Feedback can’t provide answers, but it can (and should) generate questions. Naomi Winstone Introduction The traditional narrative in higher and professional education is that feedback is about telling. We make an observation about a student’s performance and then we tell them 1) what was wrong with it, and 2) how they need to correct it.…
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The One about Personal Learning
Published June 1, 2021 by Michael Rowe
It’s when we do stuff that we learn, not when stuff does something for us. Stephen Downes Introduction I’ve noticed that people tend to use the terms personal learning and personalised learning interchangeably. But they’re different concepts and the difference is, I think, important. In personalised learning, a system makes suggestions for how you should…
Leave a CommentThe intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant but has forgotten the gift. Bob Samples (1976) Introduction The standard description of our understanding of the left and right hemispheres of the brain is that the left hemisphere is the…
Leave a CommentThe One about English as the dominant language of the profession
Published April 1, 2021 by Michael Rowe
The most difficult thing about majorities is not that they cannot see minorities but that they cannot see themselves. Glen Colquhoun (2004) Introduction In a 2005 commencement speech to the graduating class of Kenyon, David Foster Wallace told a story of two fish swimming along when they pass an older fish swimming in the opposite direction.…
Leave a CommentThe One about Learning Styles
Published March 1, 2021 by Michael Rowe
We conclude therefore, that at present, there is no adequate evidence base to justify incorporating learning-styles assessments into general educational practice. Thus, limited education resources would better be devoted to adopting other educational practices that have a strong evidence base, of which there are an increasing number. Pashler et al. (2008) Introduction In this newsletter…
Leave a CommentWhy is it not 52% or 55% or 45%? What is the scientific rationale for using a score of 50%? Unfortunately, the answer to all these questions is the same: We don’t know. Scarpa Schoeman Introduction I started working as an academic in 2009 and from day 1 I was hooked on the idea that…
Leave a CommentThe One about Education Research
Published November 1, 2020 by Michael Rowe
In medical education, teaching is currently viewed as an intervention that causes learning. The task of medical education research is seen as establishing which educational interventions produce the desired learning outcomes. This ‘medical model’ of education does not do justice to the dynamics of education as an open, semiotic, recursive system rather than a closed,…
Leave a CommentUnposters and unconferences
Published October 1, 2020 by Michael Rowe
In far too much online learning, we over-architecture engagement, reducing it to a series of tasks with point values, rather than leaving enough breathing room for organic and intrinsically-motivated community to develop. Jesse Stommel Podcast Ellis, B., & Rowe, M. (n.d.). Reflections on WCPT and the Unposter (No. 13). Retrieved 30 September 2020, from https://inbeta.uwc.ac.za/2019/10/07/13-reflections-on-wcpt-and-the-unposter/…
Leave a CommentAcademic authorship, feedback literacy, and critical digital pedagogy
Published July 31, 2020 by Michael Rowe
A course today is an act of composition. Sean Michael Morris Podcast Who Wrote This Stuff, Anyway? The Complex Construct of Authorship in Meded. The KeyLIME podcast. Authorship. It is the basis of career advancement, global recognition, funding, wellness, professional identity, and even historical legacy. But are the guidelines for authorship as they currently stand…
Leave a CommentFuture of work, failure of minimal guidance, and hybrid pedagogy on online learning
Published June 1, 2020 by Michael Rowe
Curriculum is constructed and negotiated in real time by the contributions of those engaged in the learning process. Dave Cormier Podcast Harris, S. & Mullenweg, M. (2020). The new future of work. Making Sense podcast. In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Matt Mullenweg about the evolution of distributed work. They discuss…
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