Teraknor

A couple of years ago via the request of a 'professional' friend, I agreed to step in as an external for a University undergrad programme that is on teach out. As programmes come and go and need updating, they needed someone who would be happy to sit as an independent external examiner while the second and third years of an exiting programme completed its natural process. To say that they could not organise a fight in a fairy cake factory is an understatement. First mitigating with an idea that they were playing catch up was unrealistic. This mob are actually less organised than a bag of kittens and singularly lacking any sense of direction. Either the silence was deafening, or the lack of communication annoying. Last minute requests for award boards, aggravating and an inability to book meetings in advance, frustrating. Their handing of any quality assurance process reaction, rather than action (with a smattering of inaction). I finally blew my gasket when a promis...

Over the last year I have presented hints about some work I am privileged to be part of. Involving KMi  and FORGE , the project aims to develop future Internet technologies, enabling the simulation of networking technologies. Cisco Systems, via their academy programme and under the thought leadership of Dennis Frezzo created Packet Tracer a pedagogical network simulator. Deployed on Windows and Linux systems as well as having an Android version. It offers a complimentary practical experience, enhancing the online teaching for IT Essentials, CCNA Routing and Switching and the CCNA Security curriculum. The HTML Packet Tracer Front End Looking to create an eBook that has inline practical activities, using the Apple iBook format. KMi are keen to leverage the success of the Open Universities iTunesU presence. After some initial hitches and technical experimentation, it was soon realised that the HTML5 affordance of the iBook means that Packet Tracer could be offered via any we...

Credit must go to my colleague Yijun Yu, we were hiding away in my office busy working on material for our imminent (at the time) digital forensics module. When an email came back with edits and suggestions for a discussion article on the search for MH370 . Yijun already had success with his discussion piece on cloud computing as a search tool for locating lost aircraft. More than happy to include me in the edits and use some of my technical knowledge, the article appeared that afternoon with some credit attributed to me.  What was interesting was the dashboard, tracking the readers, republication and comments. Up for a punt, I gave a couple of articles a quick bash ... one concerning the pointlessness of porn site licensing  (where did that idea disappear?), another regarding Heartbleed . I was bitten by the bug, I found that I could quickly pen responsive articles that seemed to engage non-technical and technical audiences alike. Now, here I am a year later,...

Lets forget all the little ways that inspection regimes like Ofsted attempt to measure the quality of teaching in our national classrooms. There is no proof of effectiveness in the quality of the teaching, only in the schools ability to create a culture that conforms to an inspection regime. So, with my view of the value of the accuracy (and therefore validity) of an Ofsted observation. I cannot see why we cannot equally apply the "Montgolfier measure of educational impact". It works on a simple principle, the more hot air a teacher produces. Therefore increasing the likelihood of a hot air balloon rising (hence the  Montgolfier measure). The more probable it is that the teacher may have some desirable effect on the students. Why not, we see teacher centred and student centred around the world and it would seem that they have the same value. So why can we not face facts and accept the signal to noise ratio involved in teaching at all levels. With all of this ...

Those who have taken the time to follow me over the years, well done; I appreciate the slog it must have been. By now you may have developed a small understanding of the way my mind works and have a view of the subjects I dislike (if not despair at). May I there introduce the greatest culprit ... ICT ... Information and Communication Technology. A crap term that no better describes a pencil: Than a comprehensive server infrastructure: Both are information and communication technologies; one having greater meaning and more purpose in the context of computing than the other. Don't get me wrong --- I like pencils, they are useful and possibly more reliable than any computer system I have ever encountered. But to use a crap term like ICT in education that covers such an extensive scope is in my mind the ultimate epitome of meaningless jargon. Having visited many schools, where the teachers proudly tell me about their ICT curriculum. They do not know the suppressed...

I have for some considerable time been a fan of Occam's Razor (Ockham's razor is a well known alternate spelling). The premise of which is: Among competing hypotheses that predict equally well, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected. Or, better said in plainer terms: The simplest answer is often the most likely. Often in educational assessment, verification and academic quality control situations. I encounter 'experts' (note the quotes) who infer complex often machiavellian conspiracy into their academic observations. While there is always the possibility that students (as well as academic centres) engage in nefarious shady acts to conceal their rouge intentions. Often the reality is that they are merely clumsy, made mistakes and could have approached the work in question more appropriately (and under less time or personal pressure). So, PLEASE!!!, when marking, verifying and engaging in the act of looking at the academic work of others. DO!!! ...

Recently I was at a very useful event, involving academics, tutors etc within the Open University academic universe. One discussion raised by an informed soul is how they have a 'Java Programming' qualification (from another organisation) yet cannot program in Java to save their life. With an impending assignment submission and experience in reading assignment expectations. They worked out that the design element with plenty of clever words would help them acquire a probable (and therefore acquired) acceptable passing mark. Whereas those who focussed on the coding, spending less time on the design. May actually have failed the assessment. Implicit in the admission was the notion that their code wasn't very good and that those who focussed on the code were more likely the valid Java programmers. Sadly, I have often seen this play out in multiple arenas and understand why industry often has a cynical view of students exiting higher education. Do not get me wrong, des...