Thinking the present with Max Weber
A series of seminar-workshops to be organised by the Max Weber Study Group of the British Sociological Association
Seminar-workshop 1: Co-organised with the University of Salford and UCU Salford
The University, the Scholar and the Student
7 December 2012 – University of Salford (Manchester)
Submission deadline: Thursday, January 31 2013
Conference date: Thursday, July 18 2013
Conference Venue: School of Social, Historical and Literary Studies, University of Portsmouth
Portsmouth, United Kingdom Read the rest of this entry »
The world of online free teaching materials, Massive Open Online Courses and Udacity has been much discussed over recent months. The OU is rarely seen as a precusor to these attempts to democratise education and other developments in this field. There is a history of MOOCs and the OU yet to be written. However, here Shirky (who popularised the term ‘cognitive surplus’ when describing the potential uses of the web) calls makes a connection and calls the OU ‘remarkable and interesting’. See Clay Shirky, Cognitive surplus: creativity and generosity in a connected age, Penguin, New York, 2010. According to this report Udacity appears to aim to upload lecture theatre talks. This is not the technique favoured by the OU which has developed ideas about online collaborative learning and has popularised student engagement. One of the OU’s lecturers in educaitonal technology discusses the implications here.
Writing on 11th November journalist Carole Cadwalladr argued
When the Open University was launched in 1969, it was both radical and democratic. It came about because of improvements in technology – television – and it’s been at the forefront of educational innovation ever since. It has free content – on OpenLearn and iTunesU. But at its heart, it’s no longer radically democratic. From this year, fees are £5,000.
Her analysis of how the OU has supposedly lost its’ way is supported by personal testimony Read the rest of this entry »
A decade after his death we republish an obituary of Ian Gass. It is by Arthur Butcher who was responsible for the OU’s science in Scotland between 1971 and 1992. Read the rest of this entry »
One of the benefits of exploring the history of the OU is that it opportunities arise to meet colleagues from overseas. When Katja Varjos, from Lahti University of Applied Sciences, Finland, visited the OU she said something about her teaching experiences.
Her university is a little younger than the OU and, in common with the OU, Lahti prides itself on its range of partnerships and company projects and its versatile and practical teaching methods. The institution accepts students of all ages and they are all funded by the state with grants. While much of the contact is face-to-face, Katja Varjos intends to develop the university’s engagement with elearning. Read the rest of this entry »
Yet again the OU students have demonstrated their satisfaction with the OU. Surveys of OU graduates 1975 — 1989 indicate that over 70% felt that they derived ‘great’ or ‘enormous’ benefit from their time as students, that over 80% felt that it had had a good impact on them ‘as learners’ and ‘as a person’ and that more than 50% noted the beneficial effect on their careers and on them as ‘members of society’. Subsequently, OU students have presented their studies as an aid to the development of their self-esteem and their careers and as constructive within the development of familial relationships. They have noted dramatic changes to their beliefs, thoughts and tastes and have acknowledged their pleasure in learning. Many have concluded that their OU studies provided them with intellectual stimulation, confidence and ‘cultural capital’. Since their inception in 2005 the annual National Student Surveys have all shown that OU students rate the OU more highly than almost all other students rate their respective institutions. Read the rest of this entry »
It was 1st October 1963. Having just outlined his plans for a University of the Air, which could he said, make a great contribution to the cultural life of the country and the enrichment of the standard of living, Harold Wilson received a standing ovation at the Labour Party’s Scarborough conference. Next on the agenda was a motion on higher education and scientific manpower. It was moved by a union representative, Sir William Carron of the AEU and seconded by David Grugeon of the Socialist Education Association. Mr Grugeon appealed for an end to the present divisions in the educational system – an end to stratification, streaming, and selection. The educational opportunity must be provided for everybody to ‘go as far as you can for as long as you can benefit’. Read the rest of this entry »
Photographer: FourNinety Copyright (C) The Open University
For a report on how ‘massive open online courses’ provided by Coursera, edX and Udacity appear to be ‘another tectonic shift in the evolution of higher education and HE internationalisation’, see a report from the Observatory on borderless higher education.
The OU’s eLearning Community newsletter recently noted the interest in massive open online courses (MOOCs) and also noted that it appears to have come as a surprise to ‘Wired Campus’ that many MOOC students form groups to study and socialize. Read the rest of this entry »