Making The Most Of Blackboard: Assessment & Gradebook: Fill & Download for Free

This excellent question, as simple as it sounds, underlies the deepest questions in science, society, education, culture, as well as AI and machine learning.Much of our modern society is based on the notion that you can be whatever you want to be, as long as you work hard enough at it. If you heard President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ victory speeches yesterday, this powerful metaphor of this most American of virtues and aspirations rang throughout their speeches. It can be a powerful motivation for inspiring the young for sure.Take famous statesmen like Abraham Lincoln or Winston Churchill or Mohandas Gandhi. Or famous scientists like Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein. Or famous composers like Ludwig van Beethoven or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Were their brains just like ours, and what underlies their great achievements in nation building, science or music was just hard work, circumstances and perhaps some luck. Or was there something biologically unique about their neural hardware that led to their successes?This can be a very sensitive subject and it can lead to dangerous consequences if we assume blind prejudicial views on innate intelligence and say ethnicity or gender. There is absolutely no evidence to support any such classification, despite it leading to many regrettable atrocities over the centuries. So we must be extremely cautious in forming any simplistic assessments on innate intelligence.We can however form some hypotheses based on understanding the complexity of information processing in the brain. We can ask the following question: at birth, is the brain simply tabula rasa, a blank slate or are we pre-wired in terms of some built in behaviors and knowledge? Certainly the vast majority of other animals, from insects to zebras, seem mostly hardwired at birth in terms of their ability to perceive, move about and run from predators. Honeybees do have to learn spatial maps of their surroundings, but these are carefully constrained (for example, bees seem to know roughly the path of the sun at birth, since the dance language they use to communicate the food location to other bees in the hive is with respect to the sun’s trajectory). But what about humans? Are we pre-wired for language? Math? Music?A beautiful analysis of the blank slate problem has been written up as a popular book by the eminent Harvard psychologist Steve Pinker.In this book, Pinker explores the many deep ramifications of the possibility that we are not born with a blank slate, that our wonderful ability to dance, sing, compose, paint, write and do math may be as much due to nature - - meaning our genes - - as much as it is to nurture, meaning our experience. I won't try to summarize his arguments as that would take far too long, but encourage you to read his book and form your own opinionsOnce you accept the possibility that we are born with some innate abilities, it immediately opens up a can of worms in terms of its implications. Are a few chosen among us just born with more of “the right stuff”? Certainly among mathematicians and physicists, it has long been observed that geniuses in these fields just seem to have a special gift at visualization or imagination that most of us seem to lack. Stephen Hawking, the great physicist, spent most of his life in a wheelchair unable to move most of his body, yet seemed capable of dazzling insights into the structure of black holes, the strangest objects in the universe where time and space don't exist and laws of physics seem to fail. Without moving a muscle, in his head, he seemed able to do incredibly complex math that few of us could match, even given our normal abimities at writing on blackboards or paper. Is this ability the result of experience or something innate? Likely both, but the exact ratio is beyond our current understanding.It goes without saying that all of us have been endowed by evolution many wonderful abilities, and the hard part of life is figuring out what gives us special thrill, whether that be understanding black holes, painting a portrait or running a marathon. One recent book I'm currently reading argues that much of our human ability comes down to a single molecule called dopamine, a neurotransmitter in our brain that seems to indicate pleasure at discovering novelty.Dopamine is what gives us the ability to learn from reward and punishment, success and failure. Regardless of whether you are doing a startup or trying to design a vaccine for covid-19, you will encounter a lot of failures along the way. The most successful entrepreneurs seem to be those who have a special ability to not get discouraged by failure and to take risks. Elon Musk succeeded in building from scratch the most valuable car company in the world today without spending one dime on advertising, because he was driven by one singular passion of building emission free electric vehicles. Freed from the legacy of having to think about retooling factories making gas guzzling internal combustion engines into EVs, he suceeded where many before him failed. Tesla came close to bankruptcy, within a few weeks, and yet he persisted. More than two decades ago, Apple similarly almost failed, and was rescued by a small influx of cash from Microsoft in terms of support of the Office Suite for Mac OS. Today Apple is the world's most profitable company. Dopamine may help explain what makes entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs or Elon Musk succeed, as well as many other successful artists, scientists and musicians.If dopamine is what underlies creativity, why are some people far better at being creative than others? Do their brains just produce more dopamine than the rest of us? Is it possible that in the future, we can invent a “creativity” pill so that all of us can rise to such creative heights or is this just wishful thinking?

