Ask Olli is definitely a work in progress. Having just made a few big changes, it seems like a good time to look at what still needs work.

I uploaded some changes to the Ask Olli Search today that will really improve the quality of the results. It’s not even on Google’s scale, but you will now find the most relevant results at the top of any search.

Please take the time to read Steve Downes response (2/3 of the way down the post) to my The Experts vs The World post where he makes a few excellent points clarifying his initial remarks on the latest Economist debate.

The Democratic Experts

Downes makes an excellent distinction between becoming an expert and being appointed one. Expert bloggers uniquely achieve their standing without being annointed by one party or another. They achieve their standing by being read and by being quoted in other blogs.

Sorry, I have been neglecting Olli Answers lately. My nose has been in the code lately and I am really excited about some of the changes coming up that will make Ask Olli a lot more useful and easy to use. However, I find it difficult writing and coding at the same time. When I get sick of one, I can’t bring myself to do the other, so the writing has suffered.

Last night, I read Stephen Downe’s reaction to the next Economist debate, about the impact of social networks on education, and was surprised by his rather vitriolic response.

The Economist yesterday opened the second in their series of education debates. The proposition this time around is about universities competing for students:

Governments and universities everywhere should compete to attract qualified students, regardless of nationality or residence.

Early voting is strongly in favour of the proposition by about 2 to 1.

The pro-side mostly argues that international students pay more than other students resulting in a financial windfall for the institution, and the mixing of cultures is beneficial to international and local students.

A good laugh for teachers and students… Enough said.

There is an interesting article for students and teachers from any country today’s, The Korea Times. Rafael Sabio, an English teacher in a TESOL graduate program, touches on two main points in this second part in his series titled To Improve English Education. In this part he argues that

• pedagogy must be improved; and
• schools should recognise qualifications and experience and pay accordingly.

While the article is about English education in Korea, I know from my experience teaching in Japan that the dialogue between the author and the readers taking place in the comments is relevant to English education in Japan and, I would presume, other countries.

Second Life zapped my avatar today–totally fried it, and several times too! It was like something from a science fiction movie. I was wandering around different English study islands in Second Life when, all of a sudden, zap. An electric orange grid lit up and repelled my avatar, like force shields protecting Star Wars space craft from enemy fire, and displayed the message “No Entry” not once, but repeated hundreds of times across the screen.

But, magistrate, I was only curious, only looking around. I didn’t realise that I was entering a forbidden zone. Besides, there were signs inviting visitors to look around. I’m sorry…

The Second Life tutorials are done, so what next? I started by sending my avatar, Asa Mornington, out to explore rather aimlessly. I don’t recommend this; it got boring quickly. I found a lot of islands (Second Life is made of a bunch of little islands) that are still, I presume, under construction, because they don’t look all that complete. What I didn’t find while wandering aimlessly was a lot of people or
anything to do.

After my rather bitter experience with the Second Life sign up procedure, I was ready to jump in and start doing things in Second Life. I launched the Second Life client software for the first time and… got a message that there is a new version of the Second Life client software. It seems that they don’t give you the newest version of their software when you register your account. No big deal, 15 minutes later on my wireless connection and I was ready to go.