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I wish this (and more like this) was posted in main.
In response to
Ethical frameworks are isomorphic
(ducks before accusations of misusing "isomorphic")
Old joke:
Q: Are these two objects isomorphic?
A: The first one is, but the second one isn't.
In response to
Open thread, 11-17 August 2014
In a world without leap years, how many people should a company have to be reasonably certain that everyday will be someone's birthday?
See Coupon collector's problem, particularly "tail estimates".
In response to
Separating university education from grading
I'm actually curious why "the market" hasn't corrected itself on this one. I mean, since people go to college to become employable, tools to determine the best colleges should have emerged, and this in turn should have forced colleges to make sure they deliver. Especially since most colleges in the US are largely private institutions.
But this hasn't happened, even with the outcry against college loan burdens. I'm no libertarian, but this is one situation where I'd expect libertarians to get it right, so what's going on ?
There are absolutely differences in the perceived value of the same degree from different institutions. I've also heard of deparments that have received complaints from businesses that the quality of graduates with a certain degree has dropped due to grade inflation. That has led to a painful period of lower results as they try to correct the problem.
Are you sure you meant what you said? There are externals that are involved in exams, but they do not mark, they are involved in making sure exams are "within guidelines" when exams are being made, and they also make sure marking had been done properly (but they generally do not exhaustively check everything).
To the best of my knowledge, marking in the UK must be done by lecturer+ in rank (e.g. not postgrads or postdocs).
If the lecturer happens to be a postdoc (which is not unheard of in a final year course, for instance) then they are also likely to do the marking. I agree that exam marking is unlikely to be farmed out to postdocs who are otherwise not involved with the course.
Do they grade the exams themselves? For instance whether a particular exam is a good test of ability or not? or do they actually grade the student work? It would seem the former would be much more advantageous.
The draft examination papers are sent to the external examiners, who make comments as they deem appropriate. These might, for example, be "this question is too hard" or "this question is not clear". The final approved exams are then taken by the students and marked by the lecturers who set them. The external examiners then return during the moderation process, helping to decide where the boundaries for various classifications should be set.
In response to
[News] Turing Test passed
Side note for those who might not have come across him before: Kevin Warwick is a Professor of Cybernetics who, among other things, has communicated with his wife through electrical cables attached directly to nerves in their forearms.
In response to
Open Thread February 25 - March 3
The other videos I've sampled from that channel have also been good.
In response to
Effective public college tuition vs. private college tuition
The UK university system is of course very different from that of the US, but there's a similar effect. Tuition fees are roughly constant, but Oxford and Cambridge have generous bursaries for students from lower income families and subsidised housing, so are generally cheaper than the less prestigious (and less wealthy) alternatives.
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I wish this were posted in main.