October 2014 – Open Learning space

The filter bubble!

adminOctober 31, 2014

I already knew about this idea but I came across this very good TedTalk where Eli Pariser is just amazingly clear about the filter bubble how he called it. As teachers it is our responsibility to stress critical thinking in our students and this is a brilliant way to say…

The essence of philosophy is the art of thinking…and it should serve human fluorishing

adminOctober 31, 2014

From Giorgio Bertini's blog https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz8cVS8LoO7ONUJWNWNxdTlPNEk/preview

Starting a fire: how to keep the creative spark alive.

adminOctober 30, 2014

Lovely analogy: Creativity and lighting a fire with out a fire lighter :)

Let us teach guessing! With George Polya

adminOctober 5, 2014

Look at this beautiful video almost 50 years old. Thinking and learning in mathematics! [vimeo 48768091 w=500 h=375]

Philosophy of Technology Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

adminOctober 1, 2014

Philosophy of Technology Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

A practical guide to tackling the climate crisis – podcast February 25, 2021 Presented by Natalie Grover and produced by Madeleine Finlay
Did an ancient magnetic pole flip change life on Earth? – podcast February 23, 2021 Presented by Nicola Davis and produced by Madeleine Finlay
Why do humans struggle to think of ourselves as animals? – podcast February 18, 2021 Presented and produced by Madeleine Finlay
Covid-19: why mix and match vaccines? – podcast February 16, 2021 Presented by Sarah Boseley and produced by Tiffany Cassidy and Madeleine Finlay
Covid-19: love in lockdown – podcast February 11, 2021 Presented by Linda Geddes and produced by Madeleine Finlay

Nicolas Bourbaki
This ten part history of mathematics from Newton to the present day, reveals the personalities behind the calculations: the passions and rivalries of mathematicians struggling to get their ideas heard. Professor Marcus du Sautoy shows how these masters of abstraction find a role in the real world and proves that mathematics is the driving force […]
Hardy and Ramanujan
This ten part history of mathematics from Newton to the present day, reveals the personalities behind the calculations: the passions and rivalries of mathematicians struggling to get their ideas heard. Professor Marcus du Sautoy shows how these masters of abstraction find a role in the real world and proves that mathematics is the driving force […]
Henri Poincare
This ten part history of mathematics from Newton to the present day, reveals the personalities behind the calculations: the passions and rivalries of mathematicians struggling to get their ideas heard. Professor Marcus du Sautoy shows how these masters of abstraction find a role in the real world and proves that mathematics is the driving force […]
Georg Cantor
This ten part history of mathematics from Newton to the present day, reveals the personalities behind the calculations: the passions and rivalries of mathematicians struggling to get their ideas heard. Professor Marcus du Sautoy shows how these masters of abstraction find a role in the real world and proves that mathematics is the driving force […]
The Mathematicians Who Helped Einstein
This ten part history of mathematics from Newton to the present day, reveals the personalities behind the calculations: the passions and rivalries of mathematicians struggling to get their ideas heard. Professor Marcus du Sautoy shows how these masters of abstraction find a role in the real world and proves that mathematics is the driving force […]

Reflecting on 2020 and looking to 2021: A year-end editorial from JPAAP
First published in the summer of 2013, the Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice (JPAAP) is an online open access journal that is focused on evidence-based academic practice within tertiary (Further and Higher) education in thematic areas that include: learning, teaching and assessment; curriculum innovation and development; academic development; scholarship of learning and teaching; […]
Fears, hopes and reimaginings: learning and teaching within, through and beyond the pandemic (#SOLSTICE2020)
For many years I have had the privilege of attending and presenting at a number of the annual SOLSTICE technology-enhanced learning conferences run by Edge Hill University, presenting in latter years in my role as a Visiting Professor in education within the Centre for Learning and Teaching at Edge Hill University. Due to the COVID-19 […]
Overview and thanks – ‘Digital Learning: The Key Concepts (Second Edition)’
In my first blog posts of 2019, back in March, I was sharing news of the book ‘Conceptualising the Digital University: The intersection of policy, pedagogy and practice’ which myself and my good friends and colleagues Bill Johnston and Sheila MacNeill had just had published. Our book was a labour of love, informed by several […]
Conceptualising the digitally distributed curriculum at #SOLSTICE19
On Wednesday 5th June this week I’m presenting at the annual SOLSTICE 2019 e-learning conference at Edge Hill University, which is organised and run as a joint conference by Edge Hill’s SOLSTICE Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (@SolsticeCETL) and the Centre for Learning and Teaching at EDU (@CLTatEHU). The joint SOLSTICE and CLT […]
Coming full (culture) circle at #OER19 – Part 1
This is the first of two blogs posts that accompany the session “Unpacking the geopolitics of open for the strategic development of (HE) institutions and communities – what is a university for?” that Sheila MacNeill, Bill Johnston and myself ran on day one of #OER19 on 10th April. Sheila will post Part 2, reflecting on […]
My inspirational women #IWD2019
For International Women’s Day 2019, the Learning and Teaching Academy at the University of the Highlands and Islands are running our second annual #InternationalWomensDay event. Our #IWD2019 organisers Alex Walker and Ann Tilbury, two inspiring women, asked everyone who is participating today to share in advance their own inspirational women. This is who I chose […]
Thanks and acknowledgements for ‘Conceptualising the Digital University’
Long before we got to the point of having an opportunity to write the book that became ‘Conceptualising the Digital University: The Intersection of policy, pedagogy and practice’, Bill Johnston, Sheila MacNeill and myself benefited from early discussions and dialogue about the idea and implications of the ‘digital university’ with a great many colleagues across the […]
Recently published – Conceptualising the Digital University: The intersection of policy, pedagogy and practice
Well, it’s almost exactly a year since my last blog post. I blog sporadically, so it’s likely no one has noticed! It’s not good practice to blog so infrequently, although I have a good reason. Around this time last year, my friends and colleagues Bill Johnston, Sheila MacNeill and myself were undertaking, in earnest, the writing […]
Open practice and praxis in the context of the Digital University. #OER18
This week saw the latest in a small series of writing workshops for Bill Johnston, Sheila MacNeill and myself for our forthcoming book Conceptualising the Digital University: Intersecting policy, pedagogy and practice (Palgrave). Our work on this book has been a very enjoyable slow-burn, originating five or so years ago with the application of Sheila and […]
Student transitions to, within and beyond Higher Education. Special Issue of JPAAP.
Over the last few months I have been working with Lorraine Anderson (University of Dundee) and Roni Bamber (Queen Margaret University) to co-edit a new Special Issue of the online, open access Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice (JPAAP). The theme of the Special Issue is Student Transitions and the issue has been published in partnership […]