This has been a well run conference: 11am – 6pm Thursday & 9am Friday until 12.30pm – a sensible schedule that allows for people to attend the whole event. Richard and I did a uvac-idibl-presentation slot that wnt down well, lots of commanality with the Middlesex Work-based learning approach as described by Alan Durrant Head [...]
Dr David Hodge, President of Miami University, Ohio: Audio visual, full paper. This practitioner conference brought to life the full breadth and diversity of the inquiry-based ‘movement’. From problem based learning in a medical context through to action research in the workplace there was an invigorating feeling of university staff striving to make learning more [...]
The newly validated Masters in Learning with Technology at University of Bolton, Institute for Educational Cybernetics – recognised globally through its long-running Centre for Educational Technology and Interoperability Standards (CETIS) are recruiting for new students (researchers). When I lead the Ultraversity project at Anglia Ruskin University and in particular the development of the highly successful [...]
In Salzburg for a couple of very enjoyable days. Of particular interest me was the discussion around the presentation by Sebastien Fielder and Terje Väljataga in their paper “Competence advancement supported by social media”. Two aspects in particular: 1. The discussion around the meaning of the word competence – always a thorny one as it [...]
Widening participation in HE is likely to continue to be a priority for many years to come. Likewise the desire by government for employers to pay a larger share of the costs of his seems here to stay. Approach 1 In the North West of England, the Greater Manchester Strategic Alliance is aiming to address [...]
The new Learning with Technology Masters will be delivered entirely online from next September and we are currently struggling with decisions about what technology to use. The Institute for Educational Cybernetics where I work is also home for the CETIS service (funded by JISC), one of its aims being to contribute to future thinking in [...]
Thinking outside of discipline areas and subject benchmark statements for university level education can be something of a challenge – see the HEA paper Interdisciplinarity: A Literature Review by Angelique Chettiparambil Rajan for a discussion of the arguments. In developing our inter-disciplinary approaches we have arrived a position of identifying thematic areas of work activity [...]
Hefce scheme encourages businesses to co-fund students:Higher Education Funding Council for England to support government policy of getting businesses to co-fund students with up to £105m over the next three years (Via Education Guardian). At the same time Hefce confirm that the “controversial proposals to withdraw £100m of funding for people studying equivalent or lower [...]
The ‘father’ of Pattern Languages is the architect Christopher Alexander. In the 1970′s he became concerned about the way in which the design process of living spaces had changed from one whereby those who live and use the buildings, streets, parks, etc. were primarily responsible for their design to one dominated by architects, town planners, [...]
Computer skills ‘undervalued’:Computer skills are still undervalued in the UK board room, software giant Microsoft claims. (Via BBC News | Business | UK Edition). “A solid working knowledge of productivity software and other IT tools has become a basic foundation for success in virtually any career.” Arguably Bill is only part way there… The idibl [...]
