Thursday, July 23, 2009

1984

In a case of reality matching art Amazon has been removing copies of 1984 from users' Kindles. see http://www.downes.ca/cgi-bin/page.cgi?post=49607 which says many of the obvious comments about the deletion of history etc, so I won't bother

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Which university should top the league tables?

NB for reasons I dont understand there is a lot of white space before the tables.

I was playing about with the data from the university league table in the independent, and it seemed to me that it was looking at the wrong thing from a student's perspective, which ought to be the value added by going there.
So, I have produced two tables which show the value add calculated in different ways.
Table 1: I scaled the percentage of students getting a good degree by dividing them by 90.1, the percentage getting a good degree at Oxford and scaled the entry points to be out of 100 (ie I divided them by 530, the entry points of students entering Cambridge). Subtracting the scaled entry points from the scaled percentage getting a good degree yields the following table:
































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































RankInstitutionadjusted percentage
getting a good
degree
adjusted entry pointsvalue add
1Bolton 58.437.620.8
2Bath Spa 71.851.320.6
3London South Bank 53.834.918.9
4Northampton 61.342.818.5
5Coventry 67.149.018.1
6Bradford 67.250.716.5
7Exeter88.672.616.1
8University of Wales, Newport 56.240.415.8
9Roehampton57.842.315.5
10Middlesex 52.537.415.2
11Plymouth 66.951.915.0
12Reading 79.664.714.9
13Thames Valley 53.838.914.9
14Sussex 88.373.514.8
15Goldsmiths College 72.057.614.4
16Stirling75.461.114.3
17Sheffield Hallam 64.550.314.2
18Ulster 66.752.614.1
19Winchester 63.750.513.2
20Salford 60.146.913.2
21West of England 62.149.113.0
22Birmingham City 62.849.912.9
23Napier67.654.712.9
24Gloucestershire 60.948.412.5
25Nottingham Trent 62.650.112.5
26Glamorgan 57.545.112.4
27Bedfordshire 52.239.912.3
28Aberystwyth 68.656.612.0
29Buckinghamshire New 49.637.811.8
30Keele 71.159.411.7
31Huddersfield 59.147.411.7
32Staffordshire 58.346.611.7
33Brunel 70.759.111.7
34SOAS 81.569.911.5
35Brighton 65.353.811.5
36Anglia Ruskin 58.146.611.5
37Kingston 55.544.111.4
38East London 45.134.111.0
39Lampeter 62.351.410.9
40City 70.760.310.4
41Leeds Metropolitan 59.549.210.4
42Bournemouth 63.353.69.7
43Queen's, Belfast 78.068.59.5
44Lincoln 58.749.69.2
45Southampton 83.073.99.1
46Westminster 55.146.09.1
47Oxford Brookes 65.656.59.1
48Bangor 61.852.88.9
49Teesside 55.846.98.9
50UWIC, Cardiff 54.045.18.9
51Chester 60.351.48.9
52Wolverhampton 45.736.88.8
53Essex 67.158.48.7
54Glasgow Caledonian72.964.38.6
55Kent 66.357.98.4
56Leicester 76.668.38.3
57Greenwich 47.138.88.3
58De Montfort54.446.57.9
59Hull 62.655.27.4
60Nottingham 84.077.07.0
61East Anglia 75.068.16.9
62Leeds 79.773.06.7
63Aston 73.066.46.7
64Manchester Metropolitan 56.950.46.6
65Loughborough 74.868.36.5
66Hertfordshire52.946.96.0
67Central Lancashire 56.550.56.0
68Canterbury Christ Church 52.246.45.9
69Sunderland 52.947.05.9
70Worcester 50.745.05.7
71Southampton Solent 47.942.45.4
72Lancaster 76.471.25.2
73Royal Holloway 73.868.75.1
74Bristol 87.082.05.0
75Queen Margaret65.060.34.7
76Bath 85.881.14.7
77Robert Gordon65.360.74.6
78Surrey 68.764.24.5
79St Andrews 93.188.94.3
80Derby 53.049.04.0
81Newcastle 79.075.13.9
82Portsmouth 54.851.33.5
83Liverpool John Moores 50.146.83.3
84Sheffield 79.876.63.3
85Liverpool 75.071.83.2
86York St John 56.353.13.2
87Queen Mary67.564.43.1
88Oxford 100.096.93.1
89King's College London 80.177.03.1
90Durham 87.584.53.0
91Warwick 88.185.32.9
92Chichester 51.849.02.8
93Edge Hill 49.346.72.6
94Cardiff 75.072.82.3
95Aberdeen77.475.32.1
96York 82.980.92.0
97Cumbria 52.750.81.9
98Edinburgh 88.787.90.8
99Birmingham 75.975.30.6
100Northumbria 55.454.90.5
101University College London 83.482.90.4
102Manchester 78.378.10.2
103Swansea 55.455.8-0.3
104Glasgow76.081.1-5.1
105Cambridge 94.8100.0-5.2
106London School of Economics 83.489.3-5.8
107West of Scotland *51.259.2-8.1
108University of the Arts, London 65.373.7-8.4
109Heriot-Watt 61.171.0-9.9
110Strathclyde 82.893.3-10.5
111Imperial College 76.789.3-12.6
112Abertay Dundee 52.866.0-13.2
113Dundee 73.689.0-15.4


However, it could be argued that completion rate is also important, and that students who drop out artificially raise the percentage completing with a good degree. If one adjusts for this then the table changes somewhat. The entry points is adjusted in the same way, and the good degrees is calculated as percentage getting a good degree times percentage completing, adjusting so that Oxford gets 100 (ie all figures are divided by .88). The resulting table then looks like:

















