My quick review of 5 mindmapping apps

 Below is a quick review of the latest versions of 5 popular mindmapping apps that I have done. (If you know of other mindmapping tools which are worth including in this review, please let me know.)

#elearningPS

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Quick Review of 5 Mindmapping Apps

by Paul Sze (Jan 24, 2022)

1Kai Chung Lee

Starting another round of Zoom classes

 Here is my curtain-raiser remark this evening when I start Zooming my ICT in ELT class:

"……Yes, it's less fuss attending a class online; at least it saves you commuting time. However, let's not cheat ourselves into thinking that online learning is as good as F2F classes. If it was, all university teaching would be distance-based already. But since we cannot change the pandemic situation, let's make the best of our Zoom session now. As the English proverb goes: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

AI for proofreading compositions

 I hadn't visited Grammarly for a while, so I had a go with it just now, to find out how much it had benefitted from recent developments in AI in education. I made up a problem paragraph for it to proofread, and below is its performance.

Bad news: Teachers of English still have to toil with endless composition marking for some more years to come.

Good news: AI will not be able to replace teachers in the forseeable future.

https://prnt.sc/26hyvx6

2 new functions of Quizlet

 Just noticed 2 new functions of Quizlet:

1. CHECKPOINT: Turn a deck into a live Kahoot-like game.

2. LEARN: A new option which turns a deck into a 'Study Path'. This is like an adaptive learning system, the aim of which is for a learner to reach full mastery of a deck.

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'The sentence below' vs 'the below sentence'

How should ‘below’ be used and classified?

Do you accept using ‘below’ as in ‘the below information’, ‘the below list’, ‘the below section’, etc.”?

An admin document from The Harvard Teaching Certificate Course contains the following sentence:

“Make sure your address below is correct. You can search again or edit the below address manually.”

What is interesting is that ‘below’ is used twice in the same sentence, but in different ways.

If my impression is correct, until 10 years ago, people would only say ‘the information below’, with ‘below’ classified as an adverb! (This is different from ‘below’ as a preposition, as in ‘below the table’, ‘below the surface’, etc.). Today, to me, the fight against phrases like ‘the below information’ and ‘the below list’ is over. (The word ‘above’ went through a similar process. Now, it’s “below”‘s turn.)

Then ‘below’ has to be classified as an adjective. I’ve looked up a few online dictionaries. Almost all of them still classify ‘below’ as a preposition (‘below the table’) and an adverb (the information below). Only one dictionary has classified ‘below’ also as an adjective: Merriam-Webster.

What is even more interesting is that in the Harvard sentence, the first occurrence of ‘below’ is ‘Your address below’, i.e., the ‘traditional’ word order. If I change it to ‘Your below address’, it doesn’t sound quite right to my ear (though I have no problem accepting ‘the below information’). I can’t think of a reason yet, but this might suggest that there’s still a place for ‘below’ to function as an adverb (though I personally prefer calling it a postmodifying adjective).

the digital divide between teachers

 十年人事幾番新。我說的是我教的Master' course “ICT in English Language Teaching“，早陣子把今年和10年前的course outline 對比一下，發覺今年的內容和10年前的比較，已經面目全非，可見ed tech發展的快，10年前，誰會想到今天探究的是AI in Education 。

這亦是令人憂慮的地方，年青的老師肯學敢試，運用e-learning於教學的水平便一日千里;而veteran teachers如果不敢或不願涉足ICT,便停留在PPT的階段，於是前者和後者的e-learning 專業水平，便愈來愈相差得遠，出現一個鴻溝。

Beware of pedestrians

 I always find this sign amusing. In HK, any sign in Chinese that starts with "小心……“ becomes "Beware of ……" in English. That's why life in HK is so tense and hectic, because there are so many things we have to beware of: pickpockets, vehicles, drunk drivers, objects falling from above, wild boars...., as well as  pedestrians, hot food, the staircase ……..

I looked up the issue in some online discussion forums. Some native speakers do frown on this usage, preferring "Watch out for pedestrians" to "Beware of pedestrians", as "Beware of" should be followed by something or somebody which may potentially cause danger. 

But language is changing all the time. Has "Beware of" also come to mean "Watch out for"? And, do people also say "Beware of pedestrians" in Singapore?

Meanwhile, I will take the advice of this sign, which appeared inside Alexander Grantham, a retired fireboat berthed in Quarry Bay Park: "Beware of your head." This makes sense, because the brain inside one's head is potentially the source of all evils.