There is a really good takedown of a recent Centre for Policy Studies report on student finance in WonkeHE. While the post provides good arguments for a shift away from human capital theory-based justifications for public investment in higher education, this quote really resonated with me: “I have no glib solution to which you might … Read more
In a recent blog post on WonkHE, David Kernohan states that micro-credentials should be distinguished by referring to discrete or standalone learning experiences “…not just a possible component of something bigger”. So a micro-credential is not a single module of a larger degree, or various degree programmes. While the rest of his post raises many … Read more
In the current pandemic, there is obvious interest in the resilience of higher education institutions. This is regularly framed in terms of financial robustness and the ability to bounce-back to a state of normalcy. But as I’ve argued before, resilience is about being able to adapt and thrive in a changing environment. Resilience is a … Read more
This is my sketchnote taken during the Advance HE seminar on the theme of reshaping higher education for the future. The seminar was preceded by three provocation videos that I also captured in a sketchnote here:
I have three items: (1) notes on a recent example of the interaction of universities and private educational companies and the increasing commercialisation of higher education; (2) one tweet on effective online teaching and learning design; and (3) one link to JISC’s collection of future scenarios for higher education. Commercialising higher education Coventry University is … Read more
This week has been a lot of ‘heads down’ course designing and building type work. I did find the following of interest: Fostering online learning “research into online learning almost univocally agrees that…well-designed courses with interactive content..continuous educator involvement..timely, and formative feedback are the most promising approaches to fostering learning in online environments” https://t.co/JfHeTd1BsT— Neil … Read more
Three bits of news and content that caught my eye this week: Accreditation and lifelong learning A new post from www.wonkhe.com at on the relations between accreditation, digital education and lifelong learning. The post is mainly concerned with access to education and social mobility in the context of Covid and so makes the case for … Read more
This is a short collection of things that have caught my eye this week. This is an interesting article from Inside Higher Ed on how Covid 19 threatens the diversity of institutions in the higher education system of the USA. It is, as expected, the smaller institutions most at risk of closure. So diversity in … Read more
This is an initial #sketchnote drafted as I re-engage with the conceptualisation of this project. The project aims to develop approaches to enhancing education institutions (rather than individual) resilience in teaching & learning. Like much else, the project stalled as priorities changed to respond to the pandemic. The project draws on concepts of institutional resilience, … Read more
During this period of remote working, I’m reminded of Martin Oliver’s (2015) argument for the importance and value for higher education of the co-location of learners, researchers, teachers, spaces, libraries and so on. These bases of values are now being eroded, problematised and reframed in the pivot to remote teaching. Oliver discusses such value creation … Read more