Tomorrow is the last day of my B-School life. Having almost completed three phases of formal education (Secondary/Higher Secondary, Bachelor’s and Master’s), I think it is a perfect time to reflect on, what could have been better, had I learnt it right from High School.My answer will obviously be in reference to the Indian education system, because……errmmm…I am Indian.Now, since most of the answers have covered points like Sales, Economic, Basic Finance, Entrepreneurship, Programming etc., I won’t repeat the same. I will, however, point out one major shortcoming in the basic level of education. It is, not teaching a student, how to be confident when expressing yourself. That does not limit oneself only in presentations and public speaking. As a matter of fact, one can be confident while answering a question in an examination or asking a doubt in class. Most of the students in India suffer from a terrible lack of confidence, mostly due to peer pressures, or the lack of the right environment.These are a few things high schools in India can do, in order to promote the sense of confidence in students:Lectures should not only be limited to teachers teaching on the blackboard. They should be more interactive in nature. And this does not limit to a teacher to student interaction. There should be a culture of free flow of ideas within the class, with students challenging point of views of other students.Along with the necessary theoretical knowledge, students should be given the taste of more real-life applications, something which they can relate to. They should be partially evaluated on such questions in classrooms and examinations. If possible, they should also be graded on class projects. These formats of assessments help students in understanding the concepts better, hence making them confident about various topics, in the respective subjects.Either encourage students to diversify their knowledge base, or make your curriculum such that they gain relevant and diverse knowledge from it. This can include discussing current affairs and recent developments in the world. (I remember we had a subject called General Knowledge, which was mostly static GK).Lastly, arranging more number of presentation sessions, even on small lecture topics. Students should be encouraged to understand and analyse a particular topic, and come to class to explain it to his peers.The most common thing, which I have seen at various levels of education is, the fear of students speaking in front of his peers. The earlier this fear can be eradicated, the easier it will be for a student to develop his personality.P.S.: I personally believe, students should be familiarised with interview skills, right from schooling days, but then again, that is a topic for another day.

One of the ways in which RAF air gunners were trained can be seen in Northern Ireland. A large concrete dome was used onto which an image of attacking aircraft were projected complete with sound effects. The gunner was placed centrally at floor level with his gun mount whereby the guns were aimed with simulated firing at the projected images.https://www.ww2ni.com/countylderryairfields.htmFrom the Second World War in Northern Ireland web site which states:How Did the Anti-Aircraft Gunner Dome Trainer Work? The picture at the bottom is from the Imperial War Museum and shows the inside operation of such a Trainer. Film of an approaching Aircraft is projected onto the roof of the Dome and the Gunner is trained to "Aim-Off" to ensure that he hits the aircraft.This video on YouTube explains the RAF gunnery training domes in some detail:These gunnery training domes are important for two reasons:they represent one of the very few surviving artefacts of the effort put into training RAF aircrews for the bomber offensive against Nazi Germany. A total of 57,205 aircrew perished out of a total of 125,000, a death rate of 46%. Including those wounded and captured Bomber Command suffered a 60% casualty rate.these domes are the forerunner of modern computer based training and simulation facilities used by armed forces all over the world for training their personnel. They provide for more effective, lower cost, lower risk and weather proof training methods as opposed to using real aircraft with their inherent limitations.These facilities only represent a small part of the training that Air Gunners received. The total length of the course was 6 weeks and included classroom work, practical exercises, range firing, simulator classes and aircraft training. There is a really good account on the web,, which provides an account of Wally Layne’s wartime experiences including his training as an Air Gunner but also covering his operational tour, time as a POW and investigation of the crash site of his aircraft. I’ve taken the liberty of reproducing some of the text and photos in this account but thoroughly recommend going to this site, Gunnery School (12/40) and indeed the full account starting at Wally's War.Gunnery Course Classroom TrainingBefore the trainee Gunners fired their first shot a great deal of ground work had to be undertaken. The trainees received extensive classroom training in aircraft