Flipping icebergs: a neo-liberal curriculum?

It feels to me like an iceberg about to tip. Ultimately this is an argument for qualitative research into the so-called subjective realms of values, beliefs and feelings. Because, in part, I suggest it is the enclosure of the subject for the reward of a few, which is at the root of the general mess … Continue reading Flipping icebergs: a neo-liberal curriculum?

A hidden curriculum

Published on: Jan 18, 2018 I examine two related concepts: hierarchised identity formation and the enclosure of desire as a hidden curriculum. A hidden curriculum is, I suggest the collection of assumptions, often about power (Brookfield 2017, chapter 2) that is communicated alongside and through the practice of overt curricula. A hidden curriculum is conveyed … Continue reading A hidden curriculum

Where risk lies for HEIs: the conflation of regulation, reputation and enhancement

I had a conversation with our head of QA about the consultations current in HE regulation. Her pragmatic approach is refreshing. I thought I might share the gist of my side of the conversation. I am working through documents at a more leisurely pace than the folk at Wonkhe. And I did read David kernohan's  A game of … Continue reading Where risk lies for HEIs: the conflation of regulation, reputation and enhancement

Tinkering with algorithms

I read Franklin Foer's Facebook's War on Free Will the Guardian's "Long read" for Tuesday 19 September 2017. He recapped a familiar argument: you are Facebook's product. But when he hit "data science" I turned up my sensors. He says, "There’s a whole discipline, data science, to guide the writing and revision of algorithms". Then he … Continue reading Tinkering with algorithms

Is the machine us?

Wait a minute. Learning analytics are always mediated by a human, or by humans (plural). Sheila MacNeil, in a thought provoking post subtitled ... analytics of the oppressed, launches into "... the learning analytics interventions should always be mediated by a human debate later this week at Digifest." Software and machinery always embed human values and beliefs about … Continue reading Is the machine us?

Pay gaps, gender gaps and other crap

Money is power. More particularly, money is patriarchal power. Now here is the rub. If you use the powerful's form of power to overthrow the current power, you simply replicate power as it is. You do not transform it. OK, it is a little more complicated, but that is about it. If you use hierarchised … Continue reading Pay gaps, gender gaps and other crap

Interlibrary loan or Sci-Hub? A short saga

What follows is a short saga. Journal price inflation also adds significantly to staff time costs or reduced efficiency. I was searching for: Ashwin, P, Deem, R, & McAlpine, L 2016, 'Newer researchers in higher education: policy actors or policy subjects?', Studies In Higher Education, 41, 12, pp. 2184-2197 Our online subscription to Studies in … Continue reading Interlibrary loan or Sci-Hub? A short saga

Back to the really hard stuff

I am doing, in a way, what I have always wanted to do: teaching in a university, running an academic conference, editing a journal, supervising dissertations, some consultancy. And now I seem to have found the time and space to develop the two items that have been hardest for me to achieve and for which … Continue reading Back to the really hard stuff

Lots to do: thoughts on the task ahead

The task, for me, the lots to-do is to transform theory to practice. That is, education development aims not just to bring about correct understanding but to create social and political conditions (that is, community) more conducive to human flourishing than the present ones. I became a Football Coach last winter and now help run … Continue reading Lots to do: thoughts on the task ahead