day in a library no longer feels wicked, like it's been stolen from teaching activities. OK, it never should have felt like that, since research was allegedly part of the job, but ...
Category: MOOCs
Closure at the Open University?
So now all those who work at The Open University may finally have some 'closure': Peter Horrocks, the Vice-Chancellor, is going and the future suddenly looks a lot more open than it did a week ago. The acting V-C, Professor Mary Kellett, is in place and has issued a widely-welcomed message in which she calls… Continue reading Closure at the Open University?
One year of retirement
What has it been like? And what have been the best things about retiring?
Retirement, four months in: it’s all a blur
I think it's time for another stock-taking blog post. This retirement thing is complicated, and I know I have followers who are thinking of taking the same path and want to know what it looks like, although their paths may turn out to be quite different. So, four months of retirement: what has happened so… Continue reading Retirement, four months in: it’s all a blur
‘Helen and the Mentors’: life in a MOOC
The last thing I did at The Open University before leaving was to produce a MOOC, a Massive Open Online Course (still available here). I'm so glad I did this, because the challenge of writing around 35,000 words that took advantage of the FutureLearn platform - arranged in 'steps' of 750 words or five minutes… Continue reading ‘Helen and the Mentors’: life in a MOOC
Traitor to the cause? Why I wrote a MOOC
After I handed in my notice, I could have let things wind down gradually. The Open University requires a long notice period, six months, but unlike brick universities it doesn't have just a couple of days in each year on which you are allowed to go, so I could pick my time. However, I delayed this… Continue reading Traitor to the cause? Why I wrote a MOOC
The retiring academic 