Author: George Roberts

Family friendly work-life balance may mean working odd hours

I often wonder about what a family-friendly work-life balance is. I perceive it through certain practices and policies as well as through tacit and explicit assertions and exhortations. Does it mean never sending a work-related e-mail outside the Monday-Friday, nine to five envelope? I have colleagues who adhere strictly to this practice. Others who don't.  … Continue reading Family friendly work-life balance may mean working odd hours

Extending your online course

I am developing a new online course on "Extending your online course" (how meta is that). We go live with it on 2 November 2011. This four-week short course focuses on enhancing teaching and learning by using new technology and tools - social media - for interactivity and engagement. What does that mean? We are … Continue reading Extending your online course

Teaching across two sites using “Classroom” audiographics – trials and tribulations

Audiographic tools can enable teaching and the support of learning across two or more sites but our university's classroom computing infrastructure cannot support audiographic tools: local hardware is not up to the job. I conducted a trial this week to test these propositions. Context Our University has four main campuses. We are structurally divided into … Continue reading Teaching across two sites using “Classroom” audiographics – trials and tribulations

Back to the simple e-portfolio

Further to my comment in an e-portfolio CoP discussion on Cloudworks (http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloud/view/5020 7 April 2011), a colleague raised a question about whether presentation tools can be an aid to reflection. This, led her to wonder about the distinction between reflection and presentation when developing e-portfolio practices. Is there that much of a distinction between reflection … Continue reading Back to the simple e-portfolio

OECD asserts the purpose of higher education is to serve labour market demands

Higher education institutions are expected to provide education and training relevant to labour market demands, conduct research activities that will build a knowledge-based economy, as well as contribute to social cohesion, regional development and global well-being. They must also strive constantly to fulfil their multiple missions, improve the quality of the education provided, increase their … Continue reading OECD asserts the purpose of higher education is to serve labour market demands

Social networks starting to bubble on my horizon again

Just to apologise if I do not do too much connecting through Mandeley (http://www.mendeley.com/). I am wedded to Zotero (http://www.zotero.org/) for citation management and Bibsonomy (http://www.bibsonomy.org/) for folksonomic tagging and bookmarking. academia.edu (http://www.academia.edu/) is starting to bubble a bit with social networking activity. And, of course Twitter. I wonder if Tweetdeck can read the Mendeley … Continue reading Social networks starting to bubble on my horizon again

Seeking the source for a three-part typology of authenticity in teaching and learning. Help if you can. Thanks

I am seeking the source of a particular three-part typology of "authenticity". with respect to learners current and prior knowledge, skill and understanding: authentic to the person now with respect to the epistemology of the discipline/field: authentic to the accepted canons and methodological protocols of the discipline, laws, theorems, etc with respect to the practice … Continue reading Seeking the source for a three-part typology of authenticity in teaching and learning. Help if you can. Thanks

Evaluation: a reflection in the moment #pcthe

It is the season of evaluations in universities and other institutions of the post-compulsory and lifelong learning sector.Our evaluation strategy has necessarily been informed in the literature of evaluation (Hounsell 2009) and Brookfield's (1995) "spectacles": (auto) biography learners colleagues the literature, theory Dyke (2006) observes we need to do more of this. Evaluation informed by … Continue reading Evaluation: a reflection in the moment #pcthe