A couple of weeks ago I was invited to the UN as part of a group of experts considering a proposal to develop a UN online university in STEM for Least Developed Countries (LDCs). I’m not sure how I got invited, and I didn’t attend physically, because, well, because it meant travelling to the US (an aside, I’m not sure the UN can continue to function with it’s HQ in New York, even if it is notionally sited on it’s own territory). This is a non-commercial venture, with the collaborati...| The Ed Techie
I left the OU a year ago, so have been reflecting on how that year has gone. Because I’ve been missing writing all those monthly, annual, random, reports, here is my Annual Report to be submitted to the funding council (ie me). With tongue a bit in cheek, I’ve adapted the format from an annual report that I used to prepare for a research funder for Post-OU Martin Inc.| The Ed Techie
There’s a bit of a mini-rant following but before we get to my ejection of the toys from the pram, I want to set out a general principle. If you want to know what people really value then follow what they do with the small scale stuff. All of those Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who want to disrupt school, or recommend dropping out of college? Watch where they send their kids to be educated. It’ll probably be some Montessori type institution with lots of face to face interaction, and then i...| The Ed Techie
I’ve been at something of a blogging impasse recently, stymied by my own self-censorship. I was going to say something about the new AI start-up Matter and Space and in particular what I perceived as a bit of white saviour complex in their promo, but a) Audrey digged deeper than I would and b) it’s not really my place to comment on it. After turning down a prestigious invite to the UN recently (because of travelling to the US), I also wanted to say something about the difficulty of hostin...| The Ed Techie
When I was planning to leave the OU, I began planning lots of mini-projects for myself. This was driven partly by an anxiety that without the structure of work I’d find myself watching Facebook reels for hours, or rearranging my sock drawer on a daily basis. As I don’t play golf m(and have no desire to do so, or own a motorbike, I needed to fill the time I reasoned. But I quickly found myself with a list of twenty or so activities I wanted to undertake, from becoming a coffee nerd to star...| The Ed Techie