I think I’ve been the victim of an academic drive by shooting over the last couple of weeks. It’s fine, I’ll survive and who knows? Perhaps I’ll even come out of it with the cachet of a gangsta rapper (although I personally doubt it). It began about a month ago, when Dan Worth, who works…
Blog
Some reflections on The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
This will be a series of blog posts that I am writing to assist me in the work of developing my book. Basically, I want to engage in a critical analysis, as it pertains to my interest in civics and citizenship education, of some of the key scholars in a range of different fields. I…
Change and Pandemics
There’s been a lot of discussion about how society, or education, or the economy, or all of the above might changes as a result of COVID-19. Of course, I think any such discussion is quite premature, and those heralding paradigm shifts often either have a vested interest in such a paradigm shift, or a perhaps…
Dr Heggart’s 2020 Easter Message
Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting 2020 to end up like this. It’s been a wild ride, and I get the feeling that it’s only going to continue in that vein for the rest of the year. Between bushfires, floods and Coronavirus, I’m not really sure how to begin any kind of reflection on the first…
Education and Complexity
One of the things that I’m really enjoying about my sojourn into higher education at the moment is the chance to really engage with – and do some deep thinking about – some of my previously cherished notions about education. I guess this is part of becoming an increasingly critical thinker – and consumer –…
Epistemology and Subject Matter Experts
My graduate certificate is slowly making its way through the various committee it needs to in order to be approved. There are, of course, always comments and suggestions about how the subjects and even the course as a whole might best be improved or altered. I think I’ve mentioned elsewhere that there are some concerns…
Some reflections on The Civic Organisation and the Digital Citizen
This will be a series of blog posts that I am writing to assist me in the work of developing my book. Basically, I want to engage in a critical analysis, as it pertains to my interest in civics and citizenship education, of some of the key scholars in a range of different fields. I…
Design: Designing for Learning
I feel that my ideas for the Graduate Certificate in Learning Design are really beginning to be formed at quite a granular level. This makes sense as I am now in the process of developing the full subject descriptions for each of the eight subjects. I’m prioritising four to begin with as they will be…
Pandemics and Active Citizenship
The COVID19 pandemic is a scary situation. Even in Australia, where thankfully its spread appears to have been limited thus far, it has already changed society in a temporary fashion. Whether this leads to more permanent changes is, at this point, unknown, but we can certainly hope that the recognition shown to so-called ‘unskilled workers’…
Pandemics and Online Learning
1. This is not business as normal. The first point that I think is really important to make is that, due to the effects of COVID19, we are not dealing with a normal or orderly transition to online or distance learning. Rather, we are dealing with what many Learning Designers are describing as emergency remote…