Plan A this week

This week I hope to do more radio around the mural appearing between the library and Phoenix in Exeter. Last week the Wild Show turned out different because of rain. So possible talk with JD about 10.15 was mostly off air. This week I will do some backup on social media / email . So there will be some continuity in story. COP poetry project includes events in Princesshay as well as the mural. Previously there was music in Guildhall shopping area. Exeter University offers free info on climate as well as courses.  

London trip

After recent trip to Olymics Park in London and returning to Exeter I am thinking about things that turn up and university research. The River Lea walk connects with Canning Town ; next vist walk to ExCEL so the ideas from BETT and Learning Rechnologies will be considered by the research on Olympic Park. ( I realise there is also DLR but somehow knowing there is also a walk adds connctivity )

London College of Fashion is actually open. Degree show included "fashion prints" . Meanwhile London College of Communication is emerging at the Elephant. UCL and V&A both at the Hackney end as well. More later.

Augmented Locations

Some locations can be used as sets for live performance / film or video . Public spaces also for public disussion. Technology is now such that augmentation is normal for space in reality. It no longer implies drama or fiction. Other times and locations can be present. Examples include where I have lived - Exeter , London , Kendal. 

Current fiction is based on reality. Titles are hash tags. #CDWalk is a walk in city centre talking around where music retail used to be and there are still new buildings for student accommodation. #SiegeK and #RuinsHE set in Kendal Castle, based on talk by Peter Horrocks in Durham. The Fortress University survived the siege during lockdown. Everything is back to normal.#RuinsHE is set in the future.

Expanding on LinkedIn Comment

 This is somewhere between Twitter and LinkedIn. I have not done much on LinkedIn recently but it may have more potential. Twitter is still lurking somewhere inside X but I sometimes cause offence  /  wander off topic. However I think I should introduce myself for LinkedIn so they realise where I am coming from.

I live in Exeter and contribute to Phonic FM, local community radio, mostly music. The University has expanded recently and this results in lots of student accommodation being built in the city centre. shops and pubs are demolished. ( Many UK cities much the same ) Post lockdown there is some recovery for retail and offices but definite changes. Apparently the campus is "back to normal". This is hard to understand. The student accommodation might last for 20 or 30 years. There is no widely available research on how long the campus model will continue. So I do look at how university scene might develop but keep coming back to the consequence for the city.

By the way, Harlequins not happening very quickly. Shopping mall to be replaced by "co-living" but when? There may be changes in reality but not yet in how UK HE reports on itself. Building continues - campus, accommodation , spectacular business schools.

Tweet / Linkedin was about new THE ranking of online unis for November. How will this change the overall rankings? I do not think the LinkedIn comments have responded enough as of this time. My own drama - CD Walk - is based on walking about in central Exeter looking at where the music retail used to be and then where the student accommodation has been built . Guess that education is about 25 years behind music industry as a shift.

Complication is that since the first version of this HMV has got stronger. The Exeter one has gone bust at leat three times but now sells lots of merchandise around a range of culture, not just music. CDs still in decline but the shop appears viable. Also HMV is back in Oxford Street, getting stronger.

So some sort of real estate continues, even in proportion to online.

Links following Across the Atlantic Online Education podcast

 I am catching up on the transatlantic podcast about online university trends. Couple of links reminded me of past events. Neil Mosley still has a text blog and has looked at long ago when there was policy for UK education. . This includes a link to a PhD on EU projects . From 2005 but next January BETT will be 40 years old. The EU has not turned up in recent years. So 2005 is quite recent in some ways. In the podcast there is mention of Telematics, still active in Italy. In Exeter there was Telematics early in this century but it seems to have gone away. Before Jan 2025 there could be an update. ( The podcast may not reach a conclusion on this timescale, they seem to be always waiting for officiail stats. )

Ahead By BETT on a loop

 Ahead by BETT is the university aspect of BETT. I have been thinking about this and the STEAM Village. This exizted mostly around 2016 to 2018 when budgets were a bit better for schools. Recently there has just been STEM - Science Technlogy Engineering and Maths - but the Arts aspect is important. In Exeter I have tried to recreate a sort of STEAM Village in the city centre. It still seems a useful focus but I am not sure about the timing. Links can go forward and back in time.

Couple of things make me think a shift is coming soon. THE  had a conference in Exeter about digital universities and announced a ratings table for online universities. This will be published around December. I am not sure if Exeter is looking at online as a priority or what the scope of digital is but something is happening.

Also the Guardian todayhas a "long read" about financial issues for UK universities. There is one section to come back to. 

More students (inevitably from less privileged backgrounds) are having to take paid work to support themselves while they study, while lecturers are now confronted with a crisis of attendance, which began with the “pivot” to online teaching during the pandemic. Online engagement has become the default for many students. The campus and lecture hall are no longer seen as indispensable. Whatever benefits this offers in terms of convenience, it also risks loneliness and disaffection.

I think this will eventually move into more attention for an online option. It could be cheaper and avoid the debt and problems mentioned in other parts of the article.

More about this in future posts.