Bill Nye Inspires and Educates Rutgers’ Class of 2015

rutgersbill nye

I recently had the pleasure of traveling down to Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ to watch my brother’s graduation.

While I am extremely proud of all his accomplishments another draw was that Bill Nye was slated to be the 2015 commencement speaker. As a childhood fan I certainly wasn’t going to miss this opportunity!

Nye imparted some excellent words of wisdom on the audience, while also tying in his views on climate change and racism. He urged the graduates to take climate change seriously, and expressed his hope that they would rise to the challenge of solving this crucial issue. Along with this wish, Nye also pointed out that in order to solve the problem of climate change the class of 2015 would have to put aside preconceived notions of race. We are all members of the human species, worthy of respect, and capable of making world changing discoveries said Nye.

Nye’s speech was inspiring as well as educational, and an excellent reminder that we are all responsible for building one another up for the good of the world.

To read Nye’s remarks in full click on the link below!

http://time.com/3882613/bill-nye-graduation-speech-rutgers-university/

What Do You Remember From Science Class?

Science_class_in_Japanese_elementary_school

High school might be a distant memory but you’ll be surprised by what you still remember.

Take Buzzfeed’s newest quiz and find out exactly how much you’ve retained from your high school science classes!

I got a B which is honestly better than I expected.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kellyoakes/how-much-high-school-science-can-you-remember#.bvAwQMlpX

 

Women and the Google Doodle

doodle

Thanks to a SPARK study done last year you might have noticed the famous Google doodles have been featuring more women!

In 2014 SPARK studied the doodles being placed on Google’s homepage and found there was a distinct lack of diversity among the historic figures being celebrated. In fact between 2010 and 2013 only 17% of doodles featured women, and of that 17% only 4.3 % were women of colour.

History is learned in a variety of ways from a myriad of sources, including those fun images showing up on your Google home page! By leaving out women, as history so often does, Google was underrepresenting a group that makes up half the world’s population; a group that has also made significant contributions to science, technology, politics, literature and every field in between.

Since being made aware of SPARK’s study Google has made an effort to equally represent both men and women in their doodles. When SPARK went back to check Google’s progress they found the women are now being featured as often as men.  Just this past week Google featured trailblazing journalist Nellie Bly. To learn more about Bly check out the doodle, http://www.google.com/doodles/nellie-blys-151st-birthday .

For more information on SPARKS study click the following link, http://www.sparksummit.com/doodleus/

The Impact of Technological Change on the Surgical Profession: Past, Present, Future

You are invited to the upcoming workshop being held at the Bloomfield Lecture Hall of Lady Davis Institute – JGH on May 6th and May 7th 2015 titled: The Impact of Technological Change on the Surgical Profession: Past, Present, Future.

This issue influences the future of the surgical profession, surgical careers and training, and importantly the types of services and the quality of patient care people receive.

This opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with international speakers Roger Kneebone, David Jones, Peter Kernahan and Rachel Prentice is being organized by the Department of Social Studies of Medicine, the Department of Surgery as well as the Jewish General Hospital Foundation.

For more information, please visit the Event Page.

Apps from 2 big MOOC providers

I have been waiting for this – edX mobile is finally here.

I’ve been taking courses from the two big names in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), edX and Coursera, and making good use of Coursera’s iOS app on my iPhone (also available for Android). What I like about having the apps is that I can download course videos and view them anytime, even offline.

I can now get on with the course I’ve signed up for from MITx: Design and Development of Games for Learning. The furthest I’ve got is through their pre-course tutorial videos on Gameblox. I designed my first game (don’t judge!).

Keep your eye on offerings from McGill on McGillx. You can now follow courses on your mobile (yay).