Siege of Fortress University / back to Platform University ( new readers start here ) #SiegeK #RuinsHE

 My tweets are a bit hard to follow recently, more cut and paste with a comment. So here are notes around recent links and the supposed siege of the Fortress University.

Peter Horrocks spoke in Durham ( at the castle ) about the Fortress University as a way to describe existing HE and the potential of online to open things up a bit. But, unfortunately in my own take on this, he had to resign after criticism of his priority for investement in Futurelearn. Later Seek Group from Australia got half control for about £50m.

The second conference on the Platform University was intended for Lancaster ( near the castle ) but twice cancelled because of UCU strikes. I thought it was likley to be negative about Platforms so in tweets and blog mentioned Futurelearn and other MOOC platforms as worthy of inclusion in a positive mix. 

I have done several short video clips from Kendal Castle (not far from Lancaster ) and imagined a siege of ideas around the space inside the walls still part of UK HE. Time is not exact. Post production needed to suppose the Fortress is still in good condition at this time. Donald Clark and AI on one seat just outside. Scott Galloway and post Corona marketing on another. I put the Manifesto for Teaching Online inside the walls as it has a balance and pays attention to the danger if  analytics recodes education. The VC ( not venture capital ) is inside a tower but might be in signal contact with Futurelearn or JISC in the arts centre ( line of sight ok ) . Ben Williamson online talk in Lancaster suggests the boundaries are fuzzy and VC may be seen as outside, especially if talking to consultants.

Yesterday I found a tweet from Post Pandemic University with link to article on Platform University , by Mark Carrigan originally 2019 in Discover Society. This has more than I expected as balance. Mentions "risk of neurotic mission to preserve the boundaries of the university" against platform capitalism ; Sacha Roseneil on "paranoia rather than criticality". Also recognises the potential for social media platforms such as YouTube and Discover Society to communicate ideas.

But I still do not find much recognition that MOOC platforms can be linked to HE control and values. OU still the origin of Futurelearn. EdX still relates to Harvard /MIT . ( OK Coursera seems to be getting more into skills and corporates. Clues welcome on the HE involved. Scott Galloway has a map on campus and HQ sites in California )

The siege continues. I expect more discussion in 2021 with online seen as near normal. The site at Kendal Castle is open so other video or stills are possible. A YouTube playlist can mix in various sources. Sound edit depends on rights and permissions. Clues / links welcome.

Scott Galloway and MOOC scene / Siege of Fortress University Continues in Kendal

 There is now a playlist on YouTube with short clips recorded recently near Kendal Castle. It is a way to identify a set fot future clips / discussion on what is happening with HE moving online in UK.

This blog moves between fiction and reality. Fact update starts with Scott Galloway as most recently added to situation. Other references rotate over time. I have added a video to the playlist from earlier in the year but with calm style. There are more recent ones on YouTube around the Post Corona book but this one has the main argument.

There is not much to update from statements on HE policy. In UK there has mostly been claims about getting back to normal. Not any detail on moving online. But I think the MOOC scene has moved on more than is in the book. Page 152 of "Post Corona" mention of courses from Google but not the connection with Coursera. In the UK Futurelearn are working with Amazon Web Services and Coventry University. My guess is that Big Tech will not make a direct move to replace HE but the MOOC platforms will work with them to expand content and vocational credentials.

The siege is a way to continue conversation after the lecture in Durham by Peter Horrocks. Assume the students have gone away for the break. Why will they return? To be continued.

#ExeStreetArts tag continued, meanwhile more examples of possible methods

 I started a couple of posts about this recently as I expected a launch of the YouTube video channel for MidiTV , Music in Devon Initiative, the organisers for the Exeter Street arts Festival. I used the tag - #ExeStreetArts - over the summer this year and previously and tried to track any link between the volume of tweets and views on video. So far I cannot work out any way to describe a system. I know some social media professionals can work on this. for example the Digital Marketing University describe a funnel but they have much larger scale projects and sets of data.

I have tried to interest people I know who work with stats as part of quality systems. Most of the experience is with production so the numbers are easier to recognise. I guess the methods for web analytics and quality stats will turn out similar but different words are in use. just my guess. There may be a text about this sort of thing already so clues please if anyone knows.

Meanwhile both these people are trying out more on social media, start with Twitter as a base. Peter Leeson ( @PeterLeeson ) has a link to a YouTube playlist of short talks.  - bit.ly/OK-ShortTalks. Three so far. No information on how this works but I will also look at Amazon stats for the book - Orchestrated Knowledge . Alan Clark ( @SimplyManageGuy )is using tags, latest one seems to be #A3process . Others use it also, I will explore this in a post next year. It could be a way to develop the sequence of posts for this blog.

Meanwhile the Midi TV channel is still not launched but you can follow on Twitter. @MidiTvUK

Winterlude Truce during Siege at Fortress Campus , with diagram

 Now thinking about a truce during which the students can go home. They may return next year or maybe not. This is still fiction but based on something. The diagram shows a possible layout with AI and EdTech outside the defence wall but some staff and students may visit. The Vice Chancellor has a tower that may signal towards Futurelearn / JISC or other consultants. The main social base for HE continues to be with the staff #WeAreTheCampus . 

I am not sure where to put the digital subjects such as Digital Humanities or Digital Sociology. They may be added later. The slide is on Google here.

While thinking about this post there have been a couple of tweets. TES FE News posted (  @tesfenews  ) about funding for lifelong learning and Neil Mosley wrote about the MOOC report on Class Central. I think he could have said more about the vocational courses on MOOC platforms and the range of companies supplying courses. Google and others need to recruit people with up to date skills. On AI and similar they are well informed. There may be doubts about academic standards but more is learnt about online than some realise. ( @neilmosley5 )

Plot around siege at Fortress University

 Post Corona book from Scott Galloway is a new form of shock. Previously I have been repeating links to the lecture by Peter Horrocks on the Fortress University at Durham. But this is a bit obscure as Youtube. Quite long and there are no sample clips. the content has a critique of existing HE and also shows how online could open this up. The book format has substance and there are now several short clips of video with similar arguments. So I am thinking about a new drama / phase in #RuinsHE as a sort of siege around the fortress. The online option is arranged in camps outside, but there may be some secret communication. Some suggest that even if the management talk to consultants this is still not seen as inside HE. Siege as drama continues through next term when there may be clues enough for a reality version. 

Scott Galloway Post Corona, links to the MOOC

I have now got a copy of the book by Scott Galloway - Post Corona - and skip to the bits that I find fit with what I gathered looking at video. I will of course read the  book in the order intended some time later.

The first thing I notice is the absence of the MOOC scene as such. At least I have not found it so far. There is a recommendation that firms such as Apple, Google and Amazon open universities to certify arts, computer science, operations. The example reported by Inc is a Google plan for Career certificates. But it is not mentioned this is with Coursera who also work with IBM, possibly too old a company to be mentioned in the book. It seems to me much more likely big tech companies will work with MOOC platforms, not directly compete with universities.

The overall argument of the book still seems about right though. More detail quibbles later.

Marketing / Business School inside the HE edges?

 Recently I have been thinking about the boundary or edge situation for HE as it is seen. I have watched online talks by Ben Williamson as if in Lancaster and Janja Komljenovic as if in Oxford. The MOOC scene is mostly seen as outside the HE situation. The platforms as innovation / undermining something more valuable. Proposals for change around online not coming from inside. Then yesterday I saw Scott Galloway on #FutureOfEducation Business Insider event. He is a Professor of  Marketing at @NYUStern. I am not sure where the slides are available. There is a page report online. Mostly this is analysis of what is happening. There are suggestions on how to benefit from the situation. There is a critique of the existing campus that contrasts with the idea that commercial pressure only arrived with platforms.

All that means that while higher education traditionally was a "lubricant" of upward social mobility, it's now more of a "caste system" that primarily serves the privileged, Galloway argued. "We're no longer public servants, but luxury goods who are drunk on exclusivity and brag about turning away 80 then 85 then 90% of applicants," he said. "I think it's morally corrupt and the reckoning is on its way."

