Re-Sourcing school: Rethinking education in a connected world

Is school a waste of time? Is learning a waste of time? While for some the answer will be the same to both questions, most will agree that they are different questions and that difference is the heart of the issue that this paper seeks to confront. Over the last few years I have noted a number of things that might be called \u27dead canaries\u27. These are things that have signalled to me the scope of the issues that need to be confronted now and in the years ahead if we are to do our best in resourcing and re-sourcing education in a connected world

Audio-description reloaded : an analysis of visual scenes in 2012 and Hero

This article explores whether the so-called new "cinema of attractions", with its supposed focus on visual effects to the detriment of storytelling, requires a specific approach to audio-description (AD). After some thoughts on film narrative in this type of cinema and the way in which it incorporates special effects, selected scenes with AD from two feature films, 2012 (directed by Emmerich) and Hero (directed by Zhang Yimou), are analysed. 2012 is a disaster movie aiming to thrill the audience with action. Hero is an equally visual movie but its imagery has an aesthetic purpose. The analysis investigates how space, time and action are treated in the films and the ADs, and how the information is presented in terms of focalization, timing and phrasing. The results suggest that effect-driven narratives require carefully timed and phrased ADs that devote much attention to the prosody of the AD script, its interaction with sounds and the use of metapho