John McCluskey, & James Bletcher, from Whizdom RecruitmentGreetings from the ANU Techlauncher job skills workshop. Staff from ANU Careers are going through interview skills. I was surprised to see that few of the students have ever been to a job interview. Some of the tips which careers advisers give, such as how to  read the job ad, might seem obvious, but they aren't. One ..read more

I will be speaking on "Teaching Green Computing Online: 15 Years of Student Engagement via Nudging" at the free HERDSA Online Engagement in Higher Education Special Interest Group Webinar, 1pm, this Wednesday, 10 April 2024. HERDSA didn't want this to be just me talking, so as well as ten slides, I prepared four questions for the participants to answer, & discuss live:"1. What have ..read more

Associate Professor Elaine Huber, University of SydneyIt is good to have a study which confirms, with scholarly rigor, what educators already knew: engagement is most important, with a focus on the student experience, and a supportive environment (McEwen & Huber, 2024).What makes good teaching applies equally in a classroom, & online. It is just easier to hide bad teaching in a classroom ..read more

Tom Worthington at ANU, with Telstra Tower in Background. Photo by Canberra Times, published 25 March 2024In an interview with The Canberra Times last week, I pointed out that space based telecommunications are vulnerable to solar storms, so terrestrial facilities such as Telstra Tower remain useful (Why Telstra Tower could save us in an apocalypse, Lucy Arundell, March 25 2024). As it happens ..read more

Greetings from the Australian National University where  Dr. Yun Kun Cheung is speaking on "Machine Learning in Games and Economic Systems" at the weekly AI ML & Friends seminar. One question raised was if algorithmic trading can cause stock markets to collapse, as well as deliberate attacks which incorporate algorithmic learning. This is my second AI seminar of the day discussing the ..read more

Greetings from the Australian National University Colloquium on Artificial Intelligence and Catastrophic Risk. Normally I attend weekly AI, ML and Friends Seminars in the ANU School of Computing, but today I am in the social sciences building, with philosophers. The colloquium is by the ANU Machine Intelligence and Normative Theory Lab. In the first presentation by Professor Seth ..read more

The SoundPEATS RunFree Lite Open Ear Headphones work well for webinars. I have tried a lot of headphones, earbuds, and more exotic gadgets, but these seem the most practical. The sound quality is good, they are loud enough,  easy to put on & stay in place. They don't interfere with my glasses. The battery lasts much longer than Bose Smart Glasses, for a fraction of the price. One ..read more

Greetings from March CBRIN First Wednesday Connect at Canberra Airport. At the moment we are hearing about how the Airport uses robot mowers. I am not sure where the robot dog fits in ..read more

The Ditigal Transformation Agency has announced 50 Australian Public Service (APS) agencies are conducting a 6-month trial of Copilot (Microsoft's implementation of Chat GPT), ending June 2024. Staff first take learning module. Agencies have also been given some general guidance, on Accountability, Transparency, Explainability, Privacy, Fairness, and Wellbeing. Agencies where AI could be ..read more

Greetings from Athabasca University (AU), Canada, where I am attending an Open Education Week event on "Exploring Openness in Education 2024". The audience is mostly M.Ed. and Ed. Doc students and faculty. Am one of the alumni, having completed my MEd in 2017. The panel includes Dr. Rory McGreal, who was one of my Professors when I studied at AU. I am not actually in Canada (I have ..read more