I will find out how much more I can quote. This post just to indicate the implication of moving online has reached the Business School. They are mostly still luxury brands invested in buildings ( my guess ) but maybe this is changing. Is there the same sort of information for UK as for USA? Are these themes ina format somewhere UK journals recognise?

Scott Galloway has several video clips on YouTube. Also a book - Post Corona.

Spine Walk draft

This is an outline for some sort of radio early next year. I have stopped now for this year but would like to try some sort of walk on Lancaster campus spine, from Education end via Learning Zone towards Management School and InfoLab 21 for technology. this may be completely as fiction / drama or some sort of format with real guests. At the moment I do not actually move around very much, it might just be a video call with backdrops added in later. 

Recently I looked at two Zoom calls - Donald Clark talking to Future of Work in Scotland and Ben Williamson talking to Educational Research in Lancaster. The Lancaster video not yet available I think but recent blog has similar content. 

Some sort of story telling structure may be needed to link these two together. Or clarify where the boundary exists. Previously I thought about the "Platform University" compared to the "Fortress University" described by Peter Horrocks in Durham when explaining the potential of Futurelearn to open up HE in new ways. On the walk I think the AI aspects could come later when the prospect has been introduced. In the questions Ben Williamson described the borders between inside and outside HE as increasingly blurry but still saw the proposals for change as coming from outside. I asked about the Open university and Futurelearn / Harvard MIT and EdX . But MOOC platforms still seen as external, also JISC and similar projects. Even Vice Chancellors offer decisions that do not rub well with academic and support staff. So if they are seen as external when working with consultants the border is all over the place. My fiction will have guests at the Management School from consulting scene, as if the HE site is an organisation like any other.

In any format there can be links to clips. Links welcome. Could work anywhere but the Lancaster spine walk is interesting as a backdrop. The buildings represent topics and anyone can use them for updates / versions.

Sorry, missed a bit of spec, "Trade and Exchange" has to be two dimensions

 I have now had a better look at the application for the Trade and Exchange artwork. It has to be visual in two dimensions . It will not be attended so public cannot enter the space. So my idea of a radio studio would not fit at all.

However I will carry on with some of the ideas. I have tweeted and messaged Chris and JD from Wild Show. We can still aim at mp3 for Storytelling Week, 30 Jan -6 Feb. The "Trade and Exchange" theme will turn up in various ways.

Previously Rougemont Global Broadcasting is just a YouTube channel using one camera at a time. Group using Phonic FM studio would like somewhere easier for guests / wheelchairs to get into. So possibility of empty shop somewhere has always been of interest. Is it getting easier? Budget of £2000 or £500 for tech support might be enough for a week. Is renting a good idea or could you borrow computers and buy a basic mixer? Clues welcome. Tech Exeter did an excellent job at Kaleider for the Tech conference. Is this easy to recreate?

Closest idea so far for visuals has been to recreate the teenage bedroom from the Visible Girls show at Phoenix a while ago. JD and myself thought about doing radio from bedroom but it was too busy when we got back with some devices. See video. I also found photos from gallery. I will  try to find out how to recreate this.

So something continues. There may be more empty spaces later. 

Trying out five videos on YouTube with #ExeStreetArts tag

 Continuing test to find out how to track promotional tweets and video views. There must be a method. So many tweets result in so many views. Unless the video has organic momentum and the tweets just follow. Not sure. But here are five found with the tag - #ExeStreetArts

Not officially part of festival but regular buskers in Exeter.

Special guests from Bristol

Story about liars

Rushes are not together at this time

Sampler

-------------

also

Expected soon Music In Devon TV , then lots more stats to review.

Notes on stats around #ExeStreetArts

 These are some numbers as of yesterday

On Twitter

@ExeStreetArts has 309 followers

Music in Devon  @musicindevon

202 followers

Google search on #ExeStreetArts finds 444 results

Including

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=857419581452370&ref=watch_permalink  Facebook

and Instagram links

https://gramho.com/profile/exestreetarts/7731539196https://gramho.com/profile/exestreetarts/7731539196

I don't really understand Facebook or Instagram. I find they are there sometimes but i am not sure where I am.

I will try to keep track of Twitter and YouTube. No new video for a while, tweets as promotion. New angles probably.

I am also doing some retweets for @wenotno , We Don't Know show on Phonic FM.

#SpineWalk version with Donald Clark

 Tweet from Donald Clark doubts value of "storytelling", may be a waste of time.

Meanwhile I have been thinking of a version of a walk on Lancaster Spine around time of Ben Williamson talk next week about Platforms and HE. Actually on Zoom or similar. But imagine Lancaster campus somewhere near what was the Making Time Garden. My drama is scifi future to avoid current pressures. Just concentrate on longterm issues. Can include memory, stored clips.

Later walk towards central square, learning zone, big screen - story so far. Is there an alternative sort of MOOC platform that might be supported? Can the current ones be modified?

Then Management School to consider learning organizations. Should HE invest in Platforms rather than new buildings for Management School, demolishing the Making Time Garden, redesign of Spine etc. Seek Group invested appx £50m to get 50% of Futurelearn. How to compare with UK Business School buildings?

Walk continues to InfoLab21 for tech briefing on options. Donald Clark waiting patiently to talk about AI. ( Alternative version he speaks at the beginning with robust take on the concerns about Platforms shared by academics ) 

So will try to edit this as tweets. Will I end up with permission to use some sound in a future radio show?

Video / sound for radio next week / Spine Walk in Lancaster / chat around Ben Williamson talk

 I did a voice clip yesterday, not sure how much sense it is making.

Previously making a case for MOOC platforms / online learning. Radio format around drama, conversations in the future. #CDWalk set in Exeter looking at where the CD shops used to be and wondering how much space needed for education. Now I am thinking again about a walk on the spine of Lancaster campus. This time from the education / arts end towards the management school and the InfoLab 21 building.

Sorry if this is too much of a ramble. Fiction set in near future may be an easier way to discuss things. Ben Williamson talk includes critiques of MOOC scene and platforms as too commercial, external to existing university. The campus can have spots with symbolic meaning so a walk links bits of video conversation together. Previously I did the walk from a tech vision at the InfoLab towards the social science at the other end. Now the situation has changed enough to get some sort of spec from the education end , then work back through management towards whatever tech is required.

I have tried this sort of approach with avatars in an online world - Twinity in King's Cross. Lancaster not covered but I did imagine some rooms. I have found this post from long ago. Linda Shelton worked on conferences then retired to Morecambe. Couple of photos on walls from campus-

Anyway, more versions of this later. It may make sense before the weekend. Any sound clip suggestions are welcome.

Hello Guardian / news interest balance / Manchester offer to allow students to cancel contracts

 This could be in ReadG blog but fits more with this sequence on student accommodation and Manchester. Through Twitter I found out yesterday that Manchester University has responded to the occupation with a pledge about a rent reduction and also allowing contract to end.

More flexible accommodation agreements

You can break your accommodation agreement, clear your room and hand back your keys once during term time in the 2020/21 academic year without financial penalty.

If you want to return later in the academic year, we'll do our best to find you a place.

Today in Guardian print Josh Halliday and Amy Walker report concerns about a black student mistaken as a drugs dealer. The accommodation pledge is towards the end, mentioning a 20% reduction in rents but not the possibility of breaking agreements.

I think this could be just as significant. Assume most learning stays online. If students get away for Christmas why would they go back? Will other universities follow the Manchester example ? There is no announced plan for next year from Universities UK. things could just workout in a jumble of individual decisions.

I am copying this to Josh Halliday and Amy Walker. Also Mahel Khan who explains on YouTube why he left Nottingham ahead of the current lockdown. ( Latest video on postgrad options, another post for me later )

I still think there are two bits of hard news - students leave campus for home, Then some return or maybe not. HE management eventually decide on what hybrid means. But only after something emerges in a muddle.

Time will tell, continues on Twitter with links to newspapers probably. @will789gb

Trying out hashtags continued #ExeStreetArts

 In August I tried out ways to track social media promotion as if it was a system. In the gap between lockdowns it looked as if the Exeter Street Arts Festival would happen. It was cancelled at the last moment but there was a lot of publicity on social media in the weeks before. I have no real grasp of how to compare stats for different aspects. How many tweets to promote a video? how to compare numbers of views of tweet with tag and video views some period of time later? Or is the video seen anyway and the consequence is to gain more followers for the Twitter account?

