"Instead of providing fertile ground for brilliant and lively conversation, discussion forums are allowed to go to seed. They become over-cultivated factory farms, in which nothing unexpected or original is permitted to flourish. Students post because they have to, not because they enjoy doing so. And teachers respond (if they respond at all) because they too have become complacent to the bizarre rules that govern the forum....
The most terrifying thing about all of this is that, more and more, learning management systems offer pre-set rubrics and auto-grading to assess these sterilized interactions. The discussion forum becomes a shackle, an assessed, graded component of a student’s performance. It defeats its own purpose."
I'm still not entirely sure what I think about lecture capture. I can see many uses but I also fear misuse and I am unconvinced by most of the reasons driving adoption. Yesterday a talk I gave was captured using Panopto, so if you're interested, you may want to check it out:
I'm in Bristol today where I shall be attempting the impossible task of giving two talks in one :-)
The first half is about academic use of social media and the second half is about recent findings from my current HEA-funded audio feedback project. Here are the slides:
Knox, J. (2013). Five critiques of the Open Educational Resources movement. Teaching in Higher Education, 1-12 Abstract: This paper will review existing literature on Open Educational Resources (OER). It is intended to examine and critique the theories which underpin the promotion of OER in higher education, not provide guidance on their implementation. (1) I will introduce the concepts of positive and negative liberty to suggest an under-theorisation of the term ‘open’. (2) OER literature will be shown to endorse a two-tiered system, in which the institution is both maintained and disaggregated. (3) I will highlight a diminishing of the role of pedagogy within the OER vision and the promotion of a learner-centred model for education. (4) This stance will be aligned with humanistic assumptions of unproblematic self- direction and autonomy. (5) I will discuss the extent to which the OER movement aligns itself with economically orientated models of the university. I offer these critiques as a framework for the OER movement to develop as a theoretically rigorous area of scholarship.
An under-theorisation of the notions of ‘openness’ and ‘freedom’
The implication appears to be that learning is something that is possible with, perhaps even enhanced by, the absence of organisation and structure.
The rejection and privileging of institutional structure
The promotion of OER appears to advocate two different educational models. I will suggest here that these cannot coexist without the creation of a two-tiered education system.
No place for pedagogy
In proposing that institutional involvement can be reduced to the roles of assessment and accreditation, prominent voices within the OER movement appear to reject the pedagogical functions of the university and the place of the teacher.
Humanistic assumptions of autonomy and self-direction
Advocates of self-directed OER learning frequently predict outcomes comparable to those achieved with institutional guidance. Alignment with the needs of capital
Second-class OER provision is aimed at learners who lack the means to attended established institutions.
Let's face it - we all need all the help we can get with writing. So I'm trying out Ommwriter (the free version).
It's early days. Right now, I do feel quite relaxed, and used sparingly, I can see how Ommwriter could be a useful tool. Will it stand the test of time, or be able to complete with my venerable writing Swiss Army knife, BBEdit?
The Child That Books Built is a book about books. 
I read this after a recommendation by Martyn Poliakoff at