Research question: ‘In what ways is the Covid-19 pandemic changing understandings of the relationships between learning and fun?’ A limited case study of a research group in a UK university. We expect our findings to have implications beyond that group. Data collection using epistolary interviews (via email – one question per email, enabling thoughtful responses […]
Notes on ‘You heard it here first’ seminar at the OU from Anne Adams. When considering research about innovation, is it catwalk or ready-to-wear? Is it ready to use off the shelf, an innovation that people can take up and use, or is it a catwalk approach, testing and showcasing what is possible without suggesting […]
Picking up the theme of gaming, Marian Petre found teenagers using readily available Internet resources to engage in playful navigation and reuse of the information space. Examples: Pseudo-Friend – create a person in Facebook and see how many friends they can attract Brimstone Rhetoric – justify any position of argument using biblical quotes Degrees of […]
Games are important when building communities. They help to develop trust and an understanding of each other’s skills and personalities. In terms of language, wordplay helps us to establish register – to work out what we mean and double mean when we use language. Can we create online community without the use of word games? […]
Someone is wishing for our book. Makes it seem sort of magical…
Matthew McFall of Nottingham University spoke at ALT-C 2009 about learning with wonder for wonderful learning. His key words for ways into wonder included mirrors, puzzles, magic, clews (the thread Perseus used to help him through the Minotaur’s labyrinth), interest, mercury and enchantment. His boxes of delight are used to collect conceptions of wonder, to […]
When I was studying English, or history, I could curl up in bed with a textbook and feel relaxed and cheerful. It’s never been like that in IET. Apart from the odd easy read – like Howard Rheingold on virtual communities – it all feels like work. Interesting, but work. I’ve just read Walter Ong’s […]
I’ve done three or four really serious versions of my pilot for my supervisors over the last 18 months, and it’s STILL not right 
I know when I’ve rewritten it another couple of times there’ll be a time when it’ll be fab and I’ll be really pleased with it and it will make utter […]
I can usually blog at the drop of a hat. It’s a great displacement activity, which I can just about claim is work. So why have I been sitting here all day, failing to blog about the sessions I went to at the CAL conference?
I just logged in to FirstClass to see what was going on and in the vague hope that I would have received a message from my unhelpful gatekeeper. No such luck. However, logging on reminded me that while the gatekeeper claimed to have had no time in the past three months to OK a couple […]