Last night I went to the Castro Theatre to see a Q & A with Sal Khan of the Khan Academy. I’d never been to that theater before, so the venue alone was kind of a treat. It’s a huge, classic place that looks like it hasn’t been altered much from when it opened in… Continue reading The Path of Khan
Author: Finn Smith
What I want from a language-learning tool
Last night I went to an Edtech Network event here in San Francisco. I got to learn a lot about cool things happening in the Bay Area (such as TechShop and a new after-school STEAM program for the 8-14 age range). I also had the opportunity to chat with an entrepreneur who’s developing a new language-learning tool,… Continue reading What I want from a language-learning tool
Playing together to fight conflict
Last week’s Sunday New York Times has a piece on whether Palestinian and Israeli teenagers’ views of each other improve when they have positive experiences together (“Peace Through Friendship” by Juliana Schroeder and Jane Risen). It’s an intriguing hypothesis, but does it work in reality? For four years, we studied Seeds of Peace, a program that every year brings together several… Continue reading Playing together to fight conflict
Tuesday tip: Google add-ons
Earlier this year, Google unveiled add-ons. Previously, developers could use Google Apps Script (GAS) to create custom functions or tools, then publish them to script gallery. Other users could then read a short description if the script and install it in their own files. It worked fine, but it was clearly something Google hadn’t put… Continue reading Tuesday tip: Google add-ons
Cappy Hill Op Ed on Increasing Socioeconomic Diversity
I’m liking Cappy Hill, the current president of Vassar, more and more. She wasn’t there when I was a student. Now, on top of the news this week, she’s penned an opinion piece in the Washington Post on “How to increase socioeconomic diversity in college.” To increase the socioeconomic diversity of the student body, especially… Continue reading Cappy Hill Op Ed on Increasing Socioeconomic Diversity
Poor kids at rich colleges
It turns out that most top colleges are not doing a very good job of enrolling poor students (“Generation Later, Poor Are Still Rare at Elite Colleges”). Unfortunately, this comes comes to no surprise to someone who has close connections to several top American institutions. Still, there are some bright points. The article in the Times relies on a paper… Continue reading Poor kids at rich colleges
Tuesday tip: Spreadsheets and sheets in Google Apps Script
This week’s tip is a follow-up to last week’s post on working with ranges in Google Apps Script (GAS). Just like ranges, you need to be careful that you are working with the correct object if you’re dealing with sheets in GAS. If you’re used to Excel and VBA, GAS vocabulary is slightly different. In Excel, the… Continue reading Tuesday tip: Spreadsheets and sheets in Google Apps Script
Meanwhile, across the pond…
Here in New York (my home until Saturday), our new mayor has made universal prekindergarten classes a political priority. Winning pre-K burned some of de Blasio’s leverage with other leaders in Albany and New York. Now that it’s been approved, we’re getting into tricky situations with the schools that want to participate. Religious organizations want to… Continue reading Meanwhile, across the pond…
Who will test the testers?
Great follow-up to yesterday’s post. Dylan of the Learning Equality Foundation confirmed on Twitter that they’re planning on doing randomized control trials (RCTs) on the KA Lite program. Rigorous testing is sorely needed in the edtech world. It’s understandable that private companies don’t seek it out as much (since they need to please clients and institutions),… Continue reading Who will test the testers?
Somebody’s making the web go world-wide
This week I learned (via Tony Wan at Edsurge) that Khan Academy lessons are now being offered offline. The program is called “KA Lite” and is run by the Foundation for Learning Equality. The idea is that users, or teachers, around the world will be able to download lessons with translations in their local language,… Continue reading Somebody’s making the web go world-wide
The debt is too damn high
This week I was disappointed (and simultaneously a little relieved) to read that my home state of Oregon may ditch their innovative to plan for zero-tuition colleges. Relieved because, let’s face it, it would be a rocky and difficult task to implement over several generations. Oregon has been at the forefront of a lot of cool ideas… Continue reading The debt is too damn high
Tuesday tip: Ranges as objects in Google Apps Script
Maybe this will be a regular thing. Next week will be my last at NYU, so I’ve had lots of opportunities to explain the things I do. As I do, I’m seeing colleagues that I’m training running into some of the same questions I’ve had in the past about Google Apps Script and the various… Continue reading Tuesday tip: Ranges as objects in Google Apps Script
Tuesday Tip? (Or, How Gmail is annoying)
Not sure if this will be a regular thing, so I don’t know if this qualifies as a Tuesday Tip, but it’s Tuesday, and I’ve been finding out things about Gmail lately. Specifically, at NYU I’ve made an email ticketing system using Google Apps Script and have discovered what is kind of an annoying quirk… Continue reading Tuesday Tip? (Or, How Gmail is annoying)
Chegg ditches books (or at least, sending them)
This is old news (well, from last week), but I didn’t see it while I was in San Francisco for interviews. Chegg, the company that made its name buying and selling textbooks, is offloading the actual warehousing and shipping of books to the Ingram Content Group. I suppose it make sense, but I’ve still been… Continue reading Chegg ditches books (or at least, sending them)
An Oregonian Gets It
Nick Kristof has a great piece this week in the Times about poverty and empathy in America (Is a Hard Life Inherited?). I’m probably a little biased toward Kristof’s writing because he is, like me, from Oregon, but I do think that he does an excellent job of bringing attention to overlooked social and economic… Continue reading An Oregonian Gets It
Edtech gaps
My recent job search has been interesting. I’m moving from working in a tech/data position in higher ed (at NYU) and hunting in edtech. It’s been awesome so far – I’m getting great reception in the Bay Area, and it seems like there is a great new edtech company every day. But I feel like… Continue reading Edtech gaps
Learning to Code in 2014
I’ve recently given notice at my job (to move to the Bay Area), and the process of wrapping up in New York has given me the chance to reflect on a lot of skills I’ve learned in the past few years. One thing that’s been really amazing is learning how to code, which has changed… Continue reading Learning to Code in 2014
Excel F-1 Work Authorization Calculator
I made this a long time ago, but it completely slipped my mind to post it until recently. This workbook is an Excel version I made for my office at NYU of the online work authorization calculator that I posted earlier.
The idea is the same: enter a student’s previous work authorization to see how much optional practical training (OPT) is remaining. If you enter the student’s completion date, it will tell you when the student can apply for (and use) post-completion OPT. To use it, you’ll need to download the workbook and enable content and macros.
As always, feedback is welcome.
Sharing limited data without sharing the whole spreadsheet
Recently a friend asked me how he could share some data that he was working on with colleagues. The problem is that he can’t share the entire spreadsheet. My suggestion is to use Google Sheets and the ImportRange function to share limited ranges with another spreadsheet. What’s great about this method is that you can… Continue reading Sharing limited data without sharing the whole spreadsheet