Disadvantages of GWT
* Need a good knowledge of Java * Components (Widgets) are from different sources and qualities * The built-in UI components library could be more extensive * Depends on cross-compiler performances * We have to keep an eye on security issues.
Inherently Ajax (GWT and JavaScript libraries) create more opportunities for possible attacks if the application is not designed with security in mind. * GWT is a Toolkit not a FrameWork
This means that GWT does not prescribe a way to build an application. So, for large application we have to set our own guidelines * CSS support
It was the worst cross-browser problem we encountered
GWT is not magic but has the potential to be the "next big thing" for Web 2.0 development
* Keyboard support to Menus and TabBars
* Added ARIA roles/states to MenuBar/MenuItem, Tree/TreeItem, TabBar/TabPanel, CustomButton/ToggleButton/PushButton
* Screen readers are now able to identify and speak the content of these widgets
* Improved tab navigation
* New API to set ARIA roles/states on Elements (still experimental)
The problem is money. The problem is that we put more value on making money than being educated.
I did not succeed to install eclipse plugins from TPTP (Tracing and Profiling Tools Platform) on my Mac. I think, but I'm not sure, that something is missing, something like platform specific software agents to run up the profiler on Mac. Then, I myself reminded a news about the release of the NetBeans Profiler for Mac OS X. http://profiler.netbeans.org/ What an experimental stuff! This is definitely the PROFILER for Java! (Cross my heart, I'm not working for Sun and I'm still using the eclipse IDE). I had to download and install NetBeans 5, an eclipse import module and switch to JDK 5. Bingo, just like that... and all is running fine on my PowerBook.