Sabbatical blog: Oslo's future is blended

If you are going to do something worthwhile then do it well - or take the example of BI, Norway's biggest Business School, and do it excellently.
Within the last 5 years, BI has invested in, supported, nurtured and delivered innovation, blended learning and a superb learning environment for students.

BI CAMPUS AT NYDALEN, OSLO. PICTURE BY BOBS NEPHEW

Just to view the impressive building that houses the School is a testament to the commitment BI has to its mission.  Meeting BI academics and staff simply underlines the commitment to continuous improvement, harnessing of technology (where it makes a difference) and actually putting the student at the centre.

Key learning points from Oslo?

• Supporting reluctant staff is as important as fostering innovation
• Bottom-up and top-down help the whole organisation to journey in the same direction
• Bold decisions and full commitment beats creeping change and risk aversion

Oh, and simple ideas, followed through, are often the most effective.

Oslo 12-14 October 2017.

HE Ideas: Good practice in on-line teaching

The future IS digital for HE.  Like it or not Universities must embrace on-line provision not to simply jump on the bandwagon but also to reflect the fact that they understand that the needs of learners has shifted from the traditional and much loved face-to-face model.

Oh, yes,  there will still be a campus, a "teacher", a timetable, study spaces.....but there will also be personalisation, flexibility, multi-media, "push and pull" (rather than just "push" delivery) and a focus away from knowledge creation and delivery to empowerment in knowledge application.

And this will mean some fundamental restructuring, changes in the business model, investment in infrastructure and a culture change for academics.  In brief, the traditional model that focuses heavily on curriculum and content (and the academics that create these) and less on design and platform will need to rethink their priorities.

I am indebted to Karine Le Joly (HEC Paris) for this construct - although the diagram and any misinterpretation is mine

Successful purveyors of blended and on-line education in HE are partners with IT companies and employ and incentivise Instructional Designers (there's a shortage of these anyway), so that the position of "Sage on the Stage" who is also a Research Professor is that of an equal partner.

In how many HE Institutions are the Instructional Designers given the same pay and promotional prospects as the Knowledge Creators?

Just asking...

HE Ideas: Learning to drive your studies

Put a first-time driver behind the wheel of a car and anything could happen:

Pictue by Bill Longshaw at freedigitalphotos.net

So we have simulators, driving instructors, practice, mistakes, knowledge checking and repetition before the driver gets anywhere near the Driving Test.

So why do we expect students entering Higher Education to practice their first ESSAY / PRESENTATION / EXAM / GROUP ACTIVITY / TEST* (delete as applicable) without giving them the opportunity to simulate, receive instruction, practice, make mistakes, show knowledge and repeat all of this following relevant and timely feedback BEFORE they are examined using these tools?

Ah, I hear you say, but students won't do anything that does not have marks attached (in HE we call that formative work).

But why not find ways to encourage engagement with formative tasks, rather than give up because it's too difficult?

Just a thought.

HE Explained: Academics are potentially almost always never right or wrong

How often do we hear others speak without thinking, or speak too soon - or even "mis-speak", a US phrase used largely by politicians when their "ignorance" of key facts is exposed?

In these days of instant news and instant comment - often by tame academics, media trained by their Universities - so much comment is "correct", even "politically correct" to render it almost meaningless.  Sure, it fills air time and seems to provide the "evidence" that journalists seek to underpin their sensationalism.

Picture by RoyaltyFree Corbis

 But do call a spade a spade and not a "sharp edged digging impliment".  Have the courage of your convictions - if your research tells you that the globe is NOT heating up, then say so.  Don't feel obliged to be swept along by the tide of "majority opinion".

In the world of Business and Management research whilst is a struggle to say anything different, original or with clear implications for actual business, it is a marvel to watch academics try...

Blogging 101: I wish I hadn't said that!

But you did, Oscar,...you did.

Writers (1895) by Python, M (YOUTUBE LINK)

Bloggers should take note that once released, blogs can never be completely eradicated - so if you are going to say something controversial or "witty" in a way that you understand but others may feel offensive - think before clicking "publish".

For me, George Bernard Shaw (as played by Michael Palin)'s excellent rejoinder is a stock response to all detractors.  Edwardian wit at its best...

HE Leadership explained: The VC

?
Apparently you get a VC for gallantry in the face of the enemy.  So, why do so many Higher Education detractors vilify the VC?

Picture by: EyeSerene Original: Richard Harvey

The VC means gallantry:

• Keeping a straight face when someone asks if the TEF really indicates Teachng Quality.
• Finding something positive to say both in public and to Professors when your institution only got BRONZE.
• Setting a rapid change agenda in an environment where change is measured in decades.
• Showing that you are worth it when the size of your "Total Remuneration Package" is revealed in the press.
• Delaying that Freedom of Information request about international trips.

.....in the face of the enemy:

• Students ?
• Staff ?
• Council ?
• Accreditation bodies ?
• HEFCE ?
• Jo Johnson ?
• Other Universities ?

Personally I think that VCs get everything they deserve.

Cutting your toenails with a scythe

This week's post is really cutting edge stuff - groan!

How many times do we sit in a presentation, talk or lecture and zone out or reach for the mobile phone to look at our Twitter feed because the speaker has totally missed the target and has not understood the needs of the audience?

Lecturing (and I have waxed lyrical in the past about labelling all Learning events as "Lectures") are designed to do one thing - to deliver something (opinion, facts, argument, information) to an audience.  Lectures are one type of Learning event but are enshrined in expectations, in geographies of HE institutions, in staff titles and so on...

Would you cut your toenails with a scythe?  Would you brush your hair with a broom?

So why would you deliver a lecture when you actually want to achieve a learning goal for which that blunt instrument was never designed?