miscellania

Been playing catch-up on a number of fronts as of late. Mostly because I loathe not being on top of things; partially because I’m in the office 4 days this week, then on holidays for 11 days (w00t!). Consider this something of a drive-by post.

Interesting reading:

Ever heard of unschooling? Curious? This month’s University Affairs has a pretty good article on the subject. I’m was of mixed feelings: now I’m solidly in the opposed camp. Your 11 year old just learned to tie their shoelaces? Fail….

Student Evaluation of Teaching (SEoT) is an important aspect of ensuring the quality of both course/curriculum development and teaching in higher education. But what about evaluations halfway through a term? Some schools have formalized such processes, as indicated in an excellent article in the Chronicle. I’m not convinced–while I believe students need to have prominent voice in educational development I’m a big believer in learning-centred, rather than learner-centred pedagogy. Or andragogy, si vous preferiez…

Last week’s U21 Teaching and Learning Network meeting seemed to go rather well. In particular, CTLT’s Events team really outdid themselves. It helps when we work in a great unit in a great university.  Anything involving the Liu Institute and Museum of Anthropology can’t be bad either.

Edits for the January 2012 offering of ETEC565A are largely finished. Largely.

Ich habe kein Nachrichten mehr.  Except I’m not failing German…though I’m not sure I’m learning German either!

 

About John P Egan

Learning technology professional.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to miscellania

  1. cindyu says:

    Hey John,
    Thanks for the attention to unschooling or “deschooling” as Ivan Illich refers to it. Just thought I would share a quote from Illich’s Deschooling Society that (i think) speaks to your concern about shoe tying:

    “it is the creation of a new style of educational relationship between man and his environment. To foster this style, attitudes toward growing up, the tools available for learning, and the quality and structure of daily life will have to change concurrently.”

    I suppose when we were growing up, the ability to tie our shoes (along with writing our names) was a mark of independence – a transition point. Now there’s velcro and keyboards- and that transition point may be marked by the ability to use a cell phone – just sayin’…maybe the inability to tie a shoe isn’t as much of a “fail” as an arbitrary requirement in a context where it isn’t really that useful.

    Anyway, thanks for the post!

Comments are closed.