Wednesday 20 November 2019

Get a GRIP on your teaching

I have spent a productive summer working with a GRIP role play simulation.  The concept of role play for teaching purposes is not new but to combine it with an internet based business scenario and timely interventions from news bulletins and video calls from managers is.

The simulation is the work of GRIP (Gamified Roleplay for Innovation Policy from Organiq.nl of Rotterdam) and is based on a fictitious Dutch company in need of urgent turnaround negotiations.

I worked with the game designers to ensure that the game could be delivered to an English speaking student audience - terminology may be different but the management problems and stakeholder perspectives are universal.  I then used the simulation as an introduction to a final year undergraduate module in Corporate Reconstruction and Turnaround.

So why not simply run out the lectures in the same way you have been doing for years Keith?

Because students HEAR and they (might) remember, they DO and they understand.

Monday 11 November 2019

Where there's MOOC, there's brass?

Please forgive the bending of that famous Yorkshire saying to fit the point I make.
...AND YORKSHIRE TEA IS NOT GROWN IN YORKSHIRE. PICTURE BY E.THIK.

In 2014 many observers considered that MOOCs (Massive  Open Online Courses) would change the face of education.  Why spend so much money when Harvard (and others) are giving their stuff away for free?
In 2019 we know different.  MOOCs have moderated their numbers and are seen as "tasters" for fee paying courses.  Some allow the issue of a certificate (for a fee) but these are not really commercial ventures.
Those benefiting from MOOCs are the institutions that allowed MOOCs to act as a training ground for their Academics, Learning Designers and Technologists.  A training ground that has allowed the evolution into fully online programmes of study (fee paying) offered via MOOC platforms such as Coursera and FutureLearn.

So, hands up if you thought MOOCs were a fad that would pass?