More evidence that grading criteria are getting fuzzier:

( Read more... )

The poetry chapter of AA100 is rolling round again so I'm rereading the Faber Book of Beasts.  Every year I marvel at

My Cat Jeoffry by Christopher Smart

Written in 17something when Smart was confined for insanity.  Best. Cat. Poem. Ever.

My favourite lines today:

For, tho he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer ( Read more... )

Off to Norwich today so it really must be autumn.  4 hours travel for 2 hours of teaching, but I enjoy working with my colleague there, travel is paid for, I get a lot done on the train, and the whole thing means I have zero preparation to do for running the same tutorial on my own with a Cambridge group the next evening.  So it's not as ( Read more... )

From an unreal uni colleague: a post about computing that I want to be able to find again.

All I can say in defence of my own computer 'skills' is that at least I know I hardly have any.

Someone at Milton Keynes has emailed students to remind them that the end of module assignment (examined coursework) must be submitted at noon on the deadline date or it won't be marked. Not by noon, at noon.  I know this because several of them are now panicking.

Would serve MK right if they all submit at 11.59 and crash the server.

It's marking time for the first assignment again ( Read more... )

Petition against Open University cuts

Please go sign.

If you've already signed the old one, this is a new one.  The idea is to get a debate in parliament, which needs 100,000 signatures... 

If, like me, you have no confidence in the government's policy on further, higher and adult education, there's a petition you can sign ( Read more... )

1. From wikipedia, while looking for info about Spider's GCSE exam board, OCR, created by merging several qualification providers, including Midland Examining Group (MEG):

Subsequent physics syllabi released by the OCR included the now infamous (fictional) units the "Ocrawatt" and "Ocrajoule" due to overzealous find-and-replace on MEG's part (in ( Read more... )

I find this phrase from a student essay is pure poetry:

the seemingly number of endless roundabouts.

Doesn't that perfectly convey the feeling of befuddled alienation you get when driving round Milton Keynes?

Lots of them are writing about Milton Keynes because it's one of the examples of places that might be considered sacred. Yes, really. It has ( Read more... )