The NSA would be the Colonial Cousin, not GCHQ. As far as I know, the UK has never (officially) been a colony of the US!

As social creatures much of our knowledge is built from social interactions, where we integrate our own experiences and beliefs with that of others to build new knowledge and understanding (i.e. Social Constructivism). The current dominant MOOC model is extremely procedural, teacher-centred and discourages these types of social interactions. While this works well for some subjects (particularly at introductory levels), it is much less effective in other situations. How can the large MOOC platforms, and EdX in particular, encourage a more social method of learning?

I've just given you one of mine. Oh,.....

Exactly! I live in Sheffield and 99.999% of the posts on Slashdot are about "$TRIVIAL_EVENTS" happening 4000 miles away from where I live. So what! If a story is interesting, what does it matter where it happened (not that this is an interesting one, mind you)

Educational Technology is my field and this has been gaining traction for a few years now (often under the name 'Bring Your Own Device [BYOD]') and, to be honest, it is attractive to institutions because they feel it will reduce the amount of hardware that is purchased and unused (or, worse, is switched on 24/7 but doing nothing). I don't think that it is something that lecturers or students would really want if they thought about the (many) downsides. However, the reason that laptops didn't take off is because of the patchy Wifi coverage when they were first becoming mainstream, the relatively poor battery life and few places to charge in most institutions, the weight of the devices and the startup time. With a tablet it is possible to switch it off, put it into your bag and start it up instantly in your next class - not so with a laptop. Tablet use is obviously going to continue growing as they become more affordable lifestyle devices, but for many people they will be unlikely to replace the general-purpose abilities that you get from a full-fat PC. That Smartboards are rubbish doesn't mean that tablets will replace them. Perhaps there is a fundamental problem with 'smartboard-style' teaching so that there will always be issues...

you are thinking of a processor simulator. here is a GPL'd one for the 8085 processor http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnusim8085/. THere are also others for other chips, including the Z80, just search for 'assembler simulator'. I remember using one at Uni about 12 years ago and it was a very useful tool.

Perhaps this island is where Saddam stashed him WMDs - it appears to be just as real.

Probably due to most people not being interested in any of the authors or genres on offer here, and paying more just gets you more of the same. At least with the games budles there is usually a variety of different genres so there is typically something for everyone in the bundle. Here, unless your preferences are strongly waited towards Science Fiction and Fantasy there is no interest - why not throw in a geeky non-fiction book?

Really? So any book-lover will have got/read most of the things here? I consider myself a reasonably avid reader and have no interest in any of these books - and I read a fairly varied range of genres and subjects (see my profile at http://www.shelfari.com/irglover). I realise that one data point isn't statistically significant, but niether is a sweeping generalisation.

It went away.

Not Here!

Bought this DVD of Vienna's Kunsthistoriches Museum in 2005. It is a 3D reproduction of the picture galleries with all of the pictures in the correct locations with text and audio info and several tours: http://ecomm.khm.at/cgi-bin/khmmuseumsshop.storefront/4d4aa01d0156ab252717c1aad8420688/Product/View/20000 So, not a new idea. But still a good one.

From the same wikipedia page "In the United States, both the novel and the film were called Tight Little Island, as a ban existed at the time on using the names of alcoholic drinks in titles." I also think the original title is much better and "Tight Little Island" sounds like a Disney film to me (probably part of their 'Disney Nights' series for the more discerning viewer)

His previous victory in proving ownership of the Try in Tripe (with the caveat that only when the word is spoken) has seemingly encouraged this attempt.

I'm surprised that no-one responded to this more Swiftly.

I would mod ths funny if I had the points (though I do hope it is a literary joke and not a comment in support of the GP's idea)

For that reason I would add 'A Scanner Darkly' by Philip k. Dick. Themes related to drugs and identity are very relevant to today's teenagers. The book is rooted in the present, so is recognisable and there is little moralising. It is being told by someone who lived through and survived drug abuse and the final dedication to friends that didn't survive is particularly moving.