Algorithmic Essay-Grading: Teacher’s Savior Or Bane Of Learning? A contest is underway at data-crunching competition site Kaggle that challenges people to create “an automated scoring algorithm for student-written essays.” This is just the latest chapter in a generations-long conflict over the nature of teaching, and to that end it’s also just one of many inevitable steps along the line. Automated grading is already prevalent in simpler tasks like multiple-choice and math testing, but computers have yet to seriously put a dent in the most time-consuming of grading tasks: essays. Millions of students write dozens of essays every year, and teachers will often take home hundreds to read at a time. In addition to loading the teachers with frequently undocumented work hours, it’s simply difficult to grade consistently and fairly. Are robo-readers the answer? The competition is structured as you might expect, and actually is nearing its conclusion. Fair enough. The essay-grading portion is only “phase one” of the project’s plan, though.
Comment j'ai pourri le web Petite expérience amusante sur l'usage du numérique en lettres Pendant ma première année au lycée, j’ai donné à mes élèves de Première une dissertation à faire à la maison. Avec les vacances scolaires les élèves avaient presque un mois pour la rédiger : c’était leur première dissertation de l’année. Plus tard, en corrigeant chez moi, je me suis aperçu que des expressions syntaxiquement obscures étaient répétées à l’identique dans plusieurs copies. En les recherchant sur Google, j’ai trouvé des corrigés sur un sujet de dissertation voisin vendus à 1,95€. Interloqué, j’ai immédiatement arrêté de corriger les copies, ne sachant plus à quoi ou à qui j’avais affaire et ayant l’impression de travailler dans le vide. Plus tard, la même année, j’ai donné sur table à une de mes classes un commentaire composé, sur un passage d’une œuvre classique. J’ai donc décidé de mener une petite expérience pédagogique l’année suivante : j'ai pourri le web ! Tendre sa toile... 1ère étape 2ème étape 3ème étape
A Better Strategy for Hangman I agree. My strategy has always been based on word patterns. In fact, I would go so far as to skip the first five letters in the "optimal solution to get a hit" as you can assume that those five letters are in the answer. If I see an N as the next to last letter, you can bet that my next three guesses are E, S, and G because those are the three most likely letters to follow (-INE, -ANE, -ONE, -NS, -ING). If that N is last, I might take a stab for an -SION or -TION ending if the word is sufficently long enough. In a Wheel of Fortune situation, where it isn't a single word but a complex phrase (with a category hint, no less), I tackle it a little differently as a miss gives other players a chance to steal the puzzle.
'Tau day' marked by opponents of maths constant pi 28 June 2011Last updated at 09:46 By Jason Palmer Science and technology reporter, BBC News Fans of tau suggest it makes more sense than pi when describing fractions of a circle The mathematical constant pi is under threat from a group of detractors who will be marking "Tau Day" on Tuesday. Tau Day revellers suggest a constant called tau should take its place: twice as large as pi, or about 6.28 - hence the 28 June celebration. Tau proponents say that for many problems in maths, tau makes more sense and makes calculations easier. Not all fans of maths agree, however, and pi's rich history means it will be a difficult number to unseat. "I like to describe myself as the world's leading anti-pi propagandist," said Michael Hartl, an educator and former theoretical physicist. "When I say pi is wrong, it doesn't have any flaws in its definition - it is what you think it is, a ratio of circumference to diameter. "It's surprising people haven't changed before. Alan Jones in Lee-on-the-Solent, UK
Google: Bing Is Cheating, Copying Our Search Results Google has run a sting operation that it says proves Bing has been watching what people search for on Google, the sites they select from Google’s results, then uses that information to improve Bing’s own search listings. Bing doesn’t deny this. As a result of the apparent monitoring, Bing’s relevancy is potentially improving (or getting worse) on the back of Google’s own work. “I’ve spent my career in pursuit of a good search engine,” says Amit Singhal, a Google Fellow who oversees the search engine’s ranking algorithm. Bing doesn’t deny Google’s claim. As you might imagine, we use multiple signals and approaches when we think about ranking, but like the rest of the players in this industry, we’re not going to go deep and detailed in how we do it. Opt-in programs like the [Bing] toolbar help us with clickstream data, one of many input signals we and other search engines use to help rank sites. Later today, I’ll likely have a more detailed response from Bing. Got it? To Sting A Bing
56 hours, 81m points, and the fall of Missile Command’s 30-year-old-record Some numbers just stick out. Joe DiMaggio hit safely in 56 straight games. UCLA Men's Basketball won 88 in a row. And for the classic gaming niche, Victor Ali's 80,364,995 points on a single quarter in Missile Command looms just as large. Today however, seemingly out of nowhere, a challenger rose up and dethroned the 30-year-old record live on Twitch.tv. And, let's answer the natural question, how does Sandberg play for so many hours straight without breaks? Sandberg's Twitch page is relatively new, but it's filled with test streams of Missile Command play and his previous attempts at the record. Sandberg's performance will need verification from Twin Galaxies, the arcade turned international scoreboard for classic gaming (featured in the documentary Chasing Ghosts). Atari released Missile Command in 1980 and players have continued to strive for the record ever since (check out this newspaper clipping of a 40-million-plus round in 1981).
How to complete 'Snake' and accept the emptiness of life It takes 13 minutes and seven seconds to complete Snake, the decades-old game that enjoyed a renascence through Nokia's early mobile phones. 13 minutes, seven seconds, one hundred pellets. But what is this endless pursuit of pellets for? What reward lies at the end of this snake's insatiable desire for food? Nothing.