Category: Uncategorized
-
Technology as more than a tool…
Spotify Wrapped has become an annual celebration of data collection on our audio listening habits. So, as I scroll down my own 2021 listening data for 2021, I find the same songs from the same playlist that I have listened to for the past several years. I am presented with ‘You might also like’ recommendations […]
-
Learning theory from outsiders…
I have read a lot about learning theory, working in the fields of instructional design, an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Social Sciences and working as a Sociologist as a researcher but also a teaching practitioner. I’ve started to collect quotes about learning from those outside of the learning sciences and associated disciplines. Often not […]
-
Two discourses on 2020 remote learning…
The 2020 Covid-19 pandemic is being talked of in higher education as a big experiment in teaching online but my observation is that two perspectives are emerging. Technology enthusiasts who have for many years evangelised that all of higher education should embrace technology are getting more exposure and informing bigger audiences of approaches and research […]
-
The Social Dilemma
The Social Dilemma arrived on Netflix at the end of 2020 with a clear message… Technology is controlling us. Here I share my thoughts on the film and some impacts on Education and how we might reframe and resist such controlling discourse. If You’re Not Paying for It, You’re the Product https://conversableeconomist.blogspot.com/2018/01/if-youre-not-paying-for-it-youre-product.html If you haven’t […]
-
Don’t just #pivotonline, question everything…
Why have an exam? Why have a lecture? Why have a seminar? These learning activities in their traditional sense are not available right now so pretty much every education institution in the world are looking for alternatives… Exams, lectures, labs, seminars are deeply embedded into higher education culture. I have long been a proponent of […]
-
The part-time undergraduate puzzle
This blog was written for HEPI, the Higher Education Policy Institute following the publication of UK university part-time higher education: a corpus-assisted discourse analysis of undergraduate prospectuses. Popular culture has painted and represented the part-time university graduate as successful in various fields. The institutions offering these opportunities have all been heralded as success stories and […]
-
Data or intuition for design?
Data is everywhere but can it inform design decisions? What implications does this have for learning and teaching in higher education? The options are endless and how these current and new technologies are implemented are decisions which are being made across the sector. In my own research, I am particularly interested in the field of design […]
-
What are universities for? An epistemological view on learning – A tale of extremes.
It’s not a new question – What are universities for? Mark Leach of the excellent WonkHE has summed up where the narrative currently stands from a political and policy perspective. In the impassioned The Enemy Within – why the narrative about universities and students went so wrong Mark ties together political discourse of the past, […]
-
The myth of meritocracy and education
Meritocracy is the idea of opportunity for all regardless of background but based on ability. Sounds fair? Maybe not… Both sides of the political spectrum in the past 20 years have hailed meritocracy as the goal for social mobility. A meritocratic society is said to be one in which if you have the ability, given […]
DR. ADAM MATTHEWS 