Monthly Archives: June 2012

Independent learning: myth or prerequisite? (#OMDE)


Learners as independent and autonomous agents sound a bit like we require them to be like the Lone Ranger (without Tonto), or possibly resemble Don Quixote chasing after windmills in the company of a co-opted Sancho Panza? Are the notions … Continue reading

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Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it is… A reflection on higher education in flux (#OMDE)


[Image retrieved from http://www.wallpaperhere.com/Animals/Other/It_s_a_Bird_It_s_a_Plane_71751%5D Since humankind’s early days on the planet, we were interested in (and at times obsessed with) classifying animals, birds, vegetation and alas, fellow humans. Humankind’s survival depended on the ‘correct’ classification between dangerous and harmless snakes, … Continue reading

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What’s in a name? Reflections on the way we describe our teaching… (#OMDE601)


[Image retrieved from http://news.howzit.msn.com/quotes-of-the-week-may-11?page=13, 28 May 2012] In the beginning there was … correspondence education, then distance education(DE), then open distance learning (ODL), then open distance and e-learning (ODeL), then bring-your-own-device (BYOD) learning, then flipped classrooms … – and so … Continue reading

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Change in distance education: Burning platforms or burning Rome?(#OMDE601)


[Images retrieved from http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article23541.html and http://www.youtube.com/channel/fK6RK4HFxJGXX1LxHHaH6w, 4 June 2012] The notion of a ‘burning platform’ is the latest addition to ‘management speak’ in higher education and my immediate context as an open distance learning (ODL) institution is no exception.  This term joins … Continue reading

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