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
The new normal in the arms of the old
Diversity of working practices must be one way of improving diversity of participation. It may become a factor in survival. In the first week of the Covid19 distancing, on a departmental coffee break in one of the popular meeting applications, colleagues maybe uncomfortable with distributed collaboration and diverse working patterns asked what they had to … Continue reading The new normal in the arms of the old
I am concerned
I am 66 with a history of pneumonia x2, once with the nee naw up to the John Radcliffe and about 8 hours in A&E. And that was two years ago. I have had bronchitis many times until I started getting the flu jab: winter chest infection free for the past 2 years. I am … Continue reading I am concerned
Learning in the time of…
Covid-19 has brought about a collective response. What can I call it? Madness? Folly? There will be bad come of it. There could be good come of it. I read that the number of premature deaths due to urban air pollution is down more than deaths due to Covid-19 are up. And there will be … Continue reading Learning in the time of…
Making money off the misery of others
Among the things I got from my father is a phrase he used to guide the way he engaged with the world. You don't make money off the misery of others. This was usually applied by him to to the provision and practice of socialised medicine. But, it extended beyond the health of individuals with a … Continue reading Making money off the misery of others
Reflection in action: professional development study visits
How close to the moment can you get? "Be here now," urges 1960s psychologist Richard Alpert. A mythical Google aspires to a perfect concurrent rendering of this reality: in real-time, in software. How much rewinding can we do before anyone notices the pause for thought? Reflection in action often has the effect of: "Oops! Don't … Continue reading Reflection in action: professional development study visits
Beginning of term
Systems or people? We can model learning in order to develop ways for our machines to acquire, store, process and apply data: information gathered from the world around. Although I put it as a vague question of preference at the start of this essay, it has many ramifications. Are people not just quite complex systems? … Continue reading Beginning of term
