UK Universities, BETT and Pearson -clues please

I am still thinking about BETT last week, getting ready for Learning Technologies this week. Both shows have had a solid take on technology for a number of years. I realise that universities also have events with technology but as far as I know they rarely have as much of an exhibit that shows where tech is at. The scope at ExCelo and at Olympia now includes universites so it is reasonable to ask how they are represented there.

I did not get access to the HE Tech meetings at BETT, see previous post, and also I cannot find anything through a blog or Twitter that tells me what might have happened. This is unusual for a trade show, even if the sponsors want a select audience, so I wonder what this is about. Could it be that the Futurelearn project and other university situations are not really ready for showtime? I am just wondering, any links welcome.

The "project context" for the LSE research funded by the European Commission is shown on their website -

Universities may be losing some of their monopolies over both knowledge production and transmission, requiring them to enter into new and different kinds of relationships with other organisations and institutions. For some actors within Higher Education Institutions, these changes are seen as challenging traditional values and are to be resisted. For others, they present opportunities to make knowledge ‘central’, to have ‘impact’ and to contribute to the achievement of worthwhile social change and transformation. The crucial balance to be found is between a university's responsiveness to new challenges and necessities—whether they be economical or political—and its ability to produce knowledge on its own terms.

These are relevant issues but there is not much I can find on evidence that a university has decided on a policy and can explain it. Maybe it is too early in this project but they may know of examples somewhere in Europe or there may be other sources. The OU was at BETT but they had nothing about Futurelearn and I did not notice anything about how they were changing. Based just on casual observation in Exeter I think a lot of the support for Futurelearn is just as a low level test, without really having to look at whatever else is going on.

Another MOOC debate this week at Olympia. Maybe there will be some clues as to what the UK universities are making of it.

Meanwhile on the show floor I heard Sir Michael Barber talk about Efficacy. I can see why some academics have doubts about this sort of thing. Terms like "managerialism" spring to mind. but what strikes me is that Pearson have a clear idea about what they are doing, and they can present it.

After this week both BETT and Learning Technologies will continue online. Maybe there is a closed group somewhere equivalent to the higher floors of ExCel where business schools explain what business schools will be working on. Any explanation welcome in places that can be found and words that can be understood.

The MOOC moment at BETT

This post will get rewritten several times. Still too early to make much sense of all of BETT but I'm now back in Exeter and have taken some time to look at blog posts etc. I missed the opening speech by Michael Gove but have now had time to read it. Last year what I gathered from the Guardian was that a) the MOOC idea could not actually work out as claimed b) the MOOC is commercial and not that welcome in proper universities. At BETT it seems clear enough that the tech is working. It may end up as commercial if not much else happens. So I think the critique should move on a bit.

A few things not as expected. The Futurelearn session was by invitation only. The people on the OU stand suggested that if there was space I might get in but it turned out the sponsors had a restricted list of job descriptions that were allowed. So I missed that and the next one on how to monetize the MOOC. 

On the show floor there was a solid demo from Cambridge University Press of a MOOC at GCSE level on Computing. Limited social media style around this. There is just an "ask the teacher" feature with a few days delay. Based on short conversation it seems there is a business plan, the fees from the GCSE exams may cover some of the costs, even the adults who are just interested. CUP may have a book in the autumn but it may not be in print. So Cambridge may be keeping a distance from Futurelearn but they have some feedback to assess.

Gove sees a limited role for the UK government-

Innovative, transformative educational technology - like the products and ideas showcased at this exhibition - is already transforming education; has already transformed education; in ways that we could barely predict 2 years ago, and could never have imagined 50 years ago.

This technological change is - by its very nature - disruptive, endlessly innovative and driven from the bottom up.

So precisely the wrong way to react to the transformative opportunities offered by educational technology would be for government to try to dictate, from the centre, every last detail of how schools should respond.

Government regulation cannot keep pace with the scale of change technology brings. When I spoke here 2 years ago Instagram and Snapchat had barely been heard of, now they’re mainstream. How can government departments legislate for and regulate innovations which develop at such speed?