I am not sure if the analytics compares with quality stats known in production situations. I think this may be so but the words used are different, maybe two sorts of convention that are independent of each other. So I am trying to interest people who know about stats for production and see if there is a fit. I will try tweeting about @MidiTvUK - YouTube channel should have been launched during the festival. They are more active now but not sure when the launch is. 30 followers on Twitter as of today.

Missing from Guardian Print / update for new readers

 Guardian has more on website than in print. See below for more on this.

Relates to situation on campus. Owen Jones has written around events in Manchester - the protests, the fence , the occupation.

“The union fears that the migration of over a million student risks doing untold damage to people’s health, and exacerbating the worst health crisis of our lifetimes,” it warned. This was ignored. When, three weeks later, the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) recommended a shift to online learning “unless face-to-face teaching is absolutely essential”, it was ignored, too. The result? The mass internal migration of young people to and from every corner of Britain, which helped fuel a second wave, and their near imprisonment in overcrowded accommodation.

and also

The tone-deaf response of university authorities aside, a rational government would have learned from its disastrous mistakes, but we are ruled by no such thing. “We said in August that if you encourage over a million students to travel across the country without test and trace, you’ll create a second wave and that’s exactly what happened,” says the UCU general secretary, Jo Grady. But extraordinarily, she points out that the authorities are now planning a special week-long window for students in England to travel back home “like cattle” on limited public transport, and then repeat the farce of sending them back to university.

I quote at length to show the views in radio clips are not coming out of nowhere. The Drama Show for Thursday has edits from the Zoom call from Manchester occupation including Jo Grady. Also Mahel Khan on leaving Nottingham ahead of lockdown.

Also online only "fears on restructuring" Anna Fazackerley . Cannot find it in paper. Apparently government is ready to rearrange the lower orders of HE. One consequence of A level changes has been that more students have been accepted for popular courses so some others are under pressure. There is no reporting in detail about finance higher up the scale. Student accommodation for example may have problems but this is just a guess.

There seems to be no government policy on what moving online means in future. "Back to normal" is the guide with online as a last resort, emergency style. Not surprising lots of stress for people trying to make this work.

Guardian has problems in itself. Moving news online could happen soon but they hang on to print. I think this limits what they are prepared to include in the print version about what is happening with online education. time will tell, possibly starting with the return or not after Christmas. There may be enough on social media to make an impression on print news.

MOOC platforms, response to recent tweets

 I am trying to catch up on last week. Several tweets about MOOC platforms and how some claim they represent the EdTech alternative to HE as we know it. I should do some more study on references but this is a quick update on what I am concerned about. Donald Clark has supported one of my tweets with "false binary" as a way to describe this placing of online as commercial and outside the campus in origin. So more around this later.

I have found a blog post by Ben Williamson- education platforms in the "dataist state". I don't think the description of MOOC platforms is fair to the range of subjects they offer.

Powered by AWS, Coursera offered Coursera for Campus free degree content during the pandemic. Institutions could sign up for ‘bundles’ of ‘job-relevant’ degree content in the absence of existing institutional online learning arrangements. 

Coursera are only promoting free offers that exist anyway. Certificates are monetised but with options. The vocational courses are popular but the range of MOOC topics continues. I have just finished a module on writing for performance from EdX / Cambridge. I think EdX is organised now some distance from Harvard / MIT but the code is public so any number of academics could set up an alternative if that was something they wanted to do. There is concern at current direction, as shown in this remark about government policy towards the end of the blog post-

They are ceding the authority of higher education institutions and the state to ‘learn’ about students, institutions and the sector to global private platform and infrastructure providers that currently only see them in economic and job-relevant terms.

See previous post for comment on "Manifesto For Teaching Online" page 100. Simon Nelson quoted as "returning value to partners" as if this was not the sort of thing HE usually endorses. January 2018 Peter Horrocks interview in Guardian with case against from academic sources. He had to resign for diverting funds to build Futurelearn platform. Why not go back and look at his Durham lecture on Platform University?

But rather than repeat this another time, just to say it may be too late. If Salesforce is up to speed on an offer that may be hard to catch up with. 

More later but I need to sort out radio show. I have done a pre-record for Thursday but need to clear where I have borrowed bits of mp3. Is the edit ok and what about next week? Any suitable links / offers welcome.

Clip taken with permission from this , my guess he needs to pay to be in Nottingham about 10 weeks of the year. Is HE "returning value to partners" as in accommodation buildings? Journal publishing another time.

Drama , News, temp update

 I must get back to my MOOC - finding a voice. But meanwhile an update on bits of writing. Journalism needs headlines, as explained in previous posts there needs to be an event in first paragraph. Then waffle / opinion can follow. So lots to say about learning online but the events are a) students depart campus b) some may return. BBC has just done a story, I copied out two bits to Twitter-

University leaders have previously raised concerns about why this guidance has been left so close to the end of term - and there will be questions about the capacity of universities to be ready in time for the mass testing.

There have also been questions about whether students will return as usual in January or whether there will be a staggered start and more testing, or whether more courses will switch online with some students initially studying from home.

Will this become clear, how much online intended for January? there have been reports students gone home already. What to expect re fees , accommodation? 

More later.

I have done a set of photos based on a walk after last Wild Show. JD has approved this as a record but not sure what to add as an edit. It may take time. People in lockdown have to adjust to not being in a studio.

Even just as social media though there is suspense. The Standup Philosopher will appear at some time, may offer an opinion. Filling time / buildup meanhile. Not much of a structure but could be edited later.

I still may do a script based on a scifi future. Comparing retail space for music and space needed for student accommodation while walking in Exeter is not too much or a resource challenge.

I am about two weeks behind on the MOOC. So need to catch up on psychology and  characters, and working with a director. I may have to ask JD to be a director though he is known as a producer. more later.

I will rest on the later modules, sign on but not pay the fee for full access. I want to go back to Performance theory. Lots packed in there. In March digital platforms, April recovering space, installation. May comedy standup. This all seems more like my activity. Also Standup Philosopher may have returned.

MOOC tweets update, lockdown reading

 I have got a bit behind, with the start of the lockdown and the USA election. CNN has wrecked my sleep pattern. So need to catch up on the MOOC about finding a voice. But also start to study books and follow up previous tweets.

The books are Donald Clark on AI and The Edinburgh Manifesto for Teaching Online. Both relate to the tweets. I am still in flip and scan mode. So here are some quick comments.

More overlap than you might expect. "Automation need not impoverish education : we welcome our new robot colleagues " - part of the manifesto on cover. But working back you get to some reservations about how code restructures the campus, and remarks about how MOOC scene has tended towards business / tech for monetisation. Simon Nelson of Futurelearn is quoted ( page 100 ) on "returning value to partners" but no mention of Peter Horrocks. The first wave of critique for the MOOC was the lack of a credible business model. So at least that has gone. Still worth a look at the Fortress University lecture in Durham. Seek Group invested at a time when UK HE would not. Just my guess.

"So who are these learner-consumers?"  ...page 99 . People like me probably. More later.

Through the Post Pandemic University on Twitter I have found a blog - Academic Irregularities. ( @PostPandemicUni on Twitter )

Still reading this but two things strike me-

Clear statement about the risks of opening UK campus in October-

In mid October 2020, Nottingham had the highest rate of spread in the UK. Sadly, the spike in figures coincided with the arrival in the city of 60,00 or so students. Let me say first I am not blaming students for this state of affairs. But I am hoping that an eventual public enquiry will hold the government and university management teams to account for this failure of policy. Opening campuses and residences proceeded against the advice of the government’s scientific advisory committee (SAGE), the trade unions and public health academics. Nevertheless, the mass migration of students across the country went ahead. It was always going to be a disaster to encourage the relocation of over a million students to new cities and residences that demanded close sharing of quarters.

and also comparison of music scene with current HE. Quotes Nick Petford - -"While other industries, such as retail and music have already embraced a move online, HE has pursued this more slowly."

