Category: Short post, open thinking
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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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Skills-first: responding to the threat to higher education
Short post. Open thinking. Here’s an angle on where we are at this moment in time: Higher education is in an existential crisis. The concept of higher education as a public good is eroded with anti-education politics and populism, costs outpacing funding, and value propositions being dismantled. Institutions are chasing both revenue and relevance to…
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Strategy, marketing, student insights: triad of online education success
Short post, open thinking. It’s always good to hear Neil Mosley speak and even better when as an audience member, he asks the questions that need to be asked! At an event today hosted by Boundless Learning, Mosley explored three aspects of what makes for successful online education: strategy, marketing and student insights and development.…
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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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Metaphors of learning design: learning paths
Short post, open thinking. How often do you widen your view when learning? It can be very easy to focus on where you are on a particular path, in a specific moment in time knowing what is right in front of you. As a learner, this is the immediate learning need you’re trying to address…
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Metaphors of learning design: coffee shop
Short post, open thinking. How long is the queue for a hot beverage in your local coffee shop? Sometimes it may seem as if you’re waiting for the coffee beans to be grown, harvested, shipped and roasted, before you get your hands on a tasty drink. Yet, along with millions of people around the world,…