Category Archives: Education

Making credentialling like a sport

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Some of you may know that Kaggle’s motto is “We’re making data science a sport.™”. Now we’re publishing a leaderboard of our top ten performers. And it’s quite an eye opener.  There’s not a professor there. Indeed there’s not a  person from a top university there. Just ten of the best data scientists in the world. Their names and bios below the fold. Of course there are only a few disciplines that can be reduced to the sporting formula to determine the best, but if there were more, then we could be on the cusp of a revolution.  Continue reading →

Universities generate growth . . . and always have

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Medieval Universities, Legal Institutions, and the Commercial Revolution
by Davide Cantoni, Noam Yuchtman – NBER #17979

We present new data documenting medieval Europe’s “Commercial Revolution” using information on the establishment of markets in Germany. We use these data to test whether medieval universities played a causal role in expanding economic activity, examining the foundation of Germany’s first universities after 1386 following the Papal Schism. We find that the trend rate of market establishment breaks upward in 1386 and that this break is greatest where the distance to a university shrank most. There is no differential pre-1386 trend associated with the reduction in distance to a university, and there is no break in trend in 1386 where university proximity did not change. These results are not affected by excluding cities close to universities or cities belonging to territories that included universities. Universities provided training in newly-rediscovered Roman and Canon law; students with legal training served in positions that reduced the uncertainty of trade in medieval Europe. We argue that training in the law, and the consequent development of legal and administrative institutions, was an important channel linking universities and greater economic activity.

ANU’s Philosophy Department and Chancellor exceed their KPIs Shock!

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Alvy Singer: What’s with all these awards? They’re always giving out awards. Best Fascist Dictator: Adolf Hitler. 

Annie Hall

 

It was with great excitement that I read my alumni news for ANU this month. Extraordinary things are happening. KPIs are being broken through all over.

ANU has excelled in the highly influential Philosophical Gourmet Report.

Announced last week, the Report ranks the top universities around the globe based on reputational surveys completed by over 250 philosophers.

ANU took out the top ranking in Australia, ahead of the University of Sydney’s philosophy department, the only other Australian institution in the top 50, which ranked at 45.

Internationally, ANU ranked 15 in the world, equal with Cornell University and The University of California, Berkeley, and ahead of every department in the United Kingdom except that of Oxford University.

ANU also excelled in the speciality ranking, coming out equal first in the current hot topics of Philosophy of Mind and Philosophy of Biology.

More information on the Report rankings is available at http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/overall.asp

Not only that but Gareth Evans the New(ish) Chancellor of the ANU has exceeded his KPIs too:

ANU Chancellor Professor the Hon Gareth Evans AO QC has been named one of Foreign Policy magazine’s Top Global Thinkers of 2011.

The annual list, which is judged by a group of prominent international peers, recognises the 100 individuals who have shaped the global conversation and world’s best ideas over the last 12 months.

Professor Evans has been named on the 2011 list with Special Adviser to the U.N. Secretary General, Frances Deng, for making the idea of a ‘responsibility to protect’ more than an academic concept. According to Foreign Policy, the pair took the concept from “airy theory held by a small cadre of human rights advocates to a guiding principle of the world’s strongest military alliance”.

Gareth came in at 52/100 just behind John McCain who, on account of past thinking efforts, has always enjoyed an open invitation to blog here at Troppo.

PM’s Science Prize: Nobel Prize preferred but not necessary

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A highlight of my calendar I have to say – since I inadvertently morphed into Mr Innovation and they started inviting me.

Did you have an absolutely fantastic science teacher? Now’s the time to get them some recognition.

NOMINATION CALL
2012 PRIME MINISTER’S PRIZES FOR SCIENCE

We are seeking nominations for Australia’s national science and science teaching awards, which are offered to Australian citizens or those who hold permanent residence status in Australia.

