[p2p-research] Fwd: THIRD WORLD UNIVERSITIES FORUM

Tue Apr 28 10:40:41 CEST 2009

Pamela

Most of the things your write below are exactly what I wanted to say but did
not have time to articulate, in relation to the role of unis and lecturers
etc

quick comments
1.hopefully they have open boundaries, meaning that we do not have to 'go'
to interact with them

2. learning pertains to life, and the fact that you are not an academic does
not mean that you dont know someting about academica, academics tend to be
ver narrow minded cause they know extremely well their domain, and are
totally ignorant of many other things

3.i do believe in self directedness, but I would continue to emphasise the
need for becoming acquainted with the body of literature. I mean, i would
expect anone who is learning a topic to familiarise themselves with
everything that there is to know about it, including the standard sillabus.
however what I see is that today professors and all tell their students what
*they* consider the version of the truth, thus leaving the student under
tthe impression that everything elese dos not matter or is false. I hope in
the future students will be able to put together what their professor says,
and compare it with what other professors say, and then become self directed
in what they consider sould be pursued further

4, I see change happen from the top, but a lot is 'wasted' due to systemic
reasons, of which I would like to discuss in more detail when possible. i
see web based technologies already in place offering the greatest potential
for change from the bottom up, and people not using them. looks to me that
the processes and procedures need to be revised

p

On Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 11:48 PM, Pamela McLean <pam54321 at googlemail.com>wrote:

