Category: Opinion
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Expanding the role of higher education: professional learning
Short post. Open thinking. UK higher education is going through a period of significant change and it looks like it will continue for some time to come. Office for Students (OfS) financial sustainability forecasts in May 2025 were grim reading and six months later their update did not hold back with language of “tough decisions”,…
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Look beyond the edge of the plate
Short post. Open thinking. Bear with me on this one. I don’t normally share encounters on public transport, but I think you will find this resonates. What does a quality manager in the central European automotive industry have in common with a delegate to an education conference in the UK? This rather unpredictable question was…
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2024 retrospective and a view to 2025: can we make an opportunity out of higher education’s challenges?
As 2024 draws to a close, I’ve taken the liberty of consuming a few minutes of your time to capture some highlights of my work from the last 12 months and also to ponder what role online education may have in 2025. Looking back I’ve learnt a lot from the wider educational sector both in…
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Getting the most out of education conferences: top five tips
Opinion piece. As I am on the train again, this time to the annual conference of the Association for Learning Technology, I thought it was time I updated my advice for those attending and also to remind myself of what I want to get out of the experience. Here are my top five tips: Everyone…
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AI and higher education: skills, humans and educational experiences
Opinion piece. When it comes to artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on education, it’s fair to say we’re currently in the murky waters of the unknown, trying to make sense of change and any level of certainty is ill-founded. The current context and rapid pace of change doesn’t offer much in terms of evidence…
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Universities as transformative communities
Opinion piece. One of the great advantages of working at a university is the collective passion for learning and teaching. This comes through a community of practice centred on students’ educational experience and the long term impact of higher education. Institutional conferences that bring together students, academics and professional services focus attention in the university…
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Thoughts on education, art and finding connection
Opinion piece. When I visited the Hepworth Wakefield in April, the exhibition of drafts, prototypes and completed works triggered a somewhat surprising emotional response in me. In an age where knowledge is on tap, much working time is spent in a digital ecosystem and creative endeavours have the potential to be reduced to the algorithms…
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Thoughts on AI and education: the quest for productive education and the need for human context
Opinion piece. This post is definitely outside my comfort zone with reference to artificial intelligence (AI) and certainly beyond my qualifications in this area. I am writing as an educationalist and as a human being trying to make sense of my own values of education and my feelings about the potential of AI. There is…
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Metaphors of learning design: LEGO
Metaphor and analogy are both powerful ways to convey complex concepts, representing ideas in different ways that better relate to individuals prior knowledge or contexts. Though sometimes metaphors and analogies can be just plain confusing. In this post, I’m having a little fun for a change and will attempt to convey curriculum and learning design…