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New structure, same plain English tutorials. Website refreshed.
professortanaka.com β¨
How many computer words do you know? π»
I made a free, printable checklist of 105 essential computer terms, with videos + visual study guides to help beginners learn.
#DigitalLiteracy #ComputerLiteracy
lnkd.in/p/gNWZzDDP
I never imagined that we'd see law clerk and paralegal programs closing in Ottawa π
The last cohort nationalmagazine.ca/en-ca/ar⦠#LawTwitter
Presenting in PowerPoint's "Normal" view (with thumbnails visible on the left) is a touch visually aggressive π¦
Do this instead π
youtu.be/rHRRX_0CJH0
Scott Tanaka retweeted
Does anyone else prefer the old school pixelated icons over the high resolution ones we have today?
What if limiting employers' rights to conduct email phishing tests improved mental health outcomes? π
The semester starts tomorrow. Iβve published new computer-skills content to help my students, especially with the basic vocabulary we often assume everyone already knows.π
professortanaka.com/downloadβ¦
#BackToSchool
There are many reasons why you'd want to download a YouTube video, but doing so comes with a bevy of questions about the legality of the available methods. engadget.com/2249521/how-to-β¦
Scott Tanaka retweeted
Some days, I look at us, capable of such great collaborations and am just in awe of how badly it's all messed up.
When it's times like this, community and grassroots are what will get us through.
You cannot build relational systems if you are not relational.
Scott Tanaka retweeted
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Just taught a student how to highlight text in Word using the keyboard (shift + arrow keys) bc he was having trouble with the mouse; worried about what my online students are missing since I have next to no visibility on their skills π€¨ππ©
Start learning Word + Excel π ProfessorTanaka.com
Replying to @ChadSlimeBased
People laugh until they realize half the workforce still struggles with formatting a document or building a proper spreadsheet.
Basic software skills stopped being a flex years ago⦠but lacking them in 2026 is even worse.
Scott Tanaka retweeted
How Ontario colleges are struggling to attract international students after visa changes
globalnews.ca/news/11857952/β¦
Multiple algorithms are trying to convince me that disputes over assigned airplane seats are a defining social problem of our time πΊπ·
Scott Tanaka retweeted
Whenever I save a PDF, I think about that lady who pointed out how insane it is that the easiest way to create one is by lying to your computer and telling it you are about to print something.
π
π§΅ 1/5 The Conestoga College Story
In 2012, Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ontario was a modest, unremarkable polytechnic. About 10,000 students. Nine out of ten of them Canadian. A school that served its community, trained tradespeople and healthcare workers, and quietly did what community colleges are supposed to do.
Nobody was watching Conestoga because nobody needed to. And then came the money.
Canada's provincial governments had frozen domestic tuition for years. Funding per student was chronically below the national average β about $5,200 short per student annually. The result was that the colleges were quietly suffocating. And then Ottawa offered a lifeline: international students. No cap. No ceiling. And they paid 3 to 4 times what a domestic student paid.
Conestoga saw the opportunity before almost anyone else β and went harder than any institution in the country.
By 2017, they were celebrating a "record" 2,300 international students enrolling in a single month. By 2022, total enrollment had doubled to 42,000 β with nearly 30,000 of them international. By 2023, revenue hit $945 million. At peak, Conestoga alone held more international study permits than the University of Toronto and UBC combined. They accounted for over 4% of every study permit holder in Canada.
A public college in Kitchener, Ontario was generating nearly a billion dollars a year β almost entirely on tuition from students who came from India, Nigeria, and the Philippines, believing that a Canadian diploma was their ticket to permanent residency.
But here's the part that tells you everything about how they saw themselves: they weren't satisfied. They wanted more. And they had a plan to get it.
Conestoga originally operated from a handful of campuses anchored in the Waterloo Region: Doon, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph. By the peak of the boom, they had expanded aggressively to over a dozen locations including Milton, Stratford, downtown Kitchener, and more β a footprint that grew almost entirely with international enrollment.
The national average tuition revenue per student at a Canadian public college sits around $8,000 to $9,000 domestically. For colleges outside the GTA, the average international student tuition collected runs roughly $14,000 to $19,000 per year. Conestoga, at its peak, was processing nearly 30,000 new international arrivals annually at those rates.
Do the math....
Underrated iPad use: To look at a large calendar while my other two monitors are filled with Very Important Things to Schedule. π
I teach Excel from level 0:
What Is Excel? | Computer Vocabulary (Plain English)
youtu.be/ym0UytcUhGQ
Only 3 machines left in Japan?! See how the iconic LIFE Noble Notebook i... youtu.be/c_UvVavl-eE?si=K4Dz⦠via @YouTube
Whether we're concerned with face-to-face or online education, it remains necessary for students to participate in their own learning. Neither human professors nor computers can force students to act in their best interests. π