This supports my idea of looking at space in central Exeter needed for music retail while talking about student accommodation some time in the future. See next post.

The Manifesto for Teaching Online  MIT Press

Artificial Intelligence for Learning Donald Clark  Kogan Page

More speculation, newspaper sales will trend to zero in UK, quite soon. Fiction say 2 years.

 Follow up to previous post about speculation and fiction. Just a way to clarify things.

Newspapers are about to vanish in print. Look at any chart. They are moving online and/or radio or TV. Apparently Express has a poll that shows Trump winning and gets lots of hits in USA. This is fine but will it help credibility as print news used to be in UK?

So future plays will assume print has gone. Even in two years or whenever the pandemic is over as a lockdown threat. Guardian online might be more open on MOOC / online learning. They still promote celeb lectures rather like star opinion writers. When online they might get more into forms of social media. Anyway, this will be assumed in future fiction.

More speculation, newspaper sales will trend to zero in UK, quite soon. Fiction say 2 years.

News links on student accommodation

 More happening on this. Post from Zelo Street on charges during previous lockdown. There may be similar cases more recently. Also Guardian report on Manchester students pulling down fence. Apparently some students have already started to go home.

I am still thinking about scifi drama set in future but news is getting closer to link to discussion of long term trends. If education moves online how much space is needed for the campus? Hard news items expected soon are a) how students get home for holidays b) how or if they return. Question of why they would do so emerges. Can HE return fees / charges for rent?

I think there could be some sharing of copy. I will link to what i can find. also speculate based on what i can remember. I am locked down in Exeter for this month. I try to follow Exeter news, also Durham where Peter Horrocks spoke of the Fortress University. I still think this is something to return to.

The sound is from @wenotno show last year, video a walk in space intended as student accommodation unless Exeter University have changed plan. any info welcome.

Speculation in journalism, fiction in drama

 I am still doing the course on writing plays but tending back towards some form of journalism. There may be management somewhere in HE where online trend is understood. Links turn up on Twitter. When I used to write for OhmyNews there would be various bits of text in blogs etc but to be a news story there has to be an event upfront. I think it could be both that most of the students now on campus will be somewhere else on December 25th. then later they may return, but why? This is two events so could be several stories.

The walk round Exeter - #CDWalk -  still a project but I am now in lockdown so no studio access. Not sure how to connect with Jon, Chris, JD so shows will be a bit of a mix via pre record drama show. The Standup Philosopher seems to be staying in France so there may not be a finale presentation for #RuinsHE any time soon.

#CDWalk set in time when less pressure, maybe three years in future. I will assume newspapers have moved online. HMV mostly merchandise upstairs, short run digital machines upstairs so very personalised media available. Waitrose offers free newspapers on similar basis. John Lewis tech basement has print and binding equipment for magazines , paperbacks. I am still wary of writing dialogue but can work on description of how the set has changed.

Meanwhile I have taken photos of walk with JD last Thursday. Could continue as imagined or actual for those moving about. More on Twitter - @will789gb

Radio also as @wenotno 

Also thinking about a walk set in King's Cross , towards Google entrance. Eventually YouTube studio but this is hard to get into. Start with "text" ,  whatever found on Google search rather than YouTube. "Text has been troubled" claims manifesto for teaching online, now arrived as a book. Get to "sound has been troubled" later.

Info request, students, travel, Hoopern Fields, Fortress reaction video

 Today report in Guardian that UK students have started to go home before the lockdown starts. This is not a surprise. No announced policy on Christmas. Previously press speculation of a two week quarantine before travel. But it turned out Oxbridge term ended sooner. So a plan announcement could be quite soon if to make much sense or help anybody.

My main concern is about the lack of any online strategy. Seems to be seen as a default emergency, last resort in a situation assumed as normal as possible. From Will Hutton in Observer seems there was a week or so mid summer when a move online may have been considered but no government decision in the drift.

If students get away from campus over holidays, why will they return?

While asking for info, couple of specifics for Exeter and Durham. There seems to be a cashflow issue around student accommodation. But longer term have any decisions been made to alter the scale of investment in yet more buildings? Hoopern Fields in Exeter has value as an open space. Just a local concern. But could be a case study. Has there been any look back at the Durham lecture by Peter Horrocks ? The Fortress University could gain by open online approach, as in Futurelearn. Critiqued at first by Peter Wilby in Guardian but what to think now? The video could be edited into smaller clips but also response / reaction video is possible. Links please if you upload something.

Guess around Exeter online learning

 Because of the pandemic I am not visiting any part of the Exeter campus. In more normal times i walk past St Lukes on the way to Phonic studio so can have a look. But now depending on social media. There has been a response to @wenotno with useful info.

We Don't Know is a radio show, mostly music so not always time there for long comments on HE, but some connection to what turns up on Twitter or in blogs. Sometimes just a few remarks. I had thought that since Telematics there has not been much similar happening at St Lukes. But it seems the Digital Humanities lab is a new focus. Located on the main campus near the library. Scope seems to have expanded beyond texts.

There is a requirement for password and user ID to get far into the sites for Project Enhance or the TEL resources. But I get the impression both are based in the admin resources that support all staff. So a form of quality assurance. I can guess how this might work, at least in theory. What sort of feedback to policy not clear at this time but info may appear later. Some sort of theory to study at St Lukes but again no link at the moment.

On the @wenotno show we are working on a drama, fiction approach. Current crisis too much pressure so imagine a future in a couple of years with more stability. Discussion on space needed for education while walking round central Exeter remembering space needed for music retail. The info basis is not really from Exeter as such, script just an outline that would work in most places. 

Campus as normal

 Reading Guardian today suggests the situation on campus is normal but not seen as such. If regarded as hotel business, hospitality sector, city central property then much in common with everything else. Larry Elliott reports views from Andy Haldane, chief economist for Bank of England. Suggests working from home (WFH ) went up to 50% in severe lockdown, now about 33%. this might be what blended of hybrid learning looks like. Students mostly off campus in a crisis and then mostly on campus in a new model. Proportions might not settle for a while. Some would be mostly distant. 

Same page in print, PwC report that hotels will take four years to recover. There has been payroll support for hotels so if HE recognised the view from Will Hutton that much of the campus is the "hotels" business maybe there could be government support on that basis. From Twitter yesterday I learnt that debt may be significant and maybe the banks will be expected to take some loss. In retail there is recognised pause in rentals, maybe this would also compare.

But I don't think government have made any statement about this. Not even about how quarantine works around Christmas travel. Looking out for news.

HE fiction and reality based in Exeter

 This week I am starting on the course " Finding A Voice" from Cambridge Continuing Education. Starts as a MOOC but could become a micro Masters. Drama / fiction has an attraction as reality harder to report on. Current scene on campus pretty much a mystery, very hard to find out anything. So maybe best to leave it till news arrives. There may be a quarantine before Xmas travel. There may be mixed decisions on a return.

Meanwhile my chat with Jon Mahy is getting closer to reality. Part of We Don't Know show on Phonic FM. Previously I have been promoting my play - #CDWalk - about a tour of central Exeter where the record shops used to be. Set in near future when pandemic is over as a pressure so conversation possible about space needed for the campus, student accommodation and experience. Jon thinks I never get my script ideas into production. But this week we did not get as far as considering the possibility. Jon has strong views on the downside around online learning. Clip from show when I manage to get in a few words about open research, digital disruption as well as online learning.

So this will be interesting. Because of Covid this @wenotno is the only live radio with two people. Wild Show has phone ins from Chris and JD. Drama Show is pre-recorded as before 10 in morning when Phoenix still shut. All of this may change. I think Exeter safe enough at this time to travel to studio but I will self quarantine before Christmas travel so the shows may all be pre-recorded or automated or just a memory. Social media may take over from FM but not soon. Anyway the scope of the conversation probably remains actual experience of Jon with an online course he did not expect and me with  a MOOC with face2face option, though that is pending at this time.

