Sometimes it feels as though UK higher education likes creating reports on blended learning just as much as Warner Brother’s liked making Police Academy films. The latest in the franchise is the cross-party think tank Policy Connect's report “Digitally enhanced blended learning”, a title that, with a few more keywords stuffed in, would compel us all to shout “house!”.
Read MoreI wonder if you remember the higher education discourse of 2020 and 2021. One aspect of it that sticks in my memory is the almost incessant talk about modalities, whether that be online, blended, hybrid or hyflex. The focus also extended beyond just the range of modalities and included the future trajectory for the primary teaching modality in higher education.
Read MoreJanuary has been a challenging month for those seeking positive news about UK higher education. The news has been full of stories of financial crises, fears of what would happen if a higher education institution (HEI) goes under and jolly topics like fraud in franchised provision. It’s clear the UK higher education sector is in a bad way.
Many HEIs are compelled to undertake a variety of measures to tackle the severe challenges they now face. This involves exploring either new markets or those in which they have not previously been active in.
Read MoreIf you've been following UK higher education policy, you'll know that a change to the student finance system is set to take place in 2025 with the introduction of the Lifelong Loan Entitlement (LLE). This is how the government describes the change:
“From 2025, the lifelong loan entitlement will provide individuals with a loan entitlement to the equivalent of 4 years of post-18 education to use over their lifetime. It will be available for both modular and full-time study at higher technical and degree levels (levels 4 to 6), regardless of whether they are provided in colleges or universities.”
Read MoreAs we approach the end of the year, I want to share some reflections on the past year as it relates to online education within UK higher education.
AI has dominated this year's higher education headlines, and the impressive emergence of AI in mainstream products is this year's standout story. However, the focus on AI in higher education has felt overdone at times, to the extent that one would be forgiven for thinking that nothing else happened this year.
Read MoreAs we’re approaching two years since the UK entered the first national lockdown I wanted to reflect on this period in UK higher education. This was the point when the longstanding and predominant teaching and study model of universities was completely and utterly turned on its head and the consequences of this have been playing out ever since.
Read MoreWhat are we to conclude in terms of the state of digital education research in the UK? Can we trust the outputs of digital education research centres like those at the University of Edinburgh and others? How are we to navigate this space and make sense of it?
Well, I think as things stand we almost have to treat these centres and some of the research as we might do a political think tank or a newspaper or media outlet.
We can all point to particular publications whose editorial, view of the world and reporting is heavily influenced by their political stance and viewpoint - when we read their output we have to filter it through that lens.
Read MoreIf you want to change the teaching and study model then you have to change the organisational model that buttresses it. This is hard, and the pandemic hasn’t necessarily helped as it has led to a conceited sense of organisational agility. When thinking about where universities are at due to the pandemic and gauging this against where they might like to be, we would all do well to heed the words of Irene Peter:
Read More“Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has changed.”
