This recent report from the OECD makes some important points especially on learning outcomes. Timely given the headlines in this week’s THES. A few paragraphs from the OECD report -Do Universities Teach Critical Thinking?: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/cc9fa6aa-en/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/cc9fa6aa-en “Higher education contributes immensely to economic growth, social progress, and overall quality of life through the skills students and graduates acquire.Continue reading “Do Universities Teach Critical Thinking?”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
HOW TO SOLVE COMPLEX PROBLEMS
Positive Deviance Analysis When solving complex problems, it sometimes pays to start with what is working rather than figure out what is not…By Tom Connor Find the “Bright Spot” that has already solved the problem When solving problems there are four frames from which you can approach the solution. Systems centric, problem centric, solutions centric and solverContinue reading “HOW TO SOLVE COMPLEX PROBLEMS“
Amping up Community Energy in the Derbyshire Dales
There is a growing appetite for the development of community energy programmes across the UK- Currently over 400 proactive programmes exist in the UK according to Community Energy England( CEE State of the Sector Report : https://communityenergyengland.org ) which have generated over £3 Million of community benefits. In Derbyshire there are currently 5 Rural Community Energy Funded(RCEF) programmes.Continue reading “Amping up Community Energy in the Derbyshire Dales”
Replacing Sustainable Development: Potential Frameworks for International Cooperation in an Era of Increasing Crises and Disasters.
Jem Bendell This preprint(full paper in the link below this abstract)written by Professor Jem Bendell outlines his thinking on the impact of the SDGs . It’s not comfortable reading but nor is what’s happening across the globe in terms of fires, floods and huge changes in weather events as well as the increasing evidence ofContinue reading “Replacing Sustainable Development: Potential Frameworks for International Cooperation in an Era of Increasing Crises and Disasters.“
REBOOT THE FUTURE JONATHON PORRITT ANNOUNCES, ‘HOW WILL YOU REBOOT THE FUTURE?’
CAMPAIGN TO MOBILISE SCHOOLS FOR COP-26 IN GLASGOW On Wednesday, 21st April, Reboot the Future, a UK-based NGO, launched ‘How Will You Reboot the Future?’, a multi-media project targeted at UK 14–19-year-old students to stimulate debate and action as we approach the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow laterContinue reading “REBOOT THE FUTURE JONATHON PORRITT ANNOUNCES, ‘HOW WILL YOU REBOOT THE FUTURE?’”
Regeneration – ending the climate crisis in one generation
I came across the work of environmentalist Paul Hawken during my time as Director of Learning at Forum for the Future. In his new book published on the 21 September-2021-at the start of the autumn equinox he espouses a new way of framing the solutions to our climate crisis. It’s title is an alternative twist thatContinue reading “Regeneration – ending the climate crisis in one generation”
CULTURE AND SUSTAINABILITY
As Raymond Williams now-famously said, ‘culture’ is one of the two or three most complicated words in English usage Embedding sustainability into the higher education curriculum has been far from straightforward. Consequently, implementation has been patchy – both in terms of disciplinary spread and in terms of the understandings of sustainability A culture for sustainabilityContinue reading “CULTURE AND SUSTAINABILITY”
Ireland is in the news again!
But it’s not only about the ongoing border dispute over Brexit this time, important though this is. It is about the future of universities, and the impact of marketisation. Headlined- Irish president: ‘market-driven’ universities face ‘ruination’. Michael Higgins warned last week that universities ‘have suffered attrition of range and depth, loss of interdisciplinary exchange, leadingContinue reading “Ireland is in the news again!“
Some Thoughts on Nature
I have been on a great WEA course for the past 6 weeks exploring the work of the Welsh novelist, critic, and academic Raymond Williams. He is also noted for his exploration of Key Words. Our WEA tutor framed the course thus: Using the work of cultural theorist, novelist and WEA tutor, Raymond Williams, togetherContinue reading “Some Thoughts on Nature”
PREFACE TO THE DAS GUPTA REVIEW ON THE ECONOMICS OF BIODIVERSITY
We are facing a global crisis. We are totally dependent upon the natural world. It supplies us with every oxygen-laden breath we take and every mouthful of food we eat. But we are currently damaging it so profoundly that many of its natural systems are now on the verge of breakdown. Every other animal livingContinue reading “PREFACE TO THE DAS GUPTA REVIEW ON THE ECONOMICS OF BIODIVERSITY”
