LinkLog: Some Lively Discussions on Blogs

It is some times nice to start off with a blog post and discover a gold-mine. You keep digging and keep finding more stuff. Here are a few I found this morning:

Explaining Things: Math vs Programming

Who Reads Code Samples - which seems to have started the entire Math vs Programming comment threads

There are some really good arguments here and opinions. I like to think of Math being declarative, abstracted version where code deals with all the nuances and explains things a bit more.

I do like the concept of alternate forms of expression - especially in a programming book. So I will pick up and read this book (learning the Math if needed) just to see whether I can get used to this style.

Here is a nice link on Teaching Mathematics using Programming. If you do not have a formal Math back-ground or studied it a long time ago but forgot most of it (like me), this may help a bit.

we now have new tools: the development of computer programming has provided languages with grammars that are simpler and more tractable than that of conventional mathematical notation. Moreover, the general availability of the computer makes possible convenient and accurate experimentation with mathematical ideas.

Understanding Expertise

Have you watched an expert at work? You can sense  a level of comfort and fluency. I often watch expert programmers code, debug, fix problems in software.  I get the same sense watching painting shows on TV. A stroke here, a stroke there and suddenly you have a beautiful creation taking shape, right in front of you.

I always wondered what makes experts experts. I thought it was intelligence or just a lot of experience. It seems to be a lot more than that. I never dug deeper into the subject and suddenly I stumbled into this, while exploring a completely unrelated subject.

People who have developed expertise in particular areas are, by definition, able to think effectively about problems in those areas. Understanding expertise is important because it provides insights into the nature of thinking and problem solving. Research shows that it is not simply general abilities, such as memory or intelligence, nor the use of general strategies that differentiate experts from novices. Instead, experts have acquired extensive knowledge that affects what they notice and how they organize, represent, and interpret information in their environment. This, in turn, affects their abilities to remember, reason, and solve problems.

… the study of expertise shows what the results of successful learning look like…

We consider several key principles of experts’ knowledge and their potential implications for learning and instruction:

1. Experts notice features and meaningful patterns of information that are not noticed by novices.2. Experts have acquired a great deal of content knowledge that is organized in ways that reflect a deep understanding of their subject matter.

3. Experts’ knowledge cannot be reduced to sets of isolated facts or propositions but, instead, reflects contexts of applicability: that is, the knowledge is “conditionalized” on a set of circumstances.

4. Experts are able to flexibly retrieve important aspects of their knowledge with little attentional effort.

5. Though experts know their disciplines thoroughly, this does not guarantee that they are able to teach others.

6. Experts have varying levels of flexibility in their approach to new situations.

Now we know. Or at least, have some theories to explore. The fragments above, were taken from the second chapter - How Experts Differ from Novices of a really fascinating book - How People Learn.

Good Reads: An Element of Beauty in Learning

There is an element of beauty versus duty in learning most things. When the task is all duty, you may do it, but you may never like it. Indeed, you may come to hate it and stop altogether when the external forces that keep you on task (your teammates, your sense of belonging) disappear. When you enjoy the beauty of what you are doing, everything else changes.

From Eugene’s Math and Computing as an Art.

I think I finally found my morning reading. I stumbled upon this blog following threads of a controversy about a new CS curriculum and ending up in A Small Curricular Tempest. I spent a few hours, reading many of his posts, before I realized that I spent a few hours. This is what used to happen when I was a teenager and in early twenties. Endless hours of reading, engrossed and not even noticing the passage of time.

Thanks Eugene for making my day a bit better and giving me lots of stuff to read.

Golden Rule of Documenting Software Design

In the Next Programming Skill You Should Learn, Scott Hackett talks about the ability to communicate well, especially in writing. I totally agree. The post is certainly worth a read.

An unexpected bonus in this post is Scott’s tips on the golden rule of documenting software design.

The golden rule of documenting software design

Try to document whatever you are working on. It doesn’t have to be the worlds most perfect UML and you don’t need an expensive tool to do it. In fact, Wordpad and Paint are sufficient, and don’t tell me you don’t have those. Write in a way that best expresses your intent and your thought process in coming to the design decisions you did. I have a golden rule of documenting software design:

Describe your design to others as you would have others describe their design to you.

