teaching staff post

content/post/2023/01/capturing-video-output-on-nintendo-ds-hardware.md

@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ Yet another option is using [Godmode9](https://github.com/d0k3/GodMode9), a file
 
 ![](../mightmagic.jpg "A screenshot of Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes, 16 hours in.")
 
-Pfew. That was much more involving than I expected! FTPD isn't required, but the microSD card of the 3DS sits underneath the annoying 3DS case and I don't feel like unscrewing the whole thing every time I want to transfer a screenshot. Now I also have the added benefit of backing up my DS games, like I tend to do with GBxCart for GBA/GB(C) games [as mentioned before](/post/2021/07/double-dipping-and-market-prices/). For those games, the [Analogue Pocket](/post/2022/04/analogue-pocket/) is probably the best option, as the latest firmware allows for in-game screenshots. 
+Whew. That was much more involving than I expected! FTPD isn't required, but the microSD card of the 3DS sits underneath the annoying 3DS case and I don't feel like unscrewing the whole thing every time I want to transfer a screenshot. Now I also have the added benefit of backing up my DS games, like I tend to do with GBxCart for GBA/GB(C) games [as mentioned before](/post/2021/07/double-dipping-and-market-prices/). For those games, the [Analogue Pocket](/post/2022/04/analogue-pocket/) is probably the best option, as the latest firmware allows for in-game screenshots. 
 
 To summarize: if you want the easy way out, use an emulator and take a screenshot there, but transfer your savegame progress. For 3DS games, taking a screenshot while playing with the help of Rosalina works flawlessly. For DS games, TWiLight Menu++ should offer the same, but I don't want to fiddle with a flashcard, don't have a DSi, and don't intend to play many DS games on my 3DS. 
 

content/post/2023/01/teaching-staff-without-practical-experience.md

@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+---
+title: "Teaching Staff Without Practical Experience"
+date: 2023-01-17T16:44:00+01:00
+tags:
+  - academia
+categories:
+  - education
+  - learning
+---
+
+Don't you also think it's strange that typical classroom teachers don't have any practical experience in the topic they're attempting to teach? This phenomena isn't limited to higher education, but could be applied to high school as well. Immediate exceptions I can think of could be physical educators that are or have been professional athletes, or language teachers that also earn a living as a translator, but these seem to be the exceptions. 
+
+Last week, I was at a higher education study information convention where last-year high school students can inform themselves on which further educational options to pursue. A colleague and I got talking and he was baffled that at our faculty, a lot of professors that teach practical courses limit themselves to conveying the theoretical message through classic lectures, while outsourcing lab exercise coaching sessions to teaching assistants. According to him, the reason is simple: they don't know how to solder or how to program something. 
+
+The more I thought about that, the more I'm inclined to agree. Software engineering courses are taught by academics that are expert researchers but junior software engineers. How are we supposed to teach students the ropes if we don't know common pitfalls ourselves? Lecturing---the one-way street of delivering information---about the [Gang of Four](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_Patterns) without a _real-life_ example is a guaranteed way to confuse students. The problem is only amplified by providing simple made-up examples to (1) manage huge student groups and the time-consuming grading process, (2) not repeat the examples from previous academic years, and (3) for the love of god stay well between the boundaries of your own course. 
+
+It feels as if the software engineering program is more prone to the problem. For one, the trends and world evolves rapidly, but also, academia and industry are _miles_ apart and much less connected than say veterinary, where most professors only work as a professor half-time and devote the bigger part of their career to actually operating and other more practical jobs in association with a university clinic. Why isn't this the case with computing? See what I did there, I'm already generalizing. 
+
+I used to be a fencer, and the best fencing clubs were the ones where the trainer was still a highly respected and active fencer. As a kid, I looked up to the trainers that effectively participated in the warm-up and technique training exercises, not the lazy or old ones that just told us what to do but didn't do anything themselves. 
+
+Consider the apprentice/master teaching model, where one or a few apprentices have to work hard under the master's wing to prove themselves. The apprentice is put to the test multiple times a day, is bombarded with philosophical questions, but most of all, is expected to _watch & learn_, as they say. For software engineering, there seems to be very little to _watch_ at universities these days.
+
+---
+
+Why didn't I have to prove myself when I was hired as a teaching assistant? I found that very odd: everyone just expected I taught adequately. I expected the professor or another veteran to sit in my classes in order to give feedback, but 4.5 years later, that never happened. When I asked why not, the answer was a shrug and a "you're doing fine". To get tenure, you have to work very hard for years and jump through various hoops (which are probably on fire). Oh, and you need a PhD. But nobody will ever give feedback on _how_ you teach: whatever. Sure, a committee will care, but only about the numbers: as long as your student evaluations are up to snuff, you're good, right?
+
+Yet, at the same time, to teach the last few grades in high school, you need a special Master's degree called a [Master of Educational Studies](https://onderwijsaanbod.kuleuven.be/opleidingen/e/CQ_50268973.htm#activetab=diploma_omschrijving) that's a full-time year of studying pedagogical theories and frameworks, with another year of contents if you want to teach something you didn't study. My brother-in-law is doing just that, and noted that many pedagogy professors never ever taught in high school. Okay... 
+
+The severe shortage of educational staff in Belgium has never been that high, yet it seems to be directly proportional to the amount of ridiculousness involved in the teaching world. Who do you want to be teaching you? Someone who's been at the craft for years and years and fused with it, or someone who got the course shoved in their basket, perhaps because of "staff shortages"? During my high school years, I've had teachers who, when it comes to course contents, are just two weeks ahead of the students. I sincerely hope that's no longer the case but fear it still is, and those teachers taught me nothing. 
+
+Perhaps we need to come up with another interpretation for "teaching" and "teacher". When I was a coach in the industry, I was guiding juniors while working, which is much closer to the apprentice/master model, and now that I think about it, I'd rather have a coach coaching me than a teacher teaching me---or even worse, a lecturer lecturing me. 
+