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































RankInstitutionScore completing
and getting a
good degree
adjusted entryvalue add Rank
ignoring
completion
1Exeter85.272.612.77
2Bath Spa 62.451.311.22
3Reading 74.164.79.512
4Stirling68.761.17.616
5Northampton 49.642.86.94
6Nottingham Trent 56.650.16.425
7Aberystwyth 62.556.65.928
8Sussex 79.073.55.614
9Bradford 56.150.75.36
10Sheffield Hallam 55.650.35.317
11Nottingham 82.177.05.160
12London South Bank 39.334.94.43
13Roehampton46.642.34.39
14Winchester 54.650.54.119
15Leicester 72.268.34.056
16Buckinghamshire New 41.237.83.529
17Plymouth 55.151.93.211
18Oxford 100.096.93.188
19Loughborough 71.368.33.065
20Bristol 84.682.02.774
21Southampton 76.473.92.545
22Goldsmiths College 60.057.62.415
23University of Wales, Newport 42.740.42.38
24Brunel 61.359.12.233
25Bath 82.881.11.776
26West of England 50.749.11.621
27UWIC, Cardiff 46.645.11.650
28Keele 60.859.41.430
29Gloucestershire 49.848.41.424
30Leeds 74.473.01.462
31East Anglia 69.368.11.261
32Warwick 86.585.31.291
33Brighton 55.053.81.135
34Coventry 50.149.01.15
35Bournemouth 54.753.61.142
36Durham 85.684.51.190
37Middlesex38.337.40.910
38Leeds Metropolitan 50.049.20.841
39City 61.060.30.640
40Kent 58.557.90.655
41Staffordshire 47.246.60.632
42St Andrews 89.488.90.679
43Lancaster 71.771.20.572
44Lincoln50.049.60.444
45Kingston 44.244.10.137
46Bedfordshire 39.939.90.027
47Oxford Brookes 56.556.50.047
48Queen's, Belfast 68.468.5-0.143
49Bolton 37.537.6-0.11
50Huddersfield 47.347.4-0.131
51SOAS 69.869.9-0.234
52Ulster 52.152.6-0.618
53Birmingham City 49.249.9-0.722
54Greenwich 38.038.8-0.757
55York 80.180.9-0.996
56Aston 65.566.4-0.963
57Westminster 45.046.0-1.046
58Thames Valley 37.938.9-1.013
59Newcastle 73.975.1-1.181
60King's College London 75.877.0-1.289
61Essex 56.758.4-1.653
62Sheffield 74.876.6-1.784
63Hull 53.255.2-2.059
64De Montfort44.446.5-2.058
65Canterbury Christ Church 44.246.4-2.268
66Salford 44.646.9-2.320
67Wolverhampton 34.236.8-2.652
68Royal Holloway 66.068.7-2.773
69Chichester 46.249.0-2.892
70East London 31.334.1-2.838
71Lampeter 48.651.4-2.839
72University College London 79.882.9-3.2101
73Liverpool 68.471.8-3.485
74Worcester 41.545.0-3.470
75Surrey 60.564.2-3.778
76Queen Mary60.664.4-3.787
77Birmingham 71.275.3-4.199
78Cardiff 68.672.8-4.294
79York St John 48.753.1-4.386
80Napier 50.354.7-4.423
81Southampton Solent 38.042.4-4.571
82Bangor 48.252.8-4.648
83Glamorgan 40.445.1-4.726
84Manchester 73.478.1-4.7102
85Teesside42.146.9-4.849
86Chester 46.551.4-4.951
87Edinburgh82.987.9-5.098
88Sunderland 41.347.0-5.869
89Cambridge94.1100.0-5.9105
90Portsmouth 45.251.3-6.082
91Hertfordshire40.846.9-6.166
92Swansea 49.755.8-6.1103
93Central Lancashire 44.150.5-6.467
94Manchester Metropolitan 43.450.4-6.964
95London School of Economics 82.089.3-7.2106
96Edge Hill 39.146.7-7.693
97Derby 41.449.0-7.680
98Liverpool John Moores 39.146.8-7.683
99Anglia Ruskin 38.246.6-8.436
100Robert Gordon52.060.7-8.777
101Glasgow Caledonian55.364.3-8.954
102Queen Margaret 51.260.3-9.175
103Northumbria 45.354.9-9.6100
104Cumbria 40.850.8-10.097
105Aberdeen61.975.3-13.495
106Imperial College 74.789.3-14.6111
107Glasgow65.981.1-15.2104
108University of the Arts, London57.773.7-16.0108
109Heriot-Watt 51.071.0-20.0109
110West of Scotland35.659.2-23.6107
111Strathclyde 68.793.3-24.6110
112Abertay Dundee34.366.0-31.7112
113Dundee 51.389.0-37.7113

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Hello again - and Kindle


An interesting article on the use of Kindle - the e-book reader from Amazon in. Inside Higher Education. see http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2009/06/15/crowell while it focuses on the economics it makes some claims for their ability to enhance pedagogy.

I noticed that in making the economic case the capital cost of the Kindle (the Sony equivalent is over £200), with savings of about 30% on the printed books one needs to spend £600 on books to save money, and there is no second hand market.  What is more they cannot easily be shared between people (other than passing the reader around and thus ones whole library).

However, the point about access to journal articles etc being easy and convenient and therefore changing pedagogy is likely to have an impact on the way in which these are accessed. 

However, I suspect that the e-bookreader and then laptop will converge with very high quality screens and lower weight as laptops loose any motorised parts (discs, CD/DVDs etc).

But that is another matter.