My scripts may include reference to my questions. Peter Horrocks lecture on Fortress University still not much commented on. Time for a rethink? In Exeter I do not know what happened to Telematics. Something happens as Digital Humanities but not sure how this connects with St Lukes. ( I will not be walking about much, clues via social media please )

Mostly I am waiting on the Standup Philosopher. He is still in France, may return in December. I do not write dialogue, I try to find material for him to consider and encourage situations where he may comment. Not sure if there is a theory for this but I will try to find one. The setting is a future ruin of the Fortress University where he remembers what the purpose was in the first place. #RuinsHE finds more. #BlendCafe25 is a blended learning cafe around the same time. More relaxed, less of a shock. #CDWalk appears relaxed but the comparison of music retail and campus space could be a challenge.

Twitter has links to speculation, but not much info from UK HE. More on USA, possibly the academic year started sooner. So tweets possible but mostly i will be thinking about fiction.

HE clues, starting the winterlude

 There are some clues from the newspapers about what is happening with HE, but much still a mystery. Perhaps time to start the winterlude, a period of reflection usually from mid December.

Guardian probably knows more than is reported. the campus is not revealing much on what choices can be made. Friday Gaby Hinsliff suggested that the biggest fear for universities is that students will not return in January. They still have to get away in December. Before the government "pumps in more cash" it could be more clear what the scale of the problem is. What sort of shortfall if the campus is closed down? It clearly has been looked at as an option.

Sunday Will Hutton back in Observer but not directly on HE this time. Previously he suggested the online education was working well but the "hotels business" meant that a return to the campus was required. This week more about platforms and AI. Bot his could relate to HE. If education moves online there is a larger problem than just the revenue shortfall this year and next. What is the value of the campus and accommodation? Peter Horrocks lecture at Durham on the Fortress University included a look at social media platforms and how they have tended to concentrate in the USA. Similar take now from Will Hutton but no mention of Futurelearn or the priority for a UK platform in HE.

Meanwhile not much detail available but there must be reflection on campus. I expect more news later, movements before and after Christmas will be of public interest. Finances around student accommodation may become a topic. This seems to be a similar situation to Edtech so far as involving companies is concerned. The tech is not in itself a major change. There could even be a look at journals and the publishing methods. Could libraries organise in some way to reduce costs and expand access? Talk around platforms may include this.

Winterlude continues with speculation. Assume something more clear in Jan or Feb. From a fiction / drama aspect the Standup Philosopher is still expected to return near Exeter in December. 

 

HE moving online , Exeter, Phonic Studio

 USA Today reports several USA colleges and universities plan to move more online in early 2021. Interesting as UK seems determined to keep the campus open. In Exeter where I live the Western Morning News reports praise for Exeter students in avoiding a spread of Covid to the community. However I am not sure this will last. 

Guardian today reports that university infections in UK can be seven times higher than in wider areas. Includes this quote-

Prof Gavin Yamey, the director of the Centre for Policy Impact in Global Health at Duke University, who is leading research into the spread of Covid across higher education, warned: “It is impossible to hermetically seal off students and staff from the wider community.”

So my guess is the UK situation will change over time, including Exeter. This may mean for myself that I stop going to the centre, including Phonic FM studio. So no live radio shows, maybe more pre-recorded  and blogs / tweets. There could be more information about Exeter but I can find news about somewhere and speculate. 

Probably the USA sites that make a decision to move online will gain experience and reputation. If students get more used to online they may report back to schools. Costs will fall, especially from sites that stop investing in more buildings.

I recently signed up for a course in script writing from Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education / EdX. Also tweeting about disruption and the maybe through AI I get adverts for a course on digital disruption from Judge Business School also at Cambridge. Not a free option here but interesting, looks good value if you have $2000 .

My question is this. Could there be digital disruption for UK Business Schools? I mostly wonder about Exeter, but Lancaster, Durham also. In this case it is Emeritus that seems to have the knowledge on what works. Course includes "Platforms" , general term for many situations. MOOC examples Coursera, Futurelearn. I think Lancaster recently spent £18m on a building. So a few sites could have matched the £50m that Seek Group invested in Futurelearn. It is this long term set of issues that interests me. Durham IAS could update consideration of Peter Horrocks take on Fortress University.

But current issues very pressing. So far UK still in back to normal as far as possible mode. BBC reported that recent rejected advice included "requiring all university and college teaching to take place online". Unclear if students sent home or what support there would be for accommodation costs. Presumably HE has not yet come to terms with this suggestion. Any info welcome if things change.

 

Phonic FM working fine as FM / social media - online learning as example

 Things are working out as in using radio / voice along with social media to develop ideas around online learning. Still a bit rough but ok to repeat clips on radio. There will be a sequence of repeats and attempts to clarify. General claim is that online learning may follow similar route to music but about 10 - 15 years later. Very vague about this, even the music people may not have caught up.

This is where I think I will try to  put some energy. The #CDWalk tag is not finding anything else. Fiction / drama based on a walk. On air mostly the making of, behind the scenes. Will fit with We Don't Know on a Monday, Wild Show on a Thursday and Drama Show prerecorded also on a Thursday. The Standup Philosopher may return in December.

Reality could be around Will Hutton and his reports from Oxford. I cannot find out much detail from Durham or Exeter but his Observer article is clear enough that online learning worked ok. In Exeter there is some info about Digital Humanities. Durham have not done much around the Peter Horrocks lecture on the Fortress University. But an earlier article by Will Hutton is a reference for the reception of Peter Horrocks ideas around 2018.

Working through these will take a while but something I will return to. Other news may develop in reality mode but I am mostly thinking about fiction.

University and College Union / MOOC Unicorns

 This post is notes for topics that may come back later. they sort of fit into radio ( see previous post ) but not getting feedback at this time. 

Today on BBC  R4 had an interview with Jo Grady from UCU suggesting online should now be the default. I have uploaded this to YouTube with a question / suggestion around what UCU supports as online policy? Previously I found just by looking at Twitter that there were many critics of Peter Horrocks at OU. I cannot find any change in this that is public.

Good news that there will be research at Lancaster into the "Unicorns" and EdTech. Just one example though, Coursera is valued over two billion based on raising $130million. see report at Class Central. The stats on other platforms show much lower numbers, possibly no more MOOC unicorns. But enough to query the take from Peter Wilby in Guardian when discussing Futurelearn.

However there is probably no chance of new comments any time soon. So I will only cover this if there is some new link for the blog. My radio and Youtube ideas will tend more to fiction and speculation. Walking around vanished CD stores and wondering if HE time scale has a related pattern.

Radio seems to be working ok / CD Walk

 I have now edited some clips out of the two shows this week - Wild Show and We Don't Know. There is content around online learning /pandemic and sound tech for streaming / studio for FM . Mostly at chat level but working ok. this is first week back from holiday and start of concentrating on doing  a series of shows. We Don't Know moved to Monday afternoon , now every week. I have not managed to include all the points I first though of but there is now a sequence of sound, reasonable base. Jon Mahy has a lot of sympathy for situation of students so we are not pushing the disaster aspects of campus building etc. On Wild Show JD more open to tech trends. He is ready to look at Exeter CD shops as reality, an actual history. But the drama first, an imagined walk around where the CD shops once were. Far enough in future for pandemic pressure to reduce, but maybe HMV and Rooster are still there even in another form. Not sure how many people on the walk but conversation also includes speculation on education, student accommodation etc. Compare sound and education over time.

Text has been troubled , topic for Edinburgh manifesto on teaching online. Sound also. Producer JD seems interested. The Zoom event is on a Thursday.

Topics that don't fit in well on radio for next post. 

"Blended Teaching" - how to describe what is happening on UK campus?

 Yesterday I posted an edit of the BBC Radio 4 Today program with interviews about situation for UK students. Significant occasion as questions are being asked about value for money. Should online be cheaper? I included Donald Clark in the tweet and he has replied. This term " blended teaching" may be useful to describe what is happening. My impression has been that there was a genuine intention to go "back to normal" with online as an emergency alternative at various levels of concern for the pandemic. So the move online is not always part of a plan or design as recognised by those who have been working with online for a while. From recent book on AI and Learning I have found that Donald Clark favours searching questions to check if video / text has been understood. ( He also has confidence in AI to assess the answers.) So I can see why he needs evidence for learning.

