I like being understood. Like most people, I prefer it when others get me. When I go back to Pietermaritzburg, am with my school and university friends, or when with family, it feels as if I am with people who get me. Know both me and my context. I think that we make sense of …
Category archives: Design
Discovering Family Charts.
It’s been a month of changes, which have come in many shades. Cara got to visit Katy in Berlin for the July Holidays. Just after her return, Daisy died (24 July 2025). In a few weeks’ time, Simon will be heading over to Dorset to teach at Milton Abbey and the rest of the family (except Amy) …
Place and Site Naming
Recently, (4-5 March 2025), I attended the second of SADiLaR’s Data Management Workshop at Unisa, in the Senate Hall. You might remember, I attended a similar workshop last year, where Benito Trollip opened my eyes up to research data management and Bianca Peterson (from Fathom Data) introduced to Open Refine. Here, with cameras and lights, …
Research Data Management
Spent the 13 -15th of November at Pretoria University at the Research Data Management workshop arranged by SADiLaR and run by the knowledgebase Benito Trollip and co-ordinated by the lovely Jessica Mabaso Benito and I first met in person at DHASA 2023 in Gqeberha from 27 Nov – 1 Dec 2023 (almost a year ago …
My sell by date
The shelf life of an education resource (and the developer team) can be quite limited. As technology advances and digital fashions change every season, the primary decision facing the owner of an educational website often is “When must I bin my site“. I think an open course should rather be asking, “Who is the best …
EdX and MOOC Training
Please note: This was written by me December 2014, but I am only publishing it now (November 2024) on my blog. I think that the reflections are useful for those who want to run a massive online open course (MOOC). In education, technology platforms have created expanded possibilities for teaching and learning. At the end …
TEAL
Note to readers: I have been going through my blog and finding old blog posts that I had not published. This post about TEAL classrooms was written after I had visited Boston at the end of 2014 (I need to find the exact date), when I was working at Wits. I have only published the …
Learner Persona
If you would like to create a personalized e-learning experience, then consider the traits, background, level of expertise of a particular online learner. Persona’s give us the opportunity to understand our students, their behaviours, address their concerns and support their learning. Some course sites are conversational and enjoyable. They seem to be designed with real …
Telling your Ai Stories
Introduction This post is a redraft from 30 July 2024. I’m going to describe the workshop that I facilitated. The title – “Ai Literacy: Telling your Ai Stories”. The workshop was part of the Serious Games Symposium held on the 17 September 2024. The starting point for the morning’s session was an etherpad, a “synchronized …
Three eportfolio paradigms
There is no standard definition for a portfolio. They act a repositories, personal spaces, a showcase, notebook, journal etc. When they work, they are wonderful. However, their fitness for purpose cannot be assumed. The usual explanation for their success (or failure) is in the initial framing. But portfolio practices and success also has something to …