video's as educational tool

Today I went to a demonstration of a video-recording system. The purpose is that the university develops a collection of taped lectures.
It is a trial about the equipment.

I might want to do different things: make short tapes about the various interactions and presentations formats we're using in P&P, and then store them , maybe including voice-over comments.

I got the advice to see what Joke Oosterhuis had done previously. I knew her as a person, but not her site.
Here it is: http://iwp.cs.utwente.nl/Introductie/introductie.html

Writing scientific papers

Some questions to think about before you even start writing:

• Who are your readers? What are their objectives? Fit yours with theirs?
• What is your message, which question do you want to answer?
• What is your conclusion? What do you want to prove?
• What was the world you found? Acknowledge the works of other people you used for building on.
• What do you add to our knowledge? Did you perform -thought- experiments? How?
• Can you guide me from the world you found, through your own results, to your conclusions? Logically, consistently?
• Have you got somebody to read your manuscript for consistency, clearity, grammar etc?
• Have you got a publisher? Provided a format for your manuscript?

possibilities greatly enlarged

Today I had my STN-software renewed.
I kind of lost it while ill and changing machines.
But I have the most recent version now, including datamining and visualization tools.
I think I am going to advertize that I can search many more databases now, with much nicer tools. For me that will be part of the campaigne when we/they move to the new building.
"guys, there are so many more questions you may ask and I like to answer"

how to search patents

I found an interesting piece on patent searching, hidden on the pages of Espacenet:

http://ep.espacenet.com/?locale=en_EP&view=seven

database selection

As a university we have a lot of databases for searching, particularly for searching articles.
A well considered choice could avoid a frustrating pile of rubbish or no results what so ever.

Databases have been designed with various objectives in mind.

Some try to disclose a discipline, such as Chemical Abstracts, Compendex, Inspec, Medline. These databases will usually include abstracts from all kind of sources.
Others are basically the platforms from the publishers where they present their content.
Using those platforms for finding information (which is different from locating a specific article) creates an enormous bias in your results, seductive as the platforms can be with nice tools and a suggestion of completeness.
And then we have databases build for all kind of other purposes, resulting in a specific choice of sources or document types.

Choosing a database in a different discipline or with a focus different from your view, might end up in a useless effort. Learn to recognize unfruitfull searches. Which is not similar to searches with no results.

document/information type

In these years of Google, we all tend to type anything somewhere and then are disappointed that we don't find what we need.
Especially scientific information is stored into purposive databases, for instance according to document type. Therefore it is wise to start thinking beforehand and consider the options.

Most people tend to start searching for articles, without considering other types of information.

Compared with books, articles can be much more recent, generally have shorter production times and therefore can be very much more current. But, books summarize piles of articles, and put them into one story, an integration there for you to enjoy.

Moreover, data provided in books, such as handbooks, have been evaluated and compiled, saving you a lot of time searching all the individual experiments described in articles.

Depending on the discipline, proceedings and conferences can be very important. Some disciplines can be very formal and the only way for scientists to gain status is by publishing in highly regarded journals such as Science or Nature. But other disciplines , for instance computer science, are much more informal and rely strongly on personal contacts. Then, conferences play an important role and proceedings can be a fast way of communicating. A conference is a good place to present work-in-progress and see how your peers react. Therefore, papers presented at conferences are usually not the final conclusions of a particular research.

Patents are not scientific documents in the narrow sense of the word. Patents are legal documents, providing protection against abuse of intellectual property, in exchange for disclosure. Patents describe industrial research, usually strongly application oriented. The language of a patent tends to be vague. Experimental descriptions may lack detail to copy procedures. On the other hand, most patents contain pictures showing the invention which is described. Patenting is part of a company’s business policy: sometimes it is wiser NOT to apply for a patent and just be silent about a particular part of an appliance.

searching information in a scientific environment

Being a scientist by heart, I try to place searching for information in the context of scientific research. So beyond mere operating the systems.
My way of presenting searching and retrieving (scientific) information is by asking questions, which combined will create a search strategy:

1. What is the topic you need information about? Which question do you want to answer?
2. What kind of information are you looking for? Which document type? Introductory, numerical, bibliographic, design, patent, specialist, encyclopedic, book,,,, etc?
3. Where are you going to do your search? Which database, search engine and why?
4. Which terms are you going to use, depending on your information type and your database specifics.
5. Which tools -general or specialist- are you using? Depending on the system: fields and operators.
6. What is your exact query? Interpretation depends on the system, thus precision is recommended, for later referral.
7. What is the reliability of the information found? Can it meet the requirements in an academic environment?
8. Evaluate your own behavior. Did you find sufficient information; did you answer your questions? Did you change the question? Did you learn new terms? Did you do double work, find duplicate results, used the right databases? Had to dig through huge piles of irrelevant results? Could you have done everything smarter?
9. Document your results, because you will be accountable in an academic environment.

searching

i'm sorry , i should have been more active and give a summary about searching here.
i've been buzy with a dutch version of the handout.
and now i'm working on P&P writing for next friday.
it will come,
soon in this theatre!!!!