> This topic really interests me - but as a non-academic I'm not considering
> attending and I don't submit papers to journals because papers get peer
> reviewed and my writing is too journalistic  - I only describe what I have
> observed in practice and thought about, and I don't  relate it to adademic
> research. This is because, as a practitioner, I don't know enough (if
> anything) about relevant academic research.
>
> I wonder if anyone will be going? I wonder how this looks from the academic
> side of the fence. I would be interested in contributing to this is there
> was an appropriate way to do so.
>
> From my informal education side I think what is happening  in the informal
> sector has pointers for where higher education may go in future. I think
> that what post-graduate level independent, self-directed, learners are doing
> (online, outside of universities, to continue their learning) may have some
> relevance to universities.
>
> I have the impression there is a move towards self direction in some
> university courses. For example in some situations students are able to
> include self directed work (events they have attended, additional things
> they have read or followed up in some way) in their online portfolios of
> work (presumably this influences how their work is judged in some way). I
> think of two presentations I've heard at different events in London recently
> which were relevant to this trend. (Philip Butler for instance is doing
> interesting work related to this in his work using Moodle, also someone else
> - probably at CDE London - is doing work with music students which includes
> capturing many different aspects of the music itself and the student's work
> related to it.)
>
> I know that when I was studying with the OU there was great freedom to
> create your own personal, very individual, degree course. The courses that
> made up the degree could be selected from various faculties, as long as you
> were progressing appropriately in your level of study and you judged that
> you had the necessary knowledge and skills to tackle the course you had
> chosen. This opportunity to choose meant there could be a unique and useful
> relationship between formal OU courses (studied  in your "spare time") and
> what you had already learned (and were continuing to learn) in your parallel
> life in the "real world" of "the university of life" and full-time work.
>
> I think there is already much more flexibility, such as credit transfers,
> than when I was back in the sixth-form discovering what universities offered
> ( and failing to go to one). I hope there will be increasing flexibility in
> future university courses, with many more degrees offering the variety I
> enjoyed through my OU studies (perhaps this already happens).
>
> I also wonder about the role of universities in accrediting people at the
> end of their studies. I think people want accreditataion normally in order
> to enter the full-time employment market. I think (in some areas of work,
> especially those that relate to information) we are moving away from
> full-time permanent jobs towards a more independent, dynamic approach to
> earning a living. I think it will become  less usual to have a full-time
> permanent job and more usual to have short term collaborative work (with
> individual people often having a portfolio of projects they are working on,
> perhaps in a number of different collaborative teams).
>
> I think students (working towards information related work) will gradually
> develop and demonstrate competence (perhaps through voluntary work) by being
> involved in projects (perhaps "real" projects, perhaps "artificial" projects
> set up for learning purposes only). As they demonstrate competence  they
> will be offered more challenging opportunities to prove their worth (like
> the system in Appache - as I understand it - of rising though merit).
> Ultimately people, who  are good enough, will be invited to take part in
> projects that are being done for money. These opportunities to work for
> money may well be happening in parallel with university studies. Any student
> who has sufficiently developed and showcased his/her skills in order to
> attract a portfolio of paid projects may then have reduced motivation to
> continue to the end of a university course in order to get formal
> accreditation. This is particularly likely if  the student has dicsovered
> how to continue studying well outside of the formal system
>
> I wonder if the main role of the university may become one of mentoring the
> students (rather then lecturing/teaching them and testing them). If you are
> a student then the main difference between independent informal learning and
> learning at a univirsity may be the opportunity to have someone who is your
> personal mentor, guiding you through your individual learning journey,
> helping you to clarify what you might need to learn next and how you might
> go about it. Of course it is possible this personal mentoring role is how
> universities tend to work now anyhow - I don't know - I'm not in the system
> .
>
> I wonder if the need for additional provision in the "Third World" may mean
> that new things tend to happen there faster - but I don't know about that.
> However various things I have been reading seem to suggest change is on the
> way everywhere - but I don't know abou tthat either e.g
> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/opinion/27taylor.html?pagewanted=1
>
> I wonder what those of you in the academic system see happening.
>
> Pam
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Wittel, Andreas <andreas.wittel at ntu.ac.uk>
> Date: 2009/4/27
> Subject: [p2p-research] THIRD WORLD UNIVERSITIES FORUM
> To:
> Cc: Peer-To-Peer Research List <p2presearch at listcultures.org>
>
>
> This could be an opportunity to develop a vision for the future of
> universities, something which could be considered to be a position
> associated with the p2p foundation. Is there some interest for
> collaboration?
>
> Andreas
>
> THIRD WORLD UNIVERSITIES FORUM
> Davos, Switzerland
> 9-11 January 2010
> http://UniversitiesForum.com <
> https://outlook.ntu.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://UniversitiesForum.com
> >
>
> Inspired partly by the success of World Economic Forum in hosting global
> conversations about emerging issues of economic policy, the World
> Universities Forum (WUF) was created in 2008 in the belief that academe must
> better engage today's most crucial questions, and that higher education
> itself must be included as part of the wider discussion of global change.
>  The Forum encourages the participation of university executives,
> administrators, scholars and research students, as well as journalists,
> policy makers, business and political leaders, and others who understand
> that the importance of the university extends well beyond campus. While WUF
> encourages conversations about all aspects of higher education policy and
> practice, the keynotes for the third WUF have been invited to consider
> issues of the current global economic crisis and its implications for
> universities.
>
> Keynote speakers include:
> * Professor Eva Egron-Polak (International Association of Universities,
> France)
> * Professor Jonathan Jansen (Rector, University of the Free State, South
> Africa)
> * Professor Simon Marginson (University of Melbourne, Australia)
> * Professor Nigel Thrift (Vice Chancellor, University of Warwick, UK)
> * Professor Pandhyala B.G. Tilak (National University of Educational
> Planning & Administration, India)
>
> In addition, the Forum will also include numerous paper, workshop and
> colloquium presentations. We would particularly like to invite you to
> respond to the Forum Call-for-Papers. Presenters may choose to submit
> written papers for publication in the refereed Journal of the World
> Universities Forum. If you are unable to attend the Forum in person, virtual
> registrations are also available which allow you to submit a paper for
> review and possible publication in the Journal, and provide access to the
> online edition of the Journal.
>
> Whether you are a virtual or in-person presenter at this Conference, we
> also encourage you to present on the Conference YouTube Channel. Please
> select the Online Sessions link on the Conference website for further
> details.
>
> The deadline for the next round in the call for papers (a title and short
> abstract) is 14 May 2009.  Future deadlines will be announced on the Forum
> website after this date.  Proposals are reviewed within two weeks of
> submission. Full details of the Forum, including an online proposal
> submission form, may be found at the Forum website -
> http://UniversitiesForum.com <
> https://outlook.ntu.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://UniversitiesForum.com>
> .
>
> We look forward to receiving your proposal and hope you will be able to
> join us in Davos in January 2010.
>
> Yours Sincerely,
>
> Professor Fazal Rizvi
> Department of Educational Policy Studies University of Illinois Urbana,
> Illinois, USA
> For the International Advisory Board of the World Universities Forum and
> the Journal of the World Universities Forum
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Paola Di Maio,
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