recognition, map reading, mathematics and basic navigation. In addition, lectures were given on R.A.F. Law and Administration.Included in the curriculum were Air Gunner training films, examples of which can be seen on YouTube.The students had to be familiar with pyrotechnics and all of the types of armament used with a variety of different weapons systems.Training huts containing Boulton Paul and Fraser Nash turrets were utilized. A spot of light was thrown on a curved wall at which the gunner would aim. Films of various types of attacking aircraft were used with engine noise and gunfire from loudspeakers being utilized to make the exercise as realistic as possible. The training domes were a more developed version of this facility.The trainee gunners were also expected to have knowledge of how to sight those weapons systems. Hours of blackboard demonstrations were given on how to quarter the sky in search of enemy aircraft. Demonstrations were given on the “curve of pursuit” or lead and “bullet drop” that must be calculated by the Gunner when aiming at an enemy aircraft. Exercises using hand-held reflector sights enabled the student to judge the speed of a target aircraft.Other lessons including learning how to estimate the range and identity of a sighted aircraft. This was done by projecting an image of an enemy aircraft onto an aerial background. Then by varying the size of the image, it would be made to correspond to that of a real machine at a given distance.The importance of the Gunner not to “hosepipe” was stressed. With an effective range of 300 to 400 yards, a one-second burst on a Browning .303 accounted for ten rounds, conservation of ammunition was of particular importance to an air gunner.Training apparatus for a Bristol turret.Gunnery Course (Weapons Training)Continual assembly and disassembly of the weapons used by the R.A.F. were practiced at great length. The students were stressed with being familiar with their weapons mechanisms to a degree that during times of need the Gunners actions would become automatic.The trainee Gunners were required to strip and reassemble a machine gun down to the last part in two minutes. This while being timed with a stopwatch, blindfolded, as in a combat situation these tasks would need to be done in the dead of night.Developed from the American .30 Browning the British Browning .303 was the standard machine gun most usually fitted to British bombers during World War Two.Browning .303Manufactured by B.S.A. and Vickers Armstrong the Browning was a reliable and accurate gun with belt fed metal linked cartridges that returned a rate of fire of 1,200 rounds per minute. In a combat situation, 10,000 rounds of ammunition were stored in four boxes housed within a Frazer Nash turret.The Vickers G.O. (gas operated) .303 machine gun was developed by Vickers Armstrong for use in aircraft. This weapon was drum fed and had a rapid rate of fire that was adjustable at between 950 and 1,200 rounds per minute.A fast rate of fire made it suitable for shooting at attacking aircraft that were traveling at speed. This fast rate of fire allowed for a great concentration of bullets on a target in a short period of time which also made up for deficiencies in the Gunners marksmanship.Part of the popularity of the Vickers Machine Gun was due to its great solidity and reliability. It could be continually fired and would rarely break down or jam.Gunnery Course (Turret Training)Included in the course were lectures held in a turret instructional building that contained the nose, tail, upper and ventral turrets as fitted to Bomber Command aircraft.Here the students learned how to maintain, manipulate and harmonize the 4 guns of the highly maneuverable Fraser Nash, Boulton Paul, and Bristol gun turrets. These fully glazed turrets were operated by either electrical or hydraulic power provided by the aircraft’s engines. Each student was required to have a working knowledge of each turret fitted to the various aircraft operated by Bomber Command.The turrets were fitted with cine cameras, which recorded the accuracy of the students shooting and showed whether the gunner was firing high or low in relationship to the target.Gunnery Course (Live Firing)Part of the Gunners training would be to visit to the rifle range to familiarize the students with their weapons by live fire exercises including a moving target range. This provided practice firing from a portable gun turret at a large plywood model of an aircraft. This was powered by an electric motor that traveled at speed on an oval narrow track railway that ran parallel with the ground trainer turret. The turret trainer that was powered by an automobile engine had the ability to move backward and forwards as the student fired live rounds at the model. This exercise was designed to simulate air to air firing.Student Air Gunners practice their skills during a ground gunnery exercise.Gunnery Course (Aerial Training)All of the theory learned in the classrooms was put into practice in the air, flying in the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley and the Fairey Battle aircraft which were loaded with pupils and training apparatus.Frustratingly both