How do you learn best?

I like this question, since it is a starting point for designing the presentation later on.
At this point it is sufficient to realize that there are more ways of learning, and thus much ways of presenting and teaching required.

• talking about it, listening (sound)
• doing it (movement)
• reading (words)
• watching pictures and schemes
• alone or in collaboration
• active or passive
• ......

Again: their is a lot of literature on learning styles, but I did not make notes, then, or I lost them,,,, (which is worse?)

Scientific methods

((Now I have to plead guilty..... I dig the question and my starting set with answers from my notes from last year, but: no reference what so ever on the source. I MUST have read the list somewhere, nice task to find it again))

What is a / the scientific method, what do you use, what do you accept as scientific?

• deductive (if,,,then,,,), testing, rejecting, and replacing hypotheses
• experimental
• use of analogies, metaphors (brain as clockwork, computer, metaphor is time-dependent)
• taxonomical (organizing facts)
• statistical
• historical, evolutionary, development
• ....

not much comment

Some thoughts about science

In the same discussion we talked a little about the nature of science.
Science is about asking questions, finding some answers, but being confronted then by many more questions.
Technology is considered to be more linear in nature: use the answers from science to move on.
Not too many words spend here.

Qualities and skills of a scientist

We have been discussing the essential skills, qualities of a scientist.
Things mentioned were:

• passion for their topic
• passion to push beyond current borders
• curious to find out more
• independent
• experimental (rises questions about theory as science...)
• rationalist
• realistic
• but also patient because it might take time
• smart seems to be an implicite quality
• creativity (in finding problems or in solving problems?)

Questions and thoughts about science and scientists

Students enrolled in the Nanotechnology program are advanced students from all over the world. The group is diverse all be it small usually. I like to see them as prospective scientists, becoming one by living, learning and working with experienced scientists.

Most of us -including me- grow up within a culture, an educational concept, comprising implicite assumptions on the nature of science itself, its position in society, the role of a scientist and so on. One of the objectives of this course is to make us aware of those implicite assumptions.

To me science is about asking questions, and that is just what I intend to do, this class, asking questions about science and scientists. I don't have "the" answers, since I am convinced that most of the answers are dependent on the culture you work in, you live in, the domain you're active in.

But then, also my questions -and assumptions- are colored by a culture, being raised in the Netherlands, working there. We like our students to think for themselves, to be critical (in a constructive way), to be independent.

On the other hand, my questions are also inspired by the division in higher education here in the Netherlands between academic (university) and higher vocational education, which is not the same as a division between natural science and applied science. I think most people in the Netherlands especially those working/teaching/researching on a University of Technology FEEL a difference, but cannot explain it.

From that background came my question about the differences between science, technology, technique, the differences (in role) between a scientist, technologist and a technician.
This question did not result in a very fruitfull discussion: I was hit by my own implicitness, could not make it clear.

More or less official paper on my expectations about the course

The course is aimed at acquiring academic skills, notably:
• being able to define a research topic to be treated in a literature study
• being able to identify an information demand and to find relevant scientific information
• being able to develop the topic into a written study and an oral presentation
• being able to reflect on personal activities
• being able to work with deadlines

Furthermore, students should be able to think independently about questions such as:
• what is science?
• what is fraud, what is data manipulation?
• what is proof, what is truth?
• what is plagiarism?

Exercises (deliverables)
• developing own search strategy
• writing a literature study
• presenting and defending this study orally
• participation in discussions during the course

Expected level of achievement
• the course focusses on a presentation, as if given in a session on nanotechnology during a large international conference
• the paper should be understandable for an experienced scientist, being not an expert on the topic
• paper and presentation should be well structured according to scientific standards

Formats, during the course various formats for orally presenting scientific information will be used:
• round table discussion
• lecture
• handson workshop
• presentation in conference
• personal discussions


The topics for the papers and presentation will be supplied by the tutors.
Tutors monitor the scientific level of the paper and presentation.

First day

Today has been the first day of the course.
We have been discussing practicallities.
And had a first taste on my way of asking questions instead of providing answers.

I gave a short resume of my career.
Here is a short description of my present duties and activities.

After a life as a scientist with emphasis on various aspects of chemistry, I work now in the University Library. I am responsible for the collection for STM (science, technology and medicine): develop it in collaboration with faculty, make items findable. I partcipate in the development of the digital library, and work on new services in the physical lib. Furthermore, I help students and staff with searching scientific information, individually and in classes.

I like to extend those classes in information skills into more general scientific skills. The course Paper&Presentation is an example of this development.

This blog will be an experiment for me and for the students to see whether blogging can have a function in an educational setting.