Author: George Roberts

Grooming your personal brand: public writing is about quality enhancement not audience size

There is a class of blogger and tweeter who have dedicated themselves to "helping" the rest of us grow our number of followers, capture eyeballs, become indispensable. They implore us to ask constantly why others should want to read what we write, how we add value, what is the unique selling proposition that our on-line … Continue reading Grooming your personal brand: public writing is about quality enhancement not audience size

Reflection on the first tutorial group of the year: reflection, observation and feedback

Myfirst tutorial "base" group, went well enough, with 9 out of 10 present and 7 reflective pieces submitted, which I said I would give brief feedback on. I may have spent too long on professional reflection, but hope that it was useful. There was a good discussion about group process, inclusion, function, and of course, … Continue reading Reflection on the first tutorial group of the year: reflection, observation and feedback

Enquiry based, experiential and situated learning – Cloudworks

We are starting to collect resources, but it is not exactly clear how we are going to collect and hold such resources. For the moment, I have started this "Cloud" as one means of collecting resources together. I will be offering these to the Brookes institutional repository, also. via cloudworks.ac.uk Posted via email from George's … Continue reading Enquiry based, experiential and situated learning – Cloudworks

First week

It has been a week of organising base groups and applications for admission with credit for prior learning, sorting out the VLE and wiki, watching posts and comments start coming in to Activity 1. There is something exciting about the first full teaching week of the semester, but also something a little unhealthy about the … Continue reading First week

First thoughts on the final (?) draft Strategy for Enhancing the Student Experience

Oxford Brookes Academic Enhancement and Standards Committee has made its final (?) modifications to the draft Strategy for Enhancing the Student Experience (SESE). The two objectives of this strategy are to: [implement] approaches centred on critical reflection, impact evaluation and continuous enhancement of the student experience. [maximise] student involvement in the development of policies and practices for … Continue reading First thoughts on the final (?) draft Strategy for Enhancing the Student Experience

Zotero Everywhere makes me happy

Zotero Everywhere will have two main components: a standalone desktop version of Zotero with full integration into a variety of web browsers and a radically expanded application programming interface (API) to provide web and mobile access to Zotero libraries. via zotero.org This is one of the best pieces of news I have had in a … Continue reading Zotero Everywhere makes me happy

Counting and dividing: half the #pcthe cohort enter with AP(E)L

The new PCTHE cohort is significantly different to those of years previous. There are 43 on the register. Of these 22 - just more than half - are eligible to enter with AP(E)L for 20 (out of 60) credits at level seven. They arrived with QTS and/or Associate membership of the HE Academy and/or a … Continue reading Counting and dividing: half the #pcthe cohort enter with AP(E)L

The first day of the PCTHE

We must have been given the worst teaching room in the University (Gibbs 2.15). It was on the edge of a building site with fork lifts reversing all morning. The room was the only unrefurbished one on this floor of the building. The seating was really poor quality: ripped seats, gum on the floor. There … Continue reading The first day of the PCTHE

Social Media and the Harrisburg Experiment

Last week the social media networks and the printed press, too, were buzzing with news that Harrisburg University of Science and Technology was blocking access to all social media sites for the week. There were predictable reactions from all sides. But ultimately interesting questions could be asked and there is probably something worth studying about … Continue reading Social Media and the Harrisburg Experiment

Reflections on the eve of a new academic year

There is still a hard day's work ahead before the introduction to the PCTHE for 2010-11. For some reason the VLE and wiki are not developing themselves. Packs for the day do not seem to be reproducing like the little bunnies I wish they were. The to-do list of best intentions is shrinking to only … Continue reading Reflections on the eve of a new academic year