Guest post*: How to stay focused when working online

Independent learning is a challenging task. You don’t have the physical presence of your peers, or your tutor present to answer questions and keep you focused. The motivation for study comes entirely from you, which can be tricky when your bed is just sooo cosy at 8am and you really don’t fancy dragging yourself to your desk to start the online tutorial. Even once you’ve made it to your computer, staying on task can be tricky, especially with the temptation of everything the internet holds. So, here are some handy tips to keep you focused when working independently online. Continue reading

A MOOC on open education: go on, enrol now!

It’s only just started, so don’t delay, enrol for the UK Open University MOOC on Open education. Yes, our old friend Martin Weller has been at it again, and this time it’s a version of the Masters unit H817, ‘Openness and innovation in elearning’ made available to all via the UKOU’s OpenLearn initiative. Continue reading

Another word I didn’t know: skeuomorphic

Skeuomorphic: I’d never even seen it before until while browsing Arts and Letters Daily (as is my wont) I spied the title ‘The future of the book shouldn’t be skeuomorphic‘, written by Tom Abba for the New Statesman. But before we get to Tom’s article, let’s investigate this new word (new to me, anyway). Continue reading

Guest post*: If Net neutrality didn’t exist: science impeded

In 2007, Comcast (prominent US ‘provider of entertainment, information and communications products and services’) began experiments on restricting access to certain programs and websites without public knowledge. This could have been a precursor to a commercialized Internet, by allowing Internet service providers to determine what websites were available to consumers. It might have led to additional charges being incurred for what they deemed as ‘premium’ sites. Continue reading