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Tell me lies about ed tech
In school one of my favourite poems was by Adrian Mitchell, entitled ‘To Whom it May Concern’, it centred around the refrain ‘Tell me lies about Vietnam‘. It came to mind this week, when I read Audrey Watters’ post The Stories We Were Told about Education Technology. So here, for a bit of fun, and in appreciation of all the work Audrey has done over the years, is a remix of Mitchell’s poem for ed tech. Don’t tell me it doesn’t scan, I did it in 10 minutes, okay? I was run over by AI one day. Ever since the accident I’ve walked this way So suck up all my…
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The benefits of a writing retreat
I’ve been in a cottage in Cornwall for the past two weeks on a writing retreat, turning my 25 Years of Ed Tech series into a book. First of all, I need to acknowledge the privilege of this – many jobs do not have the type of work that allows this, and in education many people don’t have the time or money to do so, or home life makes two weeks away impossible. I am lucky to have this opportunity, and I appreciate it greatly. With that accepted, I want to set out how beneficial such a retreat is. I am returning with approximately 46,000 words written. I started with…
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Inaugural lecture klaxon!
Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the Open University and as part of the celebrations they have organised a series of inaugural lectures. I am honoured to be one of those selected to give one of these, on the 19th Feb, 18.00-19.00 GMT. If people want to attend in person (and after all, what better way to spend a Tuesday evening) there is an Eventbrite page (only sign up there if you’re definitely coming to the face to face event, no need to register for online). They’ll provide a live stream link nearer the time also and it will be on the OU Facebook live page. It’s actually about…
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Annual books and charts time!
As I’ve done over the past few years, (2017, 2016, 2015) I’m rounding up my reading for the year with some lists and pointless graphs. I’ve managed exactly 52 books so far (may squeeze in another before year’s end), the full list is at the end, and not counting work related books. This year I read a lot of crime, which worries me a bit. I used to challenge myself with books, but I have a concern that I’m doing this less now, and crime novels are kind of comforting and escapist, with their neat resolutions. I don’t want to disparage them as a genre, after all, I read them.…
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Films of the year
I must confess that after a good start, my film-going waned somewhat, so at the time of writing I haven’t seen Suspiria, Widows or Overlord, all of which I like the look of. But hey, it’s not like I’m a Guardian film critic. So, in no particular order here are 10 films this year that I feel merit special attention: Lady Bird – Greta Gerwig’s coming of age tale was by turns cool, funny, insightful and touching. Saoirse Ronan’s Lady Bird is the kind of realistic character that once you see them portrayed, you feel every other teen representation to be fake. I would’ve given this beautifully crafted film all…
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Cashback – My blogging year
2018 feels like the year that my blogging had been the apprenticeship for, with the OU crisis at the fore. My most popular post by some way was this one posted the day our VC resigned. It followed on from a semi-viral Twitter rant and subsequent post a couple of weeks earlier. Prior to this life had not been good at the OU, and like anyone sensible who worked there, I began to cast around for opportunities elsewhere. It wasn’t a healthy place to be. But through these posts, and Twitter a new sense of camaraderie emerged with colleagues, students, associate lecturers and wider community. Having a well read blog…
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AI in education – reality, uses, risks & ethics
Following on from previous talks in the seminar series I’m convening at the Open University, my colleague Wayne Holmes gave the last one on artificial intelligence. I found AI perhaps the most thorny of technologies in educational technology. Firstly, how much of it is hype? Secondly, what can it do usefully and realistically in education? And thirdly, perhaps most significantly, what are the potential negatives? These three questions are at the core of ed tech in 2018, and nowhere are they more prevalent than in AI. So, I was particularly grateful for someone who knows what they’re talking about to guide us through these. On the first of these, Wayne…
