There has been a great deal of discussion on AI in recent weeks, with some raising (yet again) the idea that technology is going to transform the way we live and work. Part of the narrative about AI concerns its impact on education and there have been visions of using AI for providing personalised feedback… Continue reading Using ChatGPT for Language Learning
‘The Lives of Others’
[While other blogs deal more with technology and education, this post reviews a film] Apparently, taking an interest in East Germany or the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR) as was (1949-1990) is now ‘cool’ [1], at least in UK. We are getting a wave of books and films and some of them are offering a more balanced,… Continue reading ‘The Lives of Others’
What I learned playing chess online
In a book I have been writing about technology I used the example of online chess as way of signalling the power and sophistication of computing. If you follow the debates over the past 30 or 40 years we have gone from wondering if a computer could ever play a decent game of chess to a… Continue reading What I learned playing chess online
Rethinking Education Post Covid
I had the opportunity to reflect on using technology in teaching and learning post lock down at the International Conference on ‘ICT as a Tool for Digitalization of Education (ICTTDE) 2023’. Here is a summary of my talk for those at the conference and may be for those not. What we can learn about digital technology from… Continue reading Rethinking Education Post Covid
Reporting Atrocity (3): Lidice Shall Live
10 June (the date of this post) is the anniversary of the Lidice massacre in what is now the Czech republic. If the previous two posts were about disinformation then in this case the facts are not denied. On 27 May 1942, members of the Czechoslovak resistance wounded Reinhard Heydrich, a top Nazi official in an ambush.… Continue reading Reporting Atrocity (3): Lidice Shall Live
Reporting Atrocity (2)
Discussion of the reporting of the war in Ukraine takes me back to a much more serious case of misinformation / disinformation in UK some years back. This concerned a libel of UK television reporters Penny Marshall and Ian Williams in an article published way back in February 1997. The bare facts are that ‘Living… Continue reading Reporting Atrocity (2)
Reporting Atrocity 1
The other day BBC Radio carried a programme on academics who had tweeted or retweeted posts that cast doubt on atrocities carried out by Russian soldiers during the Ukraine war. (There is at the time of writing access to both the programme, 'File on Four: Ukraine: The disinformation war', and transcript of the broadcast at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0017thr)… Continue reading Reporting Atrocity 1
Culture Wars: when did they start?
I am not sure there is agreement on what a culture war is but for me it is not simply disagreement over a policy or idea, or even heated disagreement, but the kind of disagreement which does not allow for compromise or acceptance that the other side has a point. As such you are not just… Continue reading Culture Wars: when did they start?
Seeing through other eyes: City twinning
I have covered more global themes on this blog but now something local. Coventry, where I live, has been putting on events as part of its UK City of Culture status. There is very little extra money associated with becoming a city of culture but it is a good boost for community arts around the… Continue reading Seeing through other eyes: City twinning
Remembering school
In the London Review of Books the other day, the academic Laura Finlayson wrote a short memoir on her school days [1] . She was very far from happy and she explains: When I was thirteen, I left school and never went back. I don’t remember much about my last day. I don’t remember what… Continue reading Remembering school
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