·        The $300,000 Prime Minster’s Prize for Science

·        The $50,000 Science Minister’s Prize for Life Scientist of the Year

·        The $50,000 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year

·        The $50,000 Prime Minster’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools

·        The $50,000 Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools

These prizes are a key element of the Inspiring Australia national initiative to recognise and reward the achievements and successes of Australians in the sciences.

Please share this information with your networks and associates – The Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science relies on nominations from across many sectors of our nation, to reward and recognise the outstanding achievements of our Australian science researchers and science teachers.

Closing Date: 27 April 2012, AEST 5.00 pm

Further queries and contact - www.innovation.gov.au/scienceprizes

 

 

About those computers Kevin was organising . . .

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The Effects of Home Computers on Educational Outcomes. Evidence from a Field Experiment with Schoolchildren
Date: 2011-09
By: Robert Fairlie (Department of Economics, University of California, Santa Cruz)
Jonathan Robinson (Department of Economics, University of California, Santa Cruz)
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:net:wpaper:1114&r=exp
Are home computers are an important input in the educational production function? To address this question, we conduct a field experiment involving the provision of free computers to schoolchildren for home use. Low-income children attending middle and high schools in 15 schools in California were randomly selected to receive free computers and followed over the school year. The results indicate that the experiment substantially increased computer ownership and total computer use among the schoolchildren with no substitution away from use at school or other locations outside the home. We find no evidence that the home computers improved educational outcomes for the treatment group. From detailed administrative data provided by the schools and a follow-up survey, we find no evidence of positive effects on a comprehensive set of outcomes such as grades, test scores, credits, attendance, school enrollment, computer skills, and college aspirations. The estimates also do not indicate that the effects of home computers on educational outcomes are instead negative. Our estimates are precise enough to rule out even modestly-sized positive or negative impacts. The lack of a positive net effect on educational outcomes may be due to displacement from non-educational uses such as for games, social networking, and entertainment. We find evidence that total hours of computer use for games and social networking increases substantially with having a home computer, and increases more than total hours of computer use for schoolwork.

Me: or recordings thereof

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Here are two talks I’ve given in the last year. One was a couple of weeks ago at a Melbourne Conversation on Big Data. I talk about the serendipity of big data and the relevance for privacy regulation.  And tell a story about Kaggle. I recommend the talk before mine by David McCloskey of Deloitte. He’s a very thoughtful guy.

The other is a talk on Education 2.0 given to QUT senior staff. It’s only up for another week or so and it’s one gigabyte to download – which is ridiculous, but apparently reduced from four gigs.  It’s a zipped file.

The Herald/Age Lateral Economics Index of Wellbeing

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Herewith my op ed from the Herald and Age today.

What is the good life and are we living it?

Assessing and measuring wellbeing has vexed us since ancient times. But a funny thing happened on the modern world’s way to the answer. The metric that economists used to dampen down the business cycle – Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – received such prominence that it ‘went viral’ as we say these days. It became the default measure of national progress.

But there’s lots wrong with GDP as a measure of economic wellbeing let alone more general wellbeing. Measuring gross activity, it ignores the growth and depreciation of assets – such as buildings, equipment, natural resources like farmland and mineral deposits, biodiversity and clean air. And that’s not to mention the greatest asset of all – our knowhow.

Moreover GDP is measured by money changing hands. So converting bread, mince and salad into a hamburger increases GDP in McDonalds but not at home. More starkly, an evening of passion and pleasure only adds to wellbeing as measured by GDP if it happens in a bordello! More broadly still, GDP takes no account of the distribution of income or of our physical or social wellbeing.

But considering how different all these phenomena are, how can we possibly measure their sum impact on national wellbeing in a single number? Because it would ‘dumb down’ complex issues, economics Nobel Laureate Amatya Sen initially refused to participate in the construction of a single index of human development to help guide development in poorer countries. But he relented because he appreciated that, however unsatisfactory a single wellbeing index might be, it was better than the alternative. Given the thirst for simple answers, the alternative is even more dumbing down as would occur if GDP yet again filled the vacuum. Continue reading →