Monday Morning Blog

Blockchain Today’s blog post contains a number of suggestions for learning about Blockchain.   The YouTube videos are listed first this time because that selection includes some very basic introductory information about the concept. Thank you for your suggestions.   In the upcoming posts, I will cover more technology topics, topics related to teaching and learning online, and lessons related to various types of technical and professional writing.   As always, your comments, questions, feedback and requests for more topics are always welcome. YouTube Understand blockchain in 2 minutes (Institute for the Future (IFTF) 2 min What is Blockchain (Citi Innovation Lab) 14 min Blockchain expert explains one concept in 5 levels of difficulty (WIRED) 18 min. Blockchain and money (MIT) 24 videos LinkedIn Learning Blockchain: beyond the basics 1 hr 31 min Blockchain basics 57 min Blockchain technology 25 hrs EdEx Blockchain:   Understanding its uses and implica

Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and deep learning Today’s post contains resources on the topics of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and deep learning.   These topics may be of interest because they are increasingly present in data science and are the basis of many of the technologies which are being used in precision agriculture. As with the previous list of courses and videos, this is a list of suggestions rather than an exhaustive list of recommended classes.     You may wish to search around on any of the listed platforms for courses best suited to your preferences, interests and learning needs. Regarding the Coursera platform, I avoided including “premium content” in this list.   “Premium content” are those courses for which a “7 day preview” is offered instead of the free “audit” option.   If you prefer premium content, the search engine built into Coursera can be useful in finding these classes.   Please let me know if you require assistance in l

Training and Professional Development Opportunities Today’s post contains various training and PD opportunities which management and individuals from SRDC have asked me to share with you. For Nanopore users Oxford has moved this year’s London Calling event online – it will be free to attend, open to all and you can register your interest   here . JoVE videos The following is a snip from a promotional email message from JoVE : JoVE has received an incredible response to our offer of free JoVE Education resources to support remote learning initiatives globally. Whether you have taken us up on this offer already or plan to, we wanted to make you aware of new and additional content available to you. We have fast tracked our planned content releases to add  even more  videos to JoVE Education: · Additional JoVE Core Biology videos including Plant Biology  - a new unit of 3 chapters focused on Plant Biology is being introduced alongside additional videos in Core B

Information and Notes Thank you to everyone for your feedback, comments and suggestions.   Today’s blog post addresses many of the things you mentioned to me in your email messages and telephone calls.   It covers a wide range of topics but I thought that it might be useful to address them all at once. Charges for Coursera classes   Coursera is a tricky platform.   When I first received a complaint about being prompted to give a credit card when registering for a class, I contacted Coursera.   The reply I received was clearly a type of form letter.   The claim is that the vast majority of courses offered on Coursera have a free option.   The message went on to talk about “premium content” which are generally not free but can be “previewed” for up to 7 days.   So, I did a bit of investigation on my own.   It is true that for a “premium course” I was confronted with the request to enter a credit card number.   It is also true that I would only be charged if I continued on

Courses for K-12 and older students Today’s blog installment covers the popular topic of “courses and other learning resources for kids and parents”.  For those of you who have expressed frustration with finding good quality free online classes for your kids, I can completely empathize.  It is not easy to find these courses.  The web seems to be currently filled with people trying to make money from people who need to find classes for their kids.  For example, one website looked great and even said that the classes were free.  I got in, made an account, etc. and then found out that the only thing that was free about the classes was their catalogue.  Some of the courses were outright expensive. In order to put together this list, I relied on my own experience with several MOOC platforms and teamed that up with various reviews of MOOCs that were provided by reputable sources.  The intent was not to make an extensive list of all possible sources.  Rather, it provides a small nu

Today's blog post features a variety of leadership-related videos hosted on the LinkedIn Learning platform.  To get access to these videos, I've copied the information from my previous post: Learning courses are available to many AAFC employees via three possible avenues.   Some AAFC employees already have Learning licenses through their branch or are able to obtain one (speak to your supervisor to determine whether a license may be available to you).   Some employees have purchased personal licenses.   Others have obtained access to some Learning content via their local public library or if they are students or faculty at the U of S.    Note that not all Learning content may be available through the Public Libraries. Regina Public Library Patrons:   https://www.reginalibrary.ca/digitalservices/lynda Saskatoon Public Library Patrons:   https://www.lynda.com/portal/sip?org=saskatoonlibrary.ca    U of S affiliates:   https://training.usask.ca/linkedin-

Learning Data Science This guide includes suggestions of resources which can be used for self-directed learning while working at home.   The courses themselves are not promoted or certified as the best possible options but presented as a starting-point for AAFC employees, supervisors, managers and parents who are currently faced with planning independent learning. MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course) There are currently dozens of MOOC platforms online.   This list contains suggestions of classes offered by some of the more common MOOC services.    The selected platforms are known for offering STM content provided by reputable sources and offer at least some of their content without a fee.   Some consideration has been given to including platforms which may be suitable for family members of AAFC who are also currently “working at home”. Selections of courses and approaches to teaching content on MOOCs tend to we wide-ranging.   Even within a topic such as data science, some MOOC