How else to describe what is going on? This could become clear over the next few months. I still think "blended learning" is useful, if vague , but "blended teaching" is a way to continue conversation. Zoom with something added. Comments welcome.

Meanwhile I am thinking about Exeter as more radio shows are possible in the Phonic FM studio based at the Phoenix. this may change if forms of lockdown return but more seems possible. At he university there was Telematics for a while but now Digital Humanities seems the base for tech innovation.

Radio /sound also in some confusion. DAB is the future but how to improve the source? It is possible fewer CDs will be available. Many tacks seem to be streaming only, lots of content available outside UK in various forms. how to relate to a radio studio? My own approach may be to mix social media with an FM signal in Exeter. Sound quality will change but possible not to be surprising. I am not off topic yet, production methods relate to the campus. Universities can have better resources than local radio. Please send links or attach mp3 that could be included in shows.

Donald Clark book Artificial Intelligence for Learning Kogan Page website

Today clips edit 

First Notes on Manifesto for Teaching Online

 Yesterday was the first online discussion around the book version of a Manifesto for Teaching Online. Two more to come in October. I am on a sort of holiday at the moment, towards Lakes now in Kendal. So cannot do much video edit and only a few tweets. But I have been on a walk to the Kendal Castle, venue in my mind for the ruins of the Fortress University described by Peter Horrocks. The sci-fi future may be getting closer, not at all sure what is happening on UK campus. But anyway the standup Philosopher is in France so no performance possible till around December when he is expected to return to Devon.

So meanwhile back to checking facts. There seems to be no rethink on the Durham lecture by Peter Horrocks. Or his policy for OU and Futurelearn. He had to resign but his judgement seems valid now, moreso as time continues. We seem to have a set of policies to assume everything is back to normal, except several levels of emergency, each of which has a different level of online to be improvised as and when. I may be making this up, but cannot find UK policy to concentrate on online options.

The first Edinburgh set of talks included comment from Australia - Neil Selwyn. So I wonder if there could be comment outside UK on Seek Group, the Australian jobs website that invested in Futurelearn. No UK university was prepared to do so as it seems, so why did this seem a reasonable idea in Australia? Since then I do not think much has changed. Some negative comment on edtech, unicorns getting rich on HE scene, but no papers or reporting on how Futurelearn might be sound or whether UK HE should invest more in platforms.

Is Australia in the Pacific? Is it another time zone? Maybe a mistake? Any clues welcome.

Notes for Producer JD around Manifesto for Teaching Online

 Three edits for the Drama Show are already uploaded with mention of the Manifesto for Teaching Online. Continues through October-

Wed 16th Sept   re-coding

Wed 7th Oct    we are the campus

Thur 15th Oct  text has been troubled

Not sure which topics are in which week. From blog-

Our book is divided into five sections, within each of which are linked segments covering each of the points in the manifesto. Each segment is readable stand-alone with the detail of our theoretical perspectives spelled-out fully in section 1.

Section 1: Politics and Instrumental Logics, in which we use critical sociomaterialist perspectives to argue against the view of technology as tool, and education itself as an instrument. We argue that online teaching need not be complicit with the instrumentalisation of education.

Section 2: Beyond Words, in which we address how online teaching gives us space to re-think originality, textual stability, authorship and what we think we do when we assess or evaluate student work. Assessment is an act of interpretation, not just measurement.

Section 3: Re-coding Education, which challenges the idea of the digital ‘disruption’ of education, and surfaces the politics embedded in notions of scaling-up, automation, AI and ‘openness’ . Automation need not impoverish education but we need to be alert to whose interests it serves.

Section 4: Face, Space and Place, which takes on the idea that online education is ‘inferior’ to teaching which takes place face-to-face. We argue that online can be the privileged mode.

Section 5: Surveillance and (Dis)trust, where we suggest that surveillance regimes and architectures in wider society should not be replicated in universities, and push back on the creeping normalisation of surveillant practices in teaching.

So I think "re-coding" will include values and how HE relates to EdTech. #PlatformUniversity includes critique of some directions. #RuinsHE is my tag for a future Fortress University as described by Peter Horrocks. MOOC models could open up the existing campus and counter some problems. 

"we are the campus" suggests the social aspect can exist anywhere. "text has been troubled" might relate to troubles over sound sampling n music / reuse of clips in radio. I expect JD to have something to say, put possibly too late to prevent further problems.

Background on moving campus online

The situation of HE on campus is still not a topic. But maybe in background this week as Tech Exeter  / Digital Exeter continues online. I have noticed two reports in newspapers. Guardian guide to UK universities fails to mention the OU. This is normal, they have explained it is hard to compare. But recently there are more options online for degree courses. I don't think it is just the advertising for clearing / accommodation that influences the Guardian. The complete model is based on print and celebs up front. They offer evening events in person, now online but in similar format as far as I can tell. Recognising the design mix for online learning is too much of a challenge for their style of reporting.

Sunday Times front page scare story on how kids returning to school have been playing games on devices all night long and have to be reeducated in a pre - digital world. Behind a paywall but you may find it.

Adults are allowed to use a phone. School age probably more knowledge how to do this. HE level? things may be changing.

============

Guardian Monday report on Napster, includes chart of physical / streaming music over last twenty years. Crossed over about 5 years ago. How to compare the MOOC etc. ?

Fortress University - comments on YouTube possible

 This week  there is another conference in Exeter on Tech and Digital. Online only though previously at the Business School on campus. I still wonder when the Business School will start to study what happens as learning moves online. But so far no signs of any shift. The student accommodation near Sidwell Street is almost ready. Co-op shop open.Seems ready to continue as previously.

Meanwhile I am still doing the drama show on Phonic FM. So I approach the HE scene as fiction. The Standup Philosopher may do a dram version of what I find. We are not sure what is going on. He will be back in Exeter in December so there may be a performance or something then. Shows pre recorded so I have a collection of clips. This one for Thursday

Any comments welcome. More blogs and live radio later in the week.

I am working with tags - #RuinsHE about the Fortress University and what became of it, set in future. See lecture from Peter Horrocks at Durham. Also #BlendCafe25 more of a comedy set in cafe on and off campus as blended learning becomes more of a norm around 2025. Also thinking about a sequence from one to the other. There could even be a picnic site more like a cafe though in the ruins. It depends how relaxed things seem. Hard to guess what the audience needs or would respond to. So the radio may seem vague or indirect. there will be an edit later.

Shift online clarity "this year"

 Writing online for the Guardian Jo Wolff has pointed out that ideas such as flipping the classroom may become established soon.

So far flipping the classroom has been tried only on a small scale by enthusiasts. This year we’ll see what happens when even the sceptics have to try hard to make it work. It may be here to stay, with wide implications for teaching practice.

The context is the pandemic and the way the campus has to adapt. It is possible that "back to normal" will shift into a continuation of earlier in the year. Meaning last academic year. We could see what happens by May 2021 in UK terms. My guess is that outside UK some people have already observed a shift.

Jo Wolff expects a possible time for online degrees in which the OU would do well.

A varied market could develop, with a couple of bulk providers offering cheap courses with little interaction and feedback, some mid-market operators replicating a standard university experience, and a few expensive, premium brands competing to provide a customised education and lustre to the CV, perhaps with residential bubbles of students and staff for a few months a year.

This could cause problems for investment in student accommodation. Also the scale and timing are unknown. How many international students will continue with the "premium brands" ? How many UK offers were made to replace the income? What is happening mid-market? Seems there is very little info made public as of now.

Meanwhile on Medium there is speculation about "Google University" and lower costs. Sayeed Ibrahim Ahmed reports that Google are working with Coursera, EdX and others on courses for data analysts, project managers, and UX designers. They will result in jobs , not sure about academic cred. Futurelearn is not mentioned but they have similar courses. There is a research aspect to this so again hard to predict. Various forms of "premium brand" are possible.

I am still working on script ideas for the Standup Philosopher to perform a talk imagined in a scifi future when most of the campus is in ruins , replaced by cafes and blended learning of some kind. He is busy with a London tour and then the South of France. But something may happen around December.

