On one level. that is what we do. All the time. We are planners, time and distance travellers. How much? Will it get us there? Every time? That is what we mean. But where is the "there" to which we want to get? And for whom do we want to get there? And who we? … Continue reading Calibrating? Connecting? Consistently? (1)
Get back on the horse
I have stumbled back over my place for writing and this is a surprise for me. I remember him! I last posted here two and a half years ago and retired from full-time paid academic work a few months later (August 2020), as the Covid lockdowns in the UK were being violated by Boris Johnson's … Continue reading Get back on the horse
Cottage weavers
In another twist to the spiral curriculum thrown up in discussions triggered by the responses to Covid-19, we learn once again that things come round again, but different. In Britain much heavy and primary industry has moved off the islands, where logistics, marketing and finance networks continue to make it uneconomic either: To engage in … Continue reading Cottage weavers
Higher education: sunk at the end of history?
A reply to Justine Andrew. ‘The Strategic Imperative: Planning for a Post-Covid Future’. Wonkhe. Justine Andrew in Wonkhe (6 May 2020) sets out a strategic approach to the big questions facing higher education: sector, institutions and their governors. She, at KPMG, uses the structure: React, Resilience, Recovery, Renewal and New Reality. I want to suggest … Continue reading Higher education: sunk at the end of history?
Sustainable assessment
Been asked to reread David Boud's (2000), Sustainable Assessment: rethinking assessment for the learning society. For me the article dances around problems of performativity and supervision. Implicit and explicit throughout is the assumption that individuals might become effective at self-assessment. Assessment involves identifying appropriate standards and criteria and making judgements about quality. This is as … Continue reading Sustainable assessment
Our World in Data, Gapminder and Justice
ourworldindata.org, is one of those things that makes the Internet a-good-thing. It is one of those things that makes universities worth some of their pennies. "Research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems... All free: open access and open source." Strapline and mission, in one. And their data visualisations are the best … Continue reading Our World in Data, Gapminder and Justice
The personal-political imaginary restructured by a universal-Turing-machine symbolic
The tools used in a personal learning environment (PLE) will to some extent determine the shape of that environment. The shape of any object is always in some way a reflection of the tools used to make it. And as tools shape the object, so too will desire for the object shape the evolution of … Continue reading The personal-political imaginary restructured by a universal-Turing-machine symbolic
Personal learning environments: everybody has one
Covid-19 has given me a little time to reflect on my past 10 or 15 years. A Personal Learning Environment (PLE) is for me, first of all a purpose, and then a place where I engage in activity with others. Only then do I look for tools to effect my participation in that activity with … Continue reading Personal learning environments: everybody has one
A progressive, emancipatory, democratic re-centering
My Personal Learning Environment (PLE) first of all has purpose and principles. I enter into learning in order to foster progressive (Wikipedia), emancipatory (recognising and reorienting where power is drawn from) and democratic (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) relations between people and groups of people. My Personal learning environment is autonomist, supporting self-directed, purposeful learning and … Continue reading A progressive, emancipatory, democratic re-centering
The human other-space between community and identity
With the Covid-19 rush to online, learning environments are suddenly of core concern. We each, student, teacher and staff need to be able to insert our personal learning environments into those of one another. In an earlier post, I considered my Personal Learning Environment (PLE) first a purpose. Here I consider it as a place … Continue reading The human other-space between community and identity
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