CoL and rugby

There’s been a weird confluence between the Commonwealth of Learning (CoL) and rugby this month. Not only is the rugby world focusing on the Rugby World Cup, but the open learning community has focussed on Murrayfield, the spiritual home of Scottish rugby, via CoL having its ninth Pan-Commonwealth Forum (PCF9) at said venue. I didn’t know that Murrayfield Stadium is also a conference venue, but it makes a certain kind of sense, and I wish I’d been there! Continue reading

Confessions of a COL consultant 2: Seychelles

Back in the late 1970s, during my first teaching job at Hobart Technical College, one of the staff from the School of Business Studies was offered a two-year contract in the Seychelle Islands. I was both impressed and envious, imagining how wonderful it would be to have such an opportunity. This resolve was strengthened when, two years later, he chose not to return but to stay on in the island paradise. It was this example that probably inspired me, if the opportunity ever arose, to seek overseas employment. Continue reading

Colin’s still going strong!

The first guest post I accepted on this site (nearly a decade ago!) was from Colin Latchem, a friend and colleague I’ve known for longer than either of us care to remember. So it was a pleasant surprise to see his name pop up in a Facebook posting as Editor of a new publication from the Commonwealth of Learning and UNESCO, Using ICTs and Blended Learning in Transforming TVET. Continue reading

Sebastian Thrun, an ‘oily charlatan’?

I’ve written a couple of times about Sebastian Thrun, and not always in complimentary fashion. In the first piece from 2012 I could be accused of calling him a ‘knucklehead’. The second in 2013 was more a tracking of his change of heart and mind, from messianic mission to hard-headed business. Continue reading

So you want to undertake research in ODL? Start with PREST!

Whenever I’m asked how to get started with research in open and distance learning, I have a one-word answer: PREST. Practitioner Research and Evaluation Skills Training (PREST) is a comprehensive set of resources produced by the Commonwealth of Learning and the International Research Foundation in Open Learning, and it is simply the best there is. Continue reading

More on WikiEducator

A couple of posts ago, when rabbiting on about Wikis, I mentioned WikiEducator, which has rapidly grown to become a leader among Wikis with an educational focus. In particular, its strong refrain is a call to arms to support the Open Educational Resources (OER) movement.

Continuing on this theme, and if you’d like to know more, have a look at one of the latest CIDER sessions (emanating from Athabasca University), titled WikiEducator: A return to the traditions of the academy? Continue reading

WikiWhat?

Since my last post on contributing to Wikipedia (and I worry that no-one has yet had a go at fixing ‘Open Learning‘), matters Wiki have again crossed my path. In fact it’s hard to ignore the Wiki explosion, with Wikiquote (Who wrote “The hotel shop only had two decent books, and I’d written both of them.”?), Wikispecies (Did you know you are a heterotroph?), Wikinews (yes, it’s been proved that there are six degrees of separation), Wikibooks (contributors are known as Wikibookians), Continue reading