I've just finished a rather subversive Skype conversation with Nick Noakes in Hong Kong. We
both wonder whether higher education can make the transition into 21st century without some very serious re-thinking of its values and processes. Will it survive, change or die?
Some readers will have met Nick in Second Life or through a digital story and his other contributions to the immersive experience wiki. One of the Open Education links he sent (this is a great way of extending a conversation!) refers to / quotes from a graduation speech given by Patton Oswalt. I guess he's a scurrilous American comedian, though I've never heard of him. Read it! If you get past the 'shocking' advice Oswalt uses to get the attention of students, teachers and administrators, what he says connects with an ongoing conversation I seem to be having with many people around and at the margins of higher education: what do we mean by authenticity, adventure, goals, success and failure? Are these relevant to higher education? Are they killed by learning outcomes and metric assessment? Should we be encouraging people to start asking these hard questions as they learn? Do we have a right to expect that lecturers and administrators are at least curious about these fundamental human questions?
This links with the books of our 'complex world' guru, Ron Barnett, of course. His latest book has a more serious approach to the same questions. Having read a review of the book, we (SCEPTrE) have now bought a copy. Should be there for you to browse through before 30th July. Or order your own copy, if you aren't passing!
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Posted by: Preferpeople | December 20, 2009 at 05:16 AM