I am probably joining a MOOC from Cambridge on writing scripts for creative industry. It may help a fiction version or blog level journalism. Cambridge now working with EdX on "micromasters" so points for each module add up to a certificate that counts as part of a later course. Except most courses seem to be online at the moment. Previously Cambridge was at the Learning and Skills exhibition but stopped as it became more about Learning Technologies. Coursera and Futurelearn have since had stands. So far not EdX but something is changing. 

Tags - #TagsExeter , #ExeStreetArts , #WildShow , #SoundAlternative , #vision2020Exeter

 Trying out tags, ahead of  #ExeStreetArts - Exeter Street Arts Festival this coming saturday. the  a joint conference Digital Exeter and Tech Exeter . #vision2020Exeter is the tag. #SoundAlternative obviously is Phonic FM, as promoted on web site. Chris Norton has grown tired of social media but #WildShow still on Thursday mornings. #TagsExeter mostly finds about ten years ago though the question remains, how to make sure the same tag is used as content emerges around an event?

#ExeStreetArts was promoted in print a couple of years ago but not sure how well known it is now. Would #ESAF20 make any sense? Can the robot just work out what kind of video you are looking for? There may be details of streaming direct to YouTube but how to find it?

Clues via Standup Philosopher around online plans for campus.

 Yesterday had an actual meeting with the Standup Philosopher, actually the whole of the Cartwheels Collective aka Widsith and Deor. More before the end of the month about the Exeter Street Arts Festival. today in the social media mix with added reality I get a retweet of a guess from the Undercover Academic.

This suggests the move online could come back quite rapidly once clearing has ended. For UK seems from radio and newspapers that online was considered during lockdown but no longer as things "back to normal". CNN different for USA. Twitter never stopped thinking online, maybe just the people I come across.

Example from weekend Observer, Nick Hillman from Higher Education Policy Institute-

A traditional experience won’t always be possible, due to social distancing, but universities want to provide it. They wouldn’t have built up such vast physical presences if they had wanted to be virtual institutions. Real, as opposed to online, lectures and social events will return as soon as they can.

It could be that the "vast physical presence" is from another phase, now ended. Real lectures will return then maybe another look at online, more as design less as emergency. 

So shock rave may not be the only mode for radio drama / speculation . The ideas around the Fortress University and the ruins of the fortress are intended to get attention and pressure some questions. May return to this or watch for a change in flow.

Telematics, Digital Humanities, Exeter

There has been a reply to my enquiry about Telematics at Exeter University. Digital Humanities has tweeted with info this closed at St Lukes in 2003/4 . There are other things happening which I will follow up. Previously I have not had much feedback in working out what is happening. With this blog and some comments on Phonic FM I have followed elearning and also asked what would happen with student accommodation as learning moves online. No reason why Digital Humanities should comment on this but maybe worth repeating some topics from this blog.

The new buildings all over central Exeter will last for at least 30 years. But I have never seen any planning document considering future numbers of students over similar timescale. The Business School studies digital disruption but as far as I can tell continues investment in buildings rather than platforms.

When Telematics was at St Lukes there was interest in elearning as a subject. I did not know about the projects mentioned in tweet so still think "unbundling" describes the approach, similar to Chemistry and Music. See site for the Unbundled University. However this might be a useful area to know about.

Clues welcome on where these issues are being considered.

See next post for info on project with the Standup Philosopher.

Telematics what happened? / continued time decolonised

 Might be just summer drift, I think the prerecorded shows I left in Exeter are in the wrong order. But scheduled for YouTube also. Just a sequence of prompts and questions. Sometime in the autumn there may be clarity in the issues even if no obvious answers. I am in Kendal, here again in September. But access to Phonic FM studio also next week for Wild Show and We Don't Know. Mostly music but I can include comments in real time. Thing about "decolonised time" I think is to avoid restrictions on access. Radio is scheduled into hour chunks and sometimes scripted but in chat mode is mostly a list of topics.

The Exeter Street Arts Festival at end of August is followed in September by online conference for Digital Exeter / Tech Exeter then LikeMinds start of October also online, not in Exeter as last year. @wearelikeminds #ExeStreetArts #Vision2020Exeter should find details.

Meanwhile Drama Show continues with #RuinsHE and #BlendCafe25 . Fiction way to cover what happens as education moves online. Also appears as blog , tweets, links to video. Meanwhile there could be a fact based journalism of some kind. Citizen journalism is open so many versions quoting each other. So any comment welcome.

In Exeter central area there is continuing concern around student accommodation. Seems to be everywhere. Is there a long term study about the campus, how many students will be online, forms of blended? So far cannot find anything for Exeter. Could be anywhere.

Also Telematics. Used to be studied on St Lukes campus linked to education. When did it stop? What else happens? @UnbundledHE explains how HE is outsourcing and specialising. Exeter has dropped Chemistry and Music. Looks like Telematics also but what else replaces it? 

Round about October should be clear how many students return from outside UK and how viable things are. Online might be part of normal.

Decolonising Time through October

 A week in Kendal, away from Exeter. August slows down a bit but things will get a bit busy later. I have found time for a better look at a blog post by Maha Bali from July on how we could decolonise time. This came about in plans for a panel discussion online. How to allocate time and make space for questions / contributions ? I am thinking about radio shows for the next few months. they are in chunks of 2 hours to fit Phonic FM schedules. I also upload to YouTube but this can be any length. So far always longer. I have a sequence in mind around events and discussion of how social media changes the radio assumptions. there are similar changes for news and academic publishing but so far quite how is not clear.

Topics range from piracy through Creative Commons to content marketing. I will try to avoid piracy, especially on radio. Previously I have just played what seemed to fit, assuming anything online was ok for FM. but this may not be so. since I am going on about copyright i will try to be more careful. I assume the performers in street art are ok about FM / YouTube repeats so apologies ahead if this turns out wrong. Any guidance welcome. Creative Commons is a form of copyright that makes things clear. It is an option on Soundcloud and YouTube.

Creative Commons has been discussed at Like Minds conferences in Exeter but mostly they concentrate on content marketing and other forms of promotion. Details not yet known of their online event on October 1st. But it will not be in Exeter as last year. My idea is to relate this year to previously,explore some places maybe starting with the Phonic FM studio. There may be a wild show by then, not sure when more than one person is allowed. The topics could include looking back at the Street Arts and working out where the social media went wrong. Not that anything terrible is expected, just that it is usually easier to work out the science after the event. It may turn out that #ExeStreetArts is not the tag most people use. Time will tell. There is a Tech Exeter / Digital Exeter conference in mid September with tag #Vision2020Exeter , this will be the first chance to work out what went wrong previously. The Like Minds event has over ten years to look back on. The first two or three in Exeter had a music aspect.

Shows can be prerecorded but uploads only happen at weekends. So late news may be missing. Continues as tweets or links to sound somewhere else. This may be where time is decolonised or is less of a limitation. I am starting looking for links to sounds ahead of #ExeStreetArts . But probably not more than ten tracks for the show. So lots to be found as social media. More later on what is happening with news, and how a journal article might be worth the costs for a proper edit.

Draft for drama shows August / September

Aspects of lockdown continue. Probably not possible to have more than one person in Phonic FM studio so not meeting Chris Norton or JD on a Thursday live . Jon Mahy working online Wednesdays from September so @wenotno would be Friday if possible. So these shows continue partly as social media. Others sitting in / playout system.

I am doing a sort of drama show in slot previously maintained by the Storyteller, now on tour mostly Dartmoor. We are working on a drama, two versions of a look at HE campus after the shift online. Say 2025. Distopian scifi assumes continued Fortress approach as described by Peter Horrocks in lecture at Durham and that this form of campus ends in ruins. Possibly too much of a shock so there is also a romcom version assumes some form of blended situation set in cafes on and off campus. Also music and drama from Internet Archive so Creative Commons. Shows are pre-recorded and I can do several at a time if moving out of Exeter.

