Policies and VR
What can be done in VR can negatively affect people. Virtual spaces can be invaded, or user’s behaviors can cause harm to others. Therefore, the problem about policies for VR is latent and also how these should be enforced. With its Oculus devices, Facebook already established some policies for hate speech, bullying, invasion of space,…
The Frankenstein Syndrome
The Frankenstein Syndrome might happen when machines’ behavior deviate from the vision its creator expected it to be. Although this seems to happen mostly in science fiction movies, machine learning and artificial intelligent applications have exacerbated the concerns of unexpected behaviors of algorithms and machines that use them. So, one question that maybe asked about…
“Banking” Education, MOOCs and Online Learning
“Banking” Education, as described by Paulo Freire, is the education system model where students are seen as containers of knowledge while professors work towards filling those containers with the knowledge they consider appropriate to fit in. In that sense, students’ abilities to accumulate a larger amount of knowledge at a faster pace and without questioning…
Digital Pedagogy
If not all educators are called to be pedagogues, then how do we hold (or expect to hold) educator’s accountable for sound pedagogical practices in a global environment where everyone is barely treading water? On the flip side of this coin (as if it’s really a coin), is the question of where the collaboration exists…
Social Media responsibilities towards Cyberbullying
Technology has opened new frontiers, positive and negative. Because of their popularity and the social implications of these platforms, cyberbullying has been predominant in these platforms. Therefore, the role and responsibilities of social media companies come to scrutiny to help alleviate this issue. A question to ask might be, how social media platforms can help…
Discriminatory Algorithms
Algorithms traditionally do only what they were programmed to do. However, the advent of machine learning has enacted an ethical dilemma, given that the outcome of these algorithms is not the direct instructions of humans. Recent news has highlighted algorithms portraying discriminatory behavior. For example, Twitter has been recently in scrutiny because its cropping algorithms…
Case-Based and Problem-Based Learning Experiences and Perspectives
Case-Base Learning (CBL) and Problem-Based Learning (PBL) are pedagogical methodologies that challenge students to apply learned topics into a practical case that needs to be solved from a reality perspective. Without knowing much about these methodologies, I have been part of courses that apply this engineering education approach at Virginia Tech both as a student…
VPNs and Service-Level Agreements (SLA)
Service-level Agreements (SLA) establish the terms and conditions within the relationship between a service provider and its users. VPNs or Virtual Private Networks is one example of a service provided to users where a company offers web traffic redirection to the users of the VPN to provide improved privacy, reliability of the service supplied, and…
Cyber Crimes
I do not have much experience with computer crimes. However, when checking my email spam folders I can see how cunning the intentions of some people have to deceive me into a form of computer fraud. The picture above is a screenshot from an email in my spam folder. The resemblance with real Netflix email…
Copyrights and Academia
Published scientific articles are traditionally covered under a copyright agreement when published in journals that are not open-access. This is an example where copyright owners become not only the authors but also the publishing company. Reasons for publishing companies to hold copyrights over articles where they are not the authors is because they have the…
Inclusive Pedagogy as a result of Increased Diversity
Inclusive Pedagogy is a new trend based on the increased diversity happening in the classroom. Nowadays, differences in races, origins, sexual preferences, and backgrounds enrich learning experiences and developments in the arts and sciences. However, although being beneficial for learning, the problem remains that these differences remain not clearly addressed in pedagogical approaches. Because of…
Privacy and Technology
Is the ability of an individual or group to hide information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively [Wikipedia]. However, privacy as a right has been in scrutiny in the last years because as individuals we are no longer capable of maintaining it. I do not know about anybody else but I receive weekly about…
Business Research and Informed Consent
Research that involves human subjects need to balance the benefits that such research implies to the benefit of science and society, and the harm that can be done to the human or society groups involved in such research. History has thought us how this precept is a requirement given infamous research done which stayed in…
Discovering my Teaching Self
This Semester I am taking a class on Contemporary Pedagogy from the Graduate School at Virginia Tech. Part of my work will be to do blog posts about contemporary education and my experiences in education overall. The topic of this week is about discovering my teaching person. This topic reminds me of the Harry Potter…
An Ethical Dilemma
As a Professional in the Civil Engineering Field, our field is regulated by compliance to multiple codes and norms that are there for the general welfare of society. However, usually these are enforced by government institutions or organizations that have government-mandated duties to protect infrastructure welfare. Years ago, I experienced working in a government institution…
Thoughts on Professional Ethics: CMAA
At the root of my professional experiences, I consider myself a construction management professional. Because of this, I am giving some thoughts about the Code of Ethics for the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) Code of Ethics and its relationship with the ethics theories I have studied in the past few days. The CMAA’s…
Ethical Theories and Me
I like to think that my actions are aimed for the greater good for situations that apply to my professional and academic endeavors. For my personal and social matters, I believe I follow a more relativist and conventional approach. I think I follow a utilitarianism approach where I find the greater good for my research…
My values and Principles: What and where they come from.
Yeah, a new semester has just started at Virginia Tech, and it is going to be a peculiar one. Again, blog post this semester will be part of my deliverables which I hope become interesting conversations. In this post, I will comment about my values and principles and how they are now shaped. I think…
Education in El Salvador
In the last weeks, in one of my classes in Higher Education, we have reviewed educational systems all around the globe. In this post, I am providing the perspective of my home country, El Salvador, educational system. School Education Typically, a child starts his education when around six years old. At this age, kids begin…
Future of the University: The Campus as Study and Working Space
Being quarantined during the last month has forced me to do all my activities away from my usual working space at home. Given that my main activities as a graduate student are academic coursework and research work, I feel that the way the online platforms perform these days allow students and workers to do most…
Increasing Student Engagement in the Classroom with Soft Technology
The classroom is not the most memorable place to be. As a student, the classroom is just the place to be at a specific time, with certain people, with the ultimate goal to learn skills, insights, and knowledge. As an educator, it is sometimes the culmination of class preparation and the opportunity to transfer your…
Think about the location of higher institutions
As a graduate student, choosing a higher education institution to get your degree is often a matter of rankings, funding, research opportunities, and acceptance. Based on my own experience, the previous considerations were the ones with a higher weight, and I honestly ignored the living factor of the community where I was going to be…
Technology and Innovation in Higher Education: The Case of VR in Higher Ed
Technology and innovation are everywhere nowadays, and that includes Higher Education. However, adding technology implies additional challenges. In this article, I will focus on one technology that has a lot of hype, and I would say a lot of potentials. In this case, I am talking about VR and how it is impacting education and…
Challenges during Social Distance as Graduate Student
Because of the COVID-19 outbreak happening in the last days, social distance has been recommended as a practice to contain the spreading of this virus. Thinking about this, I believed this was not a great ordeal given that my current projects can be easily accomplished in my home setup, and if needed, I can still…
Role of Higher Education on International Social Dissent: India’s case
A few days ago, a friend in my department was talking to me about the political and social unrest that was happening in his home country India. At the moment, I had no idea about what this was about, but he carefully explained to me what the issue was and the initiatives from the students…
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Daniel Linares 