for instructors and students the Air Gunners course was often put back due to bad winter weather and mechanical failures of the aircraft that closed flying down.Once in the air the student’s aircraft, would make a rendezvous in an allotted firing zone over the firing range with a target towing aircraft.These drogue towing aircraft were Hawker Henleys and Fairey Battles that were operated by No. 1 Anti-Aircraft Cooperation UnitHawker Henley deploying a target drogueThe target drogue consisted of a large truncated cone that was deployed from the target towing aircraft by a drogue operator. The drogue was deployed some 1,200 feet behind the target towing aircraft and by firing on the drogue the students perfected the art of aerial gunnery. Cine camera guns recorded the student’s aerial efforts.In addition to the drogue, a flag target was utilized. With dimensions of twelve feet by sixty feet with the leading edge stiffened by a pole, the flag target trailed 3,400 feet behind the towing aircraft.After the gunnery exercise, the flags were dropped at the airfield. Here an assessment of the strikes made by the coloured rounds that had been fired by the students was made.Trainee Gunners inspect a drogue that they had fired on.Gunnery Course (Whitley Training)The Whitley would take up a squad of six student gunners at a time. Taking it in turns the student gunners would first fire the fixed forward guns. They would then clamber into the Whitley’s Fraser Nash rear turret to perform gunnery exercises to further hone their gunnery skills. Here they would learn the intricacies of Beam Firing, and Free Firing astern under the tail.Having made up their own belts of ammunition with every fifth round being a tracer, the students lost marks in the result of a stoppage. Although the Whitley’s turret contained four guns, the students were only allowed to fire one due to the Wartime economy.A 7% hit ratio was considered successful and was calculated on the number of hits it would take to bring an enemy aircraft down.The business end of a Whitley, although fitted with four guns gunnery students were only allowed to fire a single gun.Gunnery Course (Fairey Battle Training)The Fairey Battle would carry aloft two student gunners. In order to differentiate between the two students, one would fire at the drogue with normal ammunition and the other with ammunition that was coated with wax that was covered with a coloured paint.Usually between one and two hundred rounds were fired and the hits on the drogue were counted on the ground. A great deal of dissatisfaction was voiced among the trainees as it was believed that the coloured ammunition did not always leave a mark.A Fairey Battle Gunnery training aircraft flying over PenrhosGunnery Course ManualThe following is from a Gunnery Course Manual as used by students at a Bombing and Gunnery School.General Hints for Air GunnersSearch the sky before take off and landing when your aircraft is most vulnerable.If gun fire is observed search for fighter and take evasive action.Patrol across the sun, never into it or away from it.If using tracer at night, remember it tends to momentarily destroy your night vision; hold your fire if necessary. The aim of an enemy fighter is to destroy; the aim of a bomber air gunner is to get safely to the target and back to base.Never fire until fired upon, in the event of gunfire search for fighter and take evasive action.Always watch your own tail.Conserve your ammo; if you are fired upon from long-range instruct the pilot to take evasive action.Never fly straight or dive when under attack; never turn away from an attack, always toward.Use good teamwork with the rest of the crew.If on reconnaissance aircraft, your job is to return with information; not to seek combat with enemy aircraft.All aircraft approaching are considered to be the enemy until identified otherwise.If your own guns fail or are damaged during an attack use your ingenuity to outwit the attacker.REMEMBER: TO BE SURPRISED IS TO BE LOSTQualifying as an Air GunnerAt the conclusion of the ground school and the aerial training, the students underwent an extensive three-day series of exams. Thoroughly tested on all they had learned in the preceding week’s successful students were promoted to the grade of Sergeant. The highest scoring student was often recommended for a commission.In addition to a promotion, graduating students were awarded the coveted Air Gunner wings and received their orders for reporting to an Operational Training Unit.US air Gunner TrainingThe US used a variety of methods to train their gunners as shown in these training films made for the USAAF. I don’t have any detailed knowledge of their course structure but would assume it was comparable with RAF training in many aspects. Training would differ due to different weapon systems and aircraft, the obvious differences when operating in daylight raids, tactical doctrine e.g. the use of the box formation which the USAAF adopted to provide mutual support from the formation in deterring and defending against attacking fighters etc.EDIT: much additional information on other aspects of Air Gunner training courtesy of Gunnery School (12/40)