Serving higher education with technology – disrupting higher education with technology

Technology is increasingly serving higher education by enabling student-centred learning and concerted social learning, extended reach to content anytime and everywhere, insights for educators into progress tracking and learning trends, and cross-institutional academic collaboration. At the same time, technology is providing evidence of negative disruption to the core purpose of education, which is human development and individual preparation for the future. Technology is gradually diminishing the capacity of individuals to critically think and reason, to expand into unfamiliar knowledge domains, and to exploit the learning experience to fulfil the market needs after graduation. In this paper, a review is presented on how technology is disrupting higher education, both positively and negatively. Some recommendations are given with respect to these disruption

Inspire

In lieu of an abstract, below is the essay\u27s first paragraph. Writing about inspiration is a daunting task, not the least because the word itself has been overused to the point of oblivion. The temptation to include wonderful anecdotes of kind acts is great, but seems somehow to just borrow others’ inspiration. Works of art, music and literature are described as “inspired,” as are our responses to them. Clothiers, the auto industry, even furnishing gurus claim inspiration as their products’ genesis. Even broadcast news is compelled to include inspiring moments for their viewers by highlighting members of the community (or the nation or globe) who have done more, shared more, given more of themselves in an uncommon manner or for an unusual cause. These can bring a tear or a smile, but rarely do they truly inspire, in the sense of prompting similar action or commitment. Is this the true significance of the word, or has that been thoroughly obfuscated by its easy application to those caught in the midst of any emotional situation

The joy of writing – teach, practice, inspire!

Writing is one of the most effective forms of recording thoughts and communicating across time and space. It is also the major focus of early years education when children strive to make the connection between sounds and their graphic representations. Yet, writing is not merely translating utterances into texts but an art of putting one’s thoughts and feeling on paper is such a way that they will be understood and experienced by the reader. This is obviously difficult, the more so if it is done in another language. Teaching writing requires many skills, most of which have little to do with the actual process itself. As teachers, we need to guide students through the intricacies of logical argumentation, text structure and formal aspects or writing inspiring them to come up with fresh ideas along the way. This text is a summary of a workshop on teaching writing to secondary school students which was aimed at providing new ideas on how to encourage students to write and, more importantly, how not to discourage them from the process. We strongly believe that writing is a creative process of self expression and is, as such, an immensely fulfilling activity. The only thing teachers have to do is help their students experience the joy of writing

How INSPIREd is NERC?

The Natural Environment Research Council (www.nerc.ac.uk) is the UK's main agency for funding and managing research, training and knowledge exchange in the environmental sciences. In 2007 NERC commissioned a consultancy to prepare an INSPIRE baseline and Road Map to enable it to be compliant with the EU INSPIRE Directive well ahead of the deadlines listed in the Directive. This study provided: • A baseline of INSPIRE readiness across NERC with respect to INSPIRE requirements for metadata, discovery, view and download services; • A description of what NERC will need to provide to fully comply with the INSPIRE Directive; • A description of the technology options that are currently envisaged to implement the INSPIRE Directive; • A Road Map to show what NERC must do to meet the INSPIRE Directive; • An estimate of resources required to implement the INSPIRE Directive. This paper outlines the findings of this study

Persistent andragogical patterns across the generations: From university tutorial classes to postgraduate online education

The concept of design patterns in education raises the question of whether their validity can persist over a period of time or whether social and technological change means that yesterday’s virtues are today’s irrelevancies. Many see e-learning as something which is the latest and greatest form of education, possibly one that has made previous forms obsolete. However, when we look beyond the technology to the desired pedagogy, how much has radically changed? This paper compares two examples of how adults have been educated on a part-time basis in Britain; examples which are separated by 100 years. Because adults are involved, we should more properly talk of andragogy rather than pedagogy. It compares elements of University Tutorial Classes, which started in 1908 as a university outreach programme to deliver undergraduate level education to ordinary working people, with key features of an online Master’s degree programme started in the 21st century. The University of Liverpool has been associated with both initiatives, and therefore provides a useful focus for comparison. On the face of it, the two initiatives could not be more different. However, if we strip away the differences in circumstances, motivation and technology, we find that the andragogical approach is remarkably similar. The same basic desirable elements are present

A Cup to Inspire

Undergraduate Graphic Desig

BU Award for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning

Development and implementation of learnng, teaching and assessment strategies which motivate and inspire student learning and achievemen

Packaging Inspiration: Al Qaeda’s Digital Magazine \u3cem\u3eInspire\u3c/em\u3e in the Self-Radicalization Process

Al Qaeda is today a fragmented organization, and its strategic communication efforts now focus largely on recruiting individuals in the West to carry out “individual jihad” in their home countries. One Al Qaeda–affiliated publication, Inspire, represents an unusual use of the digital magazine format and content for recruitment. This study examines the content and design of Inspire to determine how the magazine may advance the self-radicalization that it seeks to induce in its readers. This analysis finds that the magazine weaves together jihadist ideology, a narrow interpretation of Islam, and appropriations of Western popular culture to maximize the publication’s potential for motivating readers toward violence

Commencement 2012: For Graduates, an Urge to Inspire Change

The Honorable Madeleine Albright, other speakers encourage the Class of 2012 to focus not on the challenges ahead, but on the ceaseless opportunities to make a mark

Engaging students in ethical debates

This case study outlines an investigation into the acceptance of a new pedagogical paradigm aiming to engage and inspire students in ethical and entrepreneurial activit