Events over next few weeks include Exeter Street Arts on Saturday 29th August and Tech / Digital Exeter on Sept 9th/10th. I am thinking of several similar shows around this, starting with speculation as to what will happen, then a report. The Street arts scene is ell promoted on social media. I have some content from previously but lost track of the move from Twitter to Instagram. ( StortyTeller may help with this) There is no evening event so promotion even more distributed, I think. Later consider how the tech and social media has worked out. Replan around the conferences. There will be other forms of content but the street performance is a guide. Tech / Digital conference all online this year. When the Business School returns will the conversation continue and what will face to face add?

( This is a design loop but my colleague the producer JD has been told to rest following an NHS event. So possible design will kick in, but not sure when. Design Science more plausible very late in the process when some evidence available )

As well as the drama some reporting / speculation on Exeter student accommodation / Campus / blended . FutureLearn support courses on British Empire and from Met Office. Royal Albert Memorial Museum working on slavery exhibit. Has the boom in student accommodation turned to bust? Info on Exeter University formal plans not obvious but sites can be observed. "Unbundled" ideas relate to ending Chemistry and Music as subjects. Telematics also seems to have ended, not sure what follows as part of education.

HMV Exeter is not a ruin butseems the CD stock may not shift as quickly as years ago. ( Sony revenues first half of 2020 - streaming up 16 % , physical down 39 % source Music Business Worldwide ) One fantasy could be to imagine the upper floor at HMV Exeter is repurposed for personalised short runs of merchandise. Clothing, home decoration, posters, various items take up more space. they could be created on site. The Print Show no longer happening at NEC late September but reality can be various online.  

Tags for plays  #FortressHE  #BlendCafe25

Previously #mtwr   Management Theory at Work in Radio  #mtw3 Management Theory at Work , version 3 online only so far 

Background around online learning

Radio shows and social media over next few months probably will include comments about online learning in schools and universities. Actual news hard to predict. Relates to streaming music and social news, where more news has already happened though not much explained.

This post is to show some ways to describe the trends. "Blended Learning" is a bit vague but this makes it easier to present. Something continues face to face even if this changes. "Networked Learning" might not be digital or online, it could describe face to face but identifies common aspects of situations related to learning. "Platform University" describes shift to online, sometimes as an unfortunate direction for the tradition. Depends on how the existing model is regarded. "Fortress University" is a way to describe existing model in contrast to open approach might be possible with online.   "UnbundledHE" is study of how universities break down elements for outsourcing, for example online platforms. "HEMarkets" continues with study of combinations and platform development. See tags below.

Schools and campus could go back to "normal" just because students need to meet friends and the economy assumes parents can go to work. Whatever happens there will be enough examples of online learning for options to be considered for future plans. Emergency improvisation could be replaced by more considered design.

Meanwhile move of music to streaming continues. Vinyl survives in physical shops but how much space is needed? Radio part of the mix but gradually playlists created by AI appear whatever the resistance.

Lifelong Learning / Continuing Professional Development similar situation to HE. Fewer residential courses anyway and more "working at home" acceptance. "Action Learning" recognised by some HE, also a way to describe what happens anyway sometimes. "Quality" one example of a professional area that fits this discussion as the words used keep changing and ideas turn up as other topics.

#HEMarkets  #unbundledHE  suggested tags for Twitter etc.

SEEK map features on Lancaster slides

I am now back in Exeter with desktop and ways to edit slides and audio. I realise most of this is possible on mobile devices but in my own head a desktop is more intensive and mobility a sort of rest / alternative. so sound edits later. There should be one already loaded on Phonic FM for Thursday.

Two graphics from the slides for Janja Komljenovic talk on Thursday at Society for Research into Higher Education Zoom event. Title was " Digital(ised) higher education, digital platforms, and links to employability" . 

Main things that strike me are the recognition of MOOC platforms and the background of SEEK location and activity other than investing in FutureLearn and Coursera.

Previously I found the Unbundled HE course on FutureLearn had more emphasis on OPM but here the MOOC scene has similar space. Perhaps there will be an update on the Unbundled HE research.

The map shows a location where something like a MOOC is making sense. I am still puzzled why investment from the UK was not happening when the OU reached a limit on what was possible with FutureLearn. Also it was not much of a news story in UK media when SEEK invested in Futurelearn as well as Coursera . From much of the comment on Twitter my guess most people thought the doubts were still valid. Not much reporting in print Guardian about online learning. 

So I will try to find out through Twitter if  views are changing. I still put some comments into shows for Phonic FM, community radio in Exeter. East Devon News reports concern about buildings including student accommodation. City Council postpones discussion for more research. If HE is going online there may not even be a business case for more buildings. More on this later, just showing still on topic for local radio.

Might be near King's Cross somehow

Reminder has arrived for talk on Thursday, emplyability and HE. It will be on Zoom , I thought from Lancaster, but the email comes with a map of Collier Street near King's Cross where SRHE is based. With freinds from Phonic FM I sometimes stop off there on way back from ExCEL towards Paddington. We check out BETT and Learning Technologies. The area is going to be major for tech and information. We found the Samsung cafe. So I am in Kendal, away from Lancaster but with Zoom might be near London anyway.

Still looking at paper on what Networked Learning means at this time. It seems to define some limits. The subject area stays the same as something recognised by academics, though the tech possibility changes. In some ways there can be networked learning without technology, it could be a face to face meeting, but over time the tech is more of an option some of the time.

I still like "blended learning" as a reference point but this is seen as "slippery to define" . Sometimes vagueness is easier to work with. There is concern about the commercial moves being made during the pivot online post Covid. Examples include the "monetised successors to MOOCs, referencing Techlash, published in Australia. I don't know if the Techlash writers know how Futurelearn developed in the UK. Originally fully owned and funded by the Open University where there was concern that Peter Horrocks closed buildings for regional support to invest in a free online platform. His arguments were rejected and he had to resign. No other UK HE source has been mentioned as a possible source of funding. So later 50% of Futurelearn was sold to Seek, a jobs site in Australia. This may be where the concerns at Techlash come from but is there any proposal for a MOOC platform that would be less vocational or less concerned with tech skills? 

There is a section in the paper which I am quoting in full

Critical and emancipatory dispositions appear in weaker and stronger forms. Or perhaps it would be more helpful to say that they sometimes feature in accounts of inquiry and action that are tightly bound to the pragmatics of local organizational contexts. Good examples include instances of networked action research and professional development through action learning. And they sometimes feature in much deeper and/or wide-ranging critiques of the structures and circumstances in which (networked) learning takes place (see, e.g. Jandrić and Boras 2015; Ryberg and Sinclair 2016; Littlejohn, Jaldemark, Vrieling, and Nijland 2019). In revising our description of networked learning, this interest in forms of emancipatory action research, underpinned by a commitment to social justice and empowerment, needs to find a place. This also implies that we should situate a revised definition within larger action-oriented projects and/or promote its application in broader educational, social and political movements (Jones 2019).

This offers a way to relate to professional development and action learning, possibly with critique and emancipation still for discussion. ( I am showing this blog to some other people in professional development groups , problem is hard to predict what the results will be )   

Looking at Chris Jones paper for more about social and political movements I find the take on MOOCs too  dismissive - "Only a few years later on from their height, the idea that free courses offered via online platforms could supplant universities and schools seems ridiculous, but this was a widely held view until recently. " ( p291 ) The term MOOC may not be used so much but the platforms continue and are shown to be viable. July 19th Class Central report that Coursera has raised $130m , implication valued at $2.5b . Whatever the numbers mean there is a continuing MOOC interest. In May Dhawal Shah claimed that MOOCs are "back in the spotlight" . Coursera and EdX both in the top 1000 sites for traffic and FutureLearn just outside top 3000. Social and political aspects of MOOCs continue. Free options are still available as well as the certificates and degrees.

So I think the space to look for is the overlap where the MOOC scene meets the criteria for Networked Learning. I realise the numbers and business model aspects are not central to Networked Learning concerns. But they will turn up somewhere.

Last, but not least, there are open questions about organizational and policy issues, which need deeper exploration as we find new spaces for networked learning. 

Futurelearn partly based at British Library, round the corner from King's Cross. Not far from YouTube.