So, just as we’ve done in the curriculum, we are determined to give schools and teachers the freedom and autonomy to keep their eyes open for the next opportunity, the next development; and to recognise and react to it, when it comes.

No government, for example, could ever have imagined the impact that Sebastian Thrun is having on 21st century education.

However, in France there is state support for FUN from MINISTÈRE DE L'ENSEIGNEMENT SUPÉRIEUR ET DE LA RECHERCHE.  Some of the courses are in English. I can't tell if they are aimed at students, general public, or schools. Seems to include a range of universities. It will be interesting to see how this works out. 

Open Classrooms on the French stand C98 , they are independent but can also talk about FUN. Something MOOCish will continue.

From BETT this week on the Wild Show

I think JD will do all the Wild Show on Phonic FM this week as Chris is still not well. I hope to phone in between 11 and 11.30 during the coffee break in the presentations about Futurelearn and whether the MOOC can be monetised.

Not sure this is really the question. "MOOC" is just a way to describe current technology options. There may be some other words soon. So far the Futurelearn courses seem to be partly open adult education and partly content marketing for the full time offers. Is there a budget for this somewhere?

The timing happens to be when I guess JD will have sorted out the studio but not started to pack up before the end of the show. And there is a scheduled coffee break / conversation as part of the BETT schedule. But not sure how it will work out. We may put something together later. mp3 welcome from whatever source. There is a Wild Show Facebook page or leave a comment with link.

There is also BETT Radio, now branded as Toshiba Radio. I hope to find out more about this and there may be an archive on Soundcloud or somewhere.

If you are not in the Exeter area, Phonic FM is online. Recently upgraded to a massive 128kbps.

Networked Learning Conference Hotseat diagram , how to link to #BETT2014 ?

I am following the hotseats for the Networked Learning Conference. I tend to jump in and ask questions so I can try to catch up with the assumed background. This week is "Sociomaterial networks of academic practice" . This relates to Actor Network Theory so I thought the Latour discussion on the Wild Show last week would help. So far I have been told about several print sources to read, but no mp3 so far. 

There is a Prezi presentation

From this I have taken one graphic. This is with a Creative Commons copyright so please link back to the Prezi if you use it. Attribution - Non-Commercial

This is a gif so should be easier to embed and share than the full Prezi. It may be specific to London but I would like to discuss it in Exeter. It shows the context in which students study. I am interested in how this fits with other uses fro the internet, other locations in the city or range of learning spaces. More later on the Wild Show.

There is more online about a Design Studio for which this graphic was part of the research.

The hotseats are at Ning

I will look for possible variations on the diagram during BETT. There is some sort of loop involving academic research, how students use devices, what is on offer at shows.

Mode Two, Design Science what to think about MOOC?

Since we got back to Design Science on the Wild Show I have been thinking again about the possible connections, academics and social media. Somehow in management journals Design Science was a continuation of Mode 2 but somehow nothing much seems to have happened.

I get my impressions mostly from the Guardian. Last year there was very little reporting about the MOOC idea, and the opinions were mostly negative. Peter Scott wrote that he was reluctant to mention the word MOOC so it only came up once and even then there was much to guess about the assumptions academics might share. Objections seem to include that the technology is coming from commercial sources, as is a lot of the application. I am not sure why it cannot be accepted that the technology now mostly works so there can be counter proposals on what form a MOOC should take or if it should be something else.

It might seem that a MOOC is a good example of Mode 2 , such that Mode 1 study could fit quite well. Not sure how this is supposed to work.

Link to previous post

Free Issue of British Journal of Management

As mentioned in this post, because of the comment by Hugh Wilmott and the reply it is required to have access to the journal as well as the free issue. So if someone could do a blog explaining the issues in a few pages, that would help I think.

Meanwhile my search attempts don't find anything about design science, management, online education whatever linking back to this discussion. Clues welcome.