Some Background Yesterday was remembrance Sunday in the UK, as always it falls nearest the the 11th of November. I am sure people know, but the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th Month was the time at which “the Great War” ended. For over 100 years in countries around the world the…
Read moreCategory: Culture
That thing you just said about your AI? Yeah, I have questions.
I / we have written about AI. We have asked about disclaimers and acknowledgements in response to people saying things like “We might feel that AI is most usefully considered as another tool: in itself ethically neutral…” (it is not ethically neutral) (pretty sure that ethical neutrality is not a real thing!). We have written…
Read more
Means. Motive, Opportunity: A Composite Narrative about Academic Misconduct
Reposted my original post from the National Centre for AI I would like to thank the late Andrew Cormack for his support in approaching the ethics of this post, and many others, his support and guidance will be missed. The header image is one that he would have enjoyed and laughed at, The Bird of…
Read more
(Not) Writing with an AI
This is not a post about AI per se, it’s about my writing process. I was chatting to a colleague this week about the tool of the moment, ChatGPTn, they were expressing that it was beneficial for them, because faced with a blank piece of paper they struggle to start. I get that, I have…
Read more
Consumerism – Neoliberal Education – Climate Change
I spent some time over Christmas reflecting on digital education and the post I wrote about digital capabilities and climate back in July, mostly because I was sat in a “bomb cyclone” in New England – another of the extreme weather events which are becoming more regular. I’m not sure what direction I am taking…
Read more
Accounting for the climate in digital capability: initial thinking
Right now in the UK we are focused on climate change. Why? Because we just broke previous temperature records – we hit 40°C– for colleagues in the US, that’s 104°F. I’m not going to debate climate change here; it’s real and if you think it isn’t you’re an idiot, or you’re an idiot and you’re…
Read more
Chasing Unicorns: how the EdTech Unicorn Pin came to be
Three of us sat together at “yet another edtech conference” we were probably listening to a wild-eyed techno-solutionist deliver an “ode to the new LMS”, or newly converted academic to the cult of VR, or it may have been the “and now a word from our sponsors” session, where another company starts telling academics how…
Read more
Learning from students and staff during the pandemic: A talk for #ESLTIS21
The #ESLTIS21 (Enhancing Student Learning Through Innovative Scholarship) conference took place on 10th September, I was privileged to be invited to speak about some of the research that I have done during the Pandemic. I also want to give a shout out to colleagues who I’ve worked with on that research including Donna Lanclos, Jasmine…
Read moreWhat does the premium on “presence” actually cost?
Joe Biden’s recent pronouncement on “broadband is infrastructure” amplifies the message that our lives are connected in significant ways in digital systems. And, in a report, the United Nations Human Rights Council said: Given that the Internet has become an indispensable tool for realizing a range of human rights, combating inequality, and accelerating development and…
Read more
Stop normalising pandemic practices!
Robin De Rosa tweeted out a link to an article, and her comment tells you all you need to know about the article. But, as I was waiting to see the dentist, I thought I’d read it anyway. The article is effectively an interview with a Marketing Professor, it reads like the journalist sent a…
Read more