Small cosmos: virtual hypertext

Sometimes poems are not ABOUT one thing. But, I cannot say they simply ARE; the mere fact of their existence counts for little. It is not enough that a collection of words gets splattered on a page. I think of a poem as a small cosmos. Poems are both LIKE a small cosmos as well … Continue reading Small cosmos: virtual hypertext

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

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

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

What to do about Rhodes and other evils

I recently read Joanna Williams' piece in the Conversation, "Safe space hand wringers are attacking academic freedom – we must fight back". I have also been party to both academic and dinner-table conversations that addressed freedom of speech and cultural representation, currently exemplified by the Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford (RMFO) debate. A number of themes merge into a wider … Continue reading What to do about Rhodes and other evils

Usurpation of the University?

Transcendence - transgression - is the modality of human being in the world… The urge to transcend is the most stubbornly present … attribute of human existence (Bauman 2002, 222-23). Last August I discussed a symposium to be held at the Australian Philosophy of Education Society with David Aldridge. That never happened but this note … Continue reading Usurpation of the University?

Usurpation: the condition of the university?

Usurpation might better be seen as the condition of the university than as a problem for any particular aspect of that complex phenomenon: higher education today. Taking Subramaniam, Perrucci, & Whitlock's (2014) theoretical framework of social and intellectual closure we might see usurpation as - in parts and in places - an ameliorating response to … Continue reading Usurpation: the condition of the university?

Getting away with it (a blimage challenge)

Bounced off Steve Wheeler's post, "Blimy its a blimage" and thought I could be a nay-sayer or a player (more on which somewhere else maybe). The image was of old school desks shot from above. The challenge -- for the Blimage is a challenge -- is to write an education-related piece about the image. Two … Continue reading Getting away with it (a blimage challenge)

Humanities and Social Sciences Research at Brookes

Semi-live blogging from the Faculty research conference. Yet more 1000-mile questions. In general, academics need to learn that not keeping to time is unprofessional and disrespectful of colleagues and audience. Roger Griffin on Nomic modernity. Cites Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, as well as old and new academic writers in a compelling whirl of suggestions about … Continue reading Humanities and Social Sciences Research at Brookes

The role of the PVC International (PVCI)

Alastair Fitt, Vice Chancellor, on the role of the PVC International (PVCI), Thursday 23 April 2015 These comments and reflections are mine and do not necessarily represent the views of the Vice Chancellor, Oxford Brookes University or any other member of the audience. The Vice Chancellor’s talk, which opened the Internationalisation Steering Group’s Away Day, … Continue reading The role of the PVC International (PVCI)