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
Fudge?
When the tin of TEF was first opened a few days ago with all the shiny gold, silver and bronze foil-wrapped toffees, chocolates and what nots, it was entertaining and galling in measures to see who got what and what my own gaff got. Although I had been given a steer away from expecting gold, … Continue reading Fudge?
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
Higher Education Studies
Structurally, politically, philosophically and commercially there is more change in higher education in the UK today than there has been since the Polytechnics had their magic wand waved in 1992 The OfS’s foundation is more than a simple re-branding exercise. The shift from a ‘funding council’ to a ‘regulator’, a body found in many public and … Continue reading Higher Education Studies
Learning design: heroic goal in a held space
What was I trying to do in my talk to the Solstice conference 2016? In the talk, I analysed learning using metaphors of “Held space” (Plett 2015), The romantic or heroic quest (Wikipedia for summaries) And “heartwork” (Hogan 2011) or the concept of “emotional labour” (Koster2011). I wanted these to be seen in the light … Continue reading Learning design: heroic goal in a held space
