[p2p-research] Fwd: THIRD WORLD UNIVERSITIES FORUM

Tue Apr 28 12:29:40 CEST 2009

Thanks for your response Paola

I do find some of the people are open, but the system does not help
regarding interaction and collaboration (No time to explain that or put it
in context at present).

I wonder "where you fit" regarding HE, teaching learning etc. I am
interested in your observations and would understand them better with more
context.

Pam

2009/4/28 <paola.dimaio at gmail.com>

> 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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