TEL-lingit like IT is

I've just finished reading Bharat Anand's The Content Trap , which describes itself as a book "about digital change, and how to navigate it" (Kindle Location 123). It's excellent. Naturally it has much to say about the digital experiences and prospects of traditional media agents - newspapers, television networks, audio and video distributors. What I connected with most, though, was the coverage in the last few chapters considering strategy for digital education . Anand is a key member of the HBx initiative, which represents a further step in Harvard's move online (previous ones being in the form of edX ). This new approach is one implemented by the Harvard Business school. I think HBx cracked it. Anand describes the strategy in these terms: ...we carved out an online learning strategy that departed from the established MOOC model in virtually every respect. We decided to pass on the increasingly standard “camera in the classroom” in favor of a more...

When it comes to suggesting change in higher education practice, one of the questions often raised is “where’s the evidence in favour of this?” Not having absolute, robust proof for a new or different approach can lead to nay-sayers claiming the high-ground, and make even the open-to-change somewhat wary. It’s not that evidence isn’t important or needed; asking for evidence is a fair request! However it's helpful to consider just what evidence in higher education actually is , and how far it can take us. Discussion around evidence and higher education should really begin with one word: caveat . Suggesting adjustment to any education practice is far from straightforward, particularly where an incumbent system is in place. David Didau has said that, regarding beliefs around teaching, “We are predisposed to fall for a comforting lie rather than wrestle with an inconvenient truth. And we tend to be comforted by what's familiar rather than what makes logical sense...” ( What i...