Media Literacy report published today

In September, 25 media literacy experts from academia, policy, and regulatory institutions met as part of the COST Media Literacy Task Force to discuss the current state of media literacy research and policy in Europe. Organized by Professors Sonia Livingstone and Geoffroy Patriarche, we discussed the broadening context of media literacy in light of increasing…

The Trouble with Testing

Also posted at DML Central: http://dmlcentral.net/blog/monica-bulger/trouble-testing It’s obviously summer because my news alerts are no longer steadily reporting concerns about education, our children’s future, the problems with teachers, etc. Perhaps now, then, is the perfect time to address the issue of testing and its troubles, while a little distance might provide perspective. So, why do…

The benefits of removing human bias

“It’s the great thing about code,” he said of computer language. “It’s largely merit-driven. It’s not about what you’ve studied. It’s about what you’ve shipped.” –Jade Dominguez quoted in NYT, 27 April 2013 Gild, a San Francisco start-up, is taking the Money Ball approach to identify potentially overlooked talented programmers. As reported in the New…

Adapting Social Science Methods to Humanities Research

Today I will be co-convening a session with Ray Siemens at the Modern Language Association’s annual conference on the topic of using and adapting research methods typically associated with social sciences to research in the humanities. Our panelists include colleagues Eric Meyer (OII), Lindsay Thomas and Dana Solomon (UC Santa Barbara), James Kelley (Mississippi), and…

Talking to each other: the challenge of interdisciplinary work

Today I’m giving a lecture about learning environments that promote interdisciplinary dialogue in Internet Science. After 10+ years working in an interdisciplinary space, I take for granted how much easier it has become, I forget the many times I sat through lectures that were like a foreign language where every third word made sense. I…