Reality developments for learning online

I am still working on drama versions of a discussion around online learning. #CDWalk in Exeter looking at current space needed to retail music. #SiegeK in Kendal based on a siege of the Fortress University. But I may go back to reality / normal journalism.

There has been a change in how the print Guardian regards these topics. I think it may be the new Saturday magazine that replaces the Guide and the Review. Now the pop culture around music is in the same space as the books. Recently there was a "Big Idea" look at the classroom, should we leave it behind? I think Laura Spinney is based in Paris so this may be an influence. UK universities are fairly happy with the way things are.

The article conclusion is a quote from Diana Laurillard

“It took a global pandemic to drive home what we’ve been saying for 30 years.”

Previously I do not think the print Guardian would have published this. Peter Wilby had a fairly negative take on Futurelearn for an interview with Peter Horrocks who soon after had to resign from the OU. There was very little reporting of the Seek Group investment in Futurelearn, the Coursera IPO or the $800m sale of EdX. My guess is the print journalists will mostly ignore online learning until print circulations drop closer to zero so they have to concentrate online. But there are gaps and they may get more frequent.

The Novel in the Near Future

 I am now catching up with bits of text that may be longer than a tweet or may get hard to find.  I started this idea on holiday back in September. Some sort of scifi time travel is needed to cope with the print newspapers. They might be about to vanish but they carry on as if still significant. People on telly pay attention to the demands for everyone to go back to working in central London so they can read the Metro and Evening Standard. So anyway the novel is sometime quite soon when the print circulations are close to zero. FT weekend bundle might be a model though, something will continue. The hero author is trying to work out how to get paid for words in this new world. He tried to be an influencer on social media but then read in a newspaper that tweeting was a waste of time. Then one Saturday he reads about the Every that turns out to be a damp squib.

To be continued

Student accommodation topic continues with graphics

I have done three videos based on chat with JD last week on Wild Show. I tend to ramble off topic so two bits were edited out - another plug for my play on a CD Walk and a suggestion that debt explains why student accommodation appears to survive as viable when there are questions about retail, office and hotel. The main bit now has some graphics and video as well as the photo / simulations that appeared in the Express and Echo.  There are now two more sites that may end up with blocks similar to the Depot. I will try again with comment on radio for sound and a mix of graphics / video. This may ge more abstract from strict location. The idea is to show a mix of styles - Victorian Gothic mixed with the latest blocks. My guess is that even the University of Exeter will notice a problem at some point in time.

Repeating main points as text. ( Some for previously, look for Wild Show and student accommodation on YouTube )

University of Exeter has now published strategy to 2030 following #BigConversation. This was limited to staff and students so locals could not contribute. There is not much about learning moving online or about how much accommodation will be needed. There will be a new Exeter Education Innovation Institute but there is not much detail about this. Telematics may have become a ghost subject like Music and Chemistry. Some subjects were dropped and Telematics may be one of them.

In general there is not much public UK debate about how much space will be needed for the campus in ten or twenty years. Hybrid / blended worked ok during the lockdown in many ways but it now seems everything is back to normal. Expose , student paper, has had articles about a Ruiniversity asking about value for money and trends but this did not appear in print. 

Why is it thought that the Harlequins space cannot work for retail but has a longterm future as accommodation? there is no model I can find of what is assumed to happen to numbers of students over ten or twenty years.

If the future is "Co-Living" what sort of planning relates. My impression is that Exeter City Council have few options as student accommodation is outside certain criteria. If the space was on offer through the web out of termtime would this be another use as hotel? 

The Depot appears to be a style guide for what to expect. St Lukes campus is Victorian Gothic. How will the styles relate? Royal Albert Memorial Museum is the most obvious building on Queen Street at this time. There is a new traffic schem tested by Devon County Council. How would this work with the proposed car layby to support visits to the new building?

The #CDWalk play is based on a walk in central Exeter where the retail for CDs used to be. Several sites to identify, together with the new student accommodation. Another walk followed the Taddiforde Brook near the campus. This will be rested till the spring so the Queen Street / St Lukes space will be easier to get to and is more urgent. It can be regarded as real or for online backgrounds in a mix.

The St Lukes photo most recently in Express and Echo appears to show a lawn infront of the proposed building but this is actually an existing part of St Lukes. Seems ok to me to use photos for review and comment. any copyright issues please let me know. There will be later edits.