Author: DavidWebster
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The Uncanny Guest: Artificial Intelligence and the University
Nihilism stands at the door: whence comes this uncanniest of all guests?[1] [Follow up post at SRHE Blog: https://srheblog.com/2024/08/27/restraining-the-uncanny-guest-ai-ethics-and-university-practice/ ] Is Generative AI an uncanny and uninvited guest at the table of Higher Education? For Nietzsche the uncanny guest at the door is nihilism. This guest has arrived to undermine our existing sense of purpose…
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Quality Assurance and Learning Technology
I recently spoke at the Advance HE Curriculum Symposium, and they kindly asked me to write up the talk, integrating reflections from the audience, for their blog. You can read the post HERE. The title was Hybrid learning and teaching: the role of Quality Assurance in ensuring accessible and equitable provision – and I tried…
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THES Digital Universities – reflections
On 20th May I took part in the Times Higher Education Digital Universities Week 2021 event entitled: ‘What could university look like for the class of 2030? Despite the last year changing higher education in ways we never thought possible, there are still years of transformation ahead of us.” Below are some of my reflections, both…
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Don’t cut yourself on all that edge
Contrarian Scepticism as pro-level passive-aggressive performance. This was a Twitter thread, now posted here, trying to reflect on, extend and reconstruct a talk I gave at ‘Question Criticality’ Symposium at Leeds @CentreCelt in November 2019 about criticality/critical thinking in HE and wider contexts We often laud critical thinking, seeing a lack of it as socially…
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Reflections on Decolonising the Curriculum
I posted this as a Twitter thread – but am popping it here too – and to remind me that I want to expand on the of details of classroom practice. I have been thinking, sat in Teams meetings obviously, about decolonising practice in Universities. I think I understand why the most common way to…
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Short video about Remote Learning
I recorded a short piece of video, I think aimed at our students, about remote learning. 5 minutes of me talking into the void…
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All I write are emails: (Not) A Lament.
All I write are emails. I should join my generation in a mass bemoaning. A wailing of would-be scribes. Denied our space to craft lyrical whimsy by neoliberal templates. But I won’t. Because I don’t really write emails. I write missives of reassurance. To a colleague, straining under anxiety who needs kindness. Compassion between the…
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Podcast about shifting to remote/online learning
I spoke over the weekend to philosopher Dr Pat O’Connor, from the Thales’ Well podcast, about the move to online learning. As he said on twitter, “We talked of different aspects of #eLearning like synchronous and asynchronous delivery, managing expectations, value of structure, segmenting on-line classes and other practical tips.” The podcast is live at…
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Social Media (Zombies) and ethics in Higher Education
At the University of East London today – for the Learning and Teaching Symposium: Connected Students event. While my poster might not match the abstract exactly – I’ll share what I promised, and then what I actually delivered. In our zeal to leverage the social tendencies our students, to harness the irresistibility of apps and…
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Is that meant to be funny?
Thinking about pedagogy, comedy, freedom and change. Also incorporating a mini-review of Laura Davis’ Ghost Machine show. Preface: I occasionally develop obsessive interests. I actually seem to accumulate them, but that’s another blog post. Of late this has taken the form of listening to the Comedian’s Comedian podcast – and one of its many virtues…
Dave Webster 