Link Boxers: Trend Watch, iPads are Cool, Social Programmers

Higher Ed trends; Being declared “cool” in a court of law; Coding, socially

Summer. So bloody hot. Conserving energy by writing in sentence fragments. Less typing. Lowers chance of breaking out in a sweat. Some recent hot topics around the Interwebz:

Five Trends to Watch?

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from surfing the web for 20 years, it’s that the Internet abhors a lack of lists. Sensing the vacuum, it will create lists in order to help us waste our time. However, some lists are truly thought-provoking, like this look at five teaching trends from Gilly Salmon, Pro Vice-Chancellor at Australia’s Swinburne University of Technology. She cites mobility, connectivity, openness, collective intelligence and virtual worlds as areas that are and will continue to form the way learning occurs in higher ed. She envisions everything from mobile apps embedded in everyday teaching to crowdsourced ways of learning to avatar students learning from avatar teachers in virtual worlds.

How many of her suggestions ring true for you?

So, your Honor, are we at least a little cool?

File this under “damning with faint praise” — a judge in the United Kingdom has ruled that Samsung’s Galaxy tablet does not violate an Apple patent because the product is less “cool” than the iPad.

According the ZDNet, the judge wrote found there are more than 50 differences between the Galaxy and iPad that mean Samsung is not infringing on Apple’s patent. The case arose after Samsung had asked the court to rule on the matter, before Apple sued. The ruling means Samsung does not have to pay damages. However, the judge did get in this zinger that will surely find its way into Apple marketing: “”They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool. The overall impression produced is different.”

Insert “Programmers are Social?” Joke Here.

Apple. Stanford University, and startup Piazza are joining up to bring social elements to Apple’s iTunes U. PC Magazine reports that the three partners are encouraging students in Stanford’s iPhone and iPad Development class to collaborate remotely, in an approach called “Coding Together.”

The mag says:“According to the class description, ‘students are expected to help answer their peers’ questions on Piazza. Course Captains will prioritize questions that students have tried to answer and will focus on questions that pertain to the current week’s assignments, so you’ll need to keep up with the work.”

Stanford students have been using Piazza on campus, but this is the first time the service will be used in a remote course, the magazine said.

 

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