Weller on winning … sort of

Martin Weller makes me tired. He does so much, writes so well, is an encouraging and supporting professional colleague (even at a distance – I’ve never met him in person), and runs great distances (1008 miles in 2014). We knew he’d been writing a new book, as he’d been providing updates and ideas on his blog site, but it’s still exciting to see the finished product: The Battle for Open: How openness won and why it doesn’t feel like a victory. Continue reading

Recent ruminations on higher education … in the US

It started with Clay Shirky. Like many commentators from the US, he can at times come across as somewhat pompous (not just the province of the English!) or grandiose. There’s a tendency of such writers to make pronouncements as though they’re the first to have thought of it, or to take their arguments just a tad too far (or even much too far!). Continue reading

Education: the big picture … new books

Whatever particular field of education with which we engage, every now and then we want to step back and look at the big picture. What’s going on overall, and who is providing the best overview of current trends and issues? The journals help, of course, as most include reviews of the latest offerings, but sometimes that just isn’t enough. Continue reading