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

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also

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