content/post/2023/01/terrible-software-as-a-service-pricing-models.md

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ Note that the website `cricut.com` explicitly mentions the usage of a "Free App"
 
 This wouldn't be more than a disappointment provided the software you have to use to interact with the devices is up to point, which it isn't. I'll just summarize my own impressions to keep it civilized:
 
-- The iPad app is different from the macOS version. Why? Buttons are placed differently, functionality is missing, and depending on the machine used (the small one called "Joy" or the bigger one called "Maker"), she has to use other software. Why? 
+- The iPad app is different from the macOS version. Why? Buttons are placed differently, functionality is missing, and depending on the machine used (the small one called "Joy" or the bigger one called "Maker"), she has to use other software---not because it's designed this way, but because the iOS version simply fails to recognize one of them. Why?
 - The software requires an internet connection and logging in to work. Why? I really detest this trend. If we already bought your hardware and overly expensive extra trinkets for more than `$500` in total, I want to be able to work offline. I don't want yet another account, I already bought your friggin' crap, just let me use it!
 - When adding a custom design such as an image or a hand-drawn vector trace, you have to _upload_ it. Upload. To where? Again, why? If I'm typing text in Word and want o insert an image, I insert an image, I don't first upload it to `microsoft.com`. Of course, being an American brand, privacy policies "forget" to explain this. 
 - The macOS version is extremely slow to boot and extremely sluggish to interact with. This isn't our MacBook's fault, other apps are snappy and it's a new laptop. My educated guess? It's built with [Electron](https://www.electronjs.org/).

data/webmentions.json

@@ -1,4 +1,18 @@
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+    {
+        "author": {
+            "name": "Aaron Davis",
+            "picture": "/pictures/readwriterespond.com"
+        },
+        "name": "💬 The Downsides of Generalism",
+        "content": "I am not sure if I am really a generalist with various pokers in the fire as you seem to have Wouter, but I am always willing to dive into new areas of learning. I wonder if the biggest challenge with this is the narrative, something you touch upon...",
+        "published": "2023-01-11T22:39:35+11:00",
+        "url": "https://collect.readwriterespond.com/the-downsides-of-generalism/",
+        "type": "mention",
+        "source": "https://collect.readwriterespond.com/the-downsides-of-generalism/",
+        "target": "https://brainbaking.com/post/2022/12/the-downsides-of-generalism/",
+        "relativeTarget": "/post/2022/12/the-downsides-of-generalism/"
+    },
     {
         "author": {
             "name": "Frank Meeuwsen",