When you spend the time to do this, you’ll find that many benefits will follow. You’ll get feedback from others that may have tried to solve a similar problem and have insight you may not have thought of. You’ll leave a clear trail to follow for those that work on the code after you. Most importantly, you’ll shed light on your work, which everyone who depends on your work will appreciate. Even if no one else reads what you write, you’ll still have worked through problems in your head that can only lead to better design in the long run. There is no downside to documenting your designs.

One of the experiments I am conducting with a set of interns is to make them write a LearnLog and ProjectLog - just a few bullets or short sentences. We do this in a wiki so that every one in the project has access to it.  It is also one of the easiest and most effective ways to communicate asynchronously with the team.

In the Project Log, they are supposed to write the following:

• Design decisions
• Decision to use libraries/tools and why
• Problem areas and stumbling blocks and how they solved it
• A list of links to the resources they used

It is still an uphill battle but we are getting better gradually.

Learning Agility

I stumbled into IdeaCast from HBR a couple of weeks ago. First of all I love the title “IdeaCast”. You can’t pass up a pod-cast series with such a title. Like Knowledge@Wharton podcasts, this is an invaluable source of information. One of the pod-casts I listened to recently is about the Changing Role of Leaders. In this podcast Marshall Goldsmith talks about five of the new traits of a Future Leaders. Then Marshall goes on to add another (saying that he got it from one of the readers who commented on his blog post). He calls it Learning Agility.

The term immediately appealed to me and I immediately Googled it. and found this link.

It describes the common traits of learning agile people.

• They are critical thinkers who examine problems carefully and make fresh connections with relative ease.
• They know themselves well, leverage their strengths effectively and know how to compensate for their weaknesses.
• They like to experiment and are comfortable with the discomfort that comes from change.
• They deliver results in first-time situations through team-building and personal drive.

The author identifies a set of related agilities that learning-agile people may have:

• Mental Agility -Ability to separate action from startegy and vision
• Results Agility - Personal drive and presence
• People Agility - Ability to build teams which includes Conflict Agility

I think Learning Agility is an important trait, for companies - especially startups. Most of the founders have it. A bigger challenge is to make it an essential ingredient of the startup culture.

Resources: Technology Podcasts and Videos

I am always on the lookout for good podcasts to listen to. Here is an opportunity to listen to thought leaders in the tech industry.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Interviews with Innovators by Jon Udel from ITConversations Network. ITConversations also hosts some interesting podcasts on Social Innovation and other interesting topics.

Talking with Talis is one of my more recent discoveries. In their own words, it is:

conversations with thought-leaders at the interface between Web 2.0, Libraries, and the Semantic Web…

Inside Silicon Valley from PodTech News is another one of my favorites. I became aware of PodTech when Robert Scoble moved there from Microsoft.

ScobleShow is another one of my favorite ones. Since Scoble is no longer at PodTech, I wonder whether this series will continue.

Channel 10 is a great source that covers products and innovations at Microsoft.  I have watched some really grate videos and podcasts there.

Google Engineering Edu and other Google tech talk videos is one of the best sources of technology information. Google often invites thought leaders, developers, language designers to their campus. They make these videos available free.

A talk a day is my motto. A technology or Science podcast or an audiobook is a great companion when I take my walks or sweat it out on my treadmill.

Resources: 7 Things You Should Know About

This is one of the most useful resources I found yesterday. It is called Seven Things You Should Know About from Educause Learning Initiative. From their page:

7 Things You Should Know About…pieces provide quick, no-jargon overviews of emerging technologies and related practices that have demonstrated or may demonstrate positive learning impacts. Any time you need to explain a new learning technology or practice quickly and clearly

They cover a variety of emerging technology topics.  For each topic, they describe:

1. What is it?
2. Who is doing it?
3. How does it work?
4. Why is it significant?
5. What are the downsides?
6. Where is it going?
7. What are the implications of teaching and learning?

These questions (and the description) provides a much better overall perspectives of the topics covered. The coverage is non-technical and is a great way for any one curious about the topic to get a useful overview.

I like this format so much, that I plan to create a template and use it for our learning wiki.

LinkLog: Future of Learning

This is from a blog about Stephen Downes seminar in Malaysia on how to use Web 2.0 tools for learning.  It has great links to lots of useful resources for both learners and teachers too.

I especially liked the part about Future Learning Directions

• Learning as Creation
• Social Learning
• Personal Learning Environments
• Immersive Learning
• Living Arts

I regularly read Stephen Downes blog and get his newsletter and I learn a lot about learning.