Category: The idea of the university
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Clay Shirky on moocs
On Mick Fortune’s recommendation, I have just got round to read Clay Shirky’s article in the Guardian on moocs, which all the clever young people had probably read weeks ago. If you don’t know what a mooc is, it’s a massive open online course, and Shirky describes them well. Britain is entering the field with the…
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The last men who knew everything: Peter Burke on the polymath
I went to the University of Sussex for the Founding Historians lecture, this year given by Professor Peter Burke of Emmanuel, introduced by the head of the new school of History, Art History and Philosophy whose name, I'm sorry to say, I did not catch. Chief among Professor Burke's numerous and wide-ranging publications is…
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Dead professors
Today’s Times Higher, in a much-needed critique of the poor quality of college and university prospectuses, cites the case of Lampeter, who still quote in theirs a professor of theology who died eight years ago. There’s a ‘…”rich and vigorous programme devoted to the study of religion. You cannot do better in Britain in the…
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Ave atque vale
Yesterday was a beautifully sunny early spring day on the campus of the University of Sussex, where I worked for the last time. Daffodils, crocuses, iris and snowdrops all flower at once. I can never decide which season suits Spence’s campus best, in its natural hollow on the South Downs. Autumn, when I came, in…
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SPLASH: Student Personal Learning And Social Homepage
I’ve stumbled, thanks to a Technorati update I run for anything that links the sussex.ac.uk domain, this project: SPLASH: Student Personal Learning And Social Homepages. The project pages are here and the project blog here. It’s a little unclear, but it looks as if they’re trying to integrate blogger and other social networking with the…
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Blogging course at Sussex
My Technorati watchlist for anything linking to http://www.sussex.ac.uk just threw up a fascinating initiative, a course to be run by Libby Davy for Sussex academics.: http://authenticblogging.com/2007/09/17/blogging-course-for-sussex-staff/
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Heron
Heron Originally uploaded by TimBrighton The University of Sussex Arts block heron. It’s hard to tell whether it’s a girl or boy heron, but there seems something feminine about her attitude, so I have named her Hortense.
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Five potatoes
The university canteen, which serves food unchanged since I was at university thirty years ago is clearly in the grips of the portion-controllers.When they offer roast potatoes, a severe sign used to limit people to six potatoes (or parts of a potato, to be strict). Today the ration has been cut to five, though the…
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A very peculiar campus
The university campus is in vacation mode, an atmosphere I remember well from the summer of 1976 at the University of Kent, when, as Student’s Union Secretary, I stayed on campus through the summer, preparing for the new term: the conferences, the international students, frenetic activity at the same time as a relaxed, holiday ambiance.At…
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University Challenge final: Manchester versus Warwick
Why is no bookie offering prices on tonight’s University Challenge final? I would gladly stake considerable sums on Manchester to beat Warwick.