this weekend I got really excited…. I mean seriously geeky excited.  I had an email from Ethan saying I was approved to have my own Ethan account.   It’s just a little app … You ask a question of a self-appointed expert and they answer you…. All within the Ethan framework… So there are ‘experts’ who will help you choose your outfit (just send them two photos…) and ‘experts’ who will interpret your dreams, or help you with your start-up…

I thought it might be really cool to have an Ethan where all of my students can ask me a question… I know some have my mobile number, they can all access me on email and I’m in the Twittersphere… But it just felt right to have something on their phones that was specifically about their studies – and especially the problems they encounter near to submission deadlines….

So here it is … Download the Ethan app from your brand-specific App Store and then ask me a question… Or follow this link and see where it takes you…

http://ethan.fm/BexBusinessFAQs

… Here’s hoping it helps #FingersCrossed

The WordPress guide of choice for this module……

I stumbled across this magazine on a late-night trip to Tesco… and I have to say its proving invaluable… its that really great cross between an ‘idiots’s guide to’ and a full-blown techie text.  It takes you step-by-step through setup, but then highlights some of the more advanced formatting tools that you have at your disposal.

A bit of a no-brainer really… a £10 guide to get the most of a free piece of software #What’sNotToLike

This year the eBusiness students at Harper Adams will have to blog about the topics we cover in class, so expect lots of blogs around the topics of MOOCs, the use of ePortfolios for assessment, gaining a Microsoft Office Qualification and other exciting tech-topics.

As usual some of the tech-natives in class are comfortable with the concepts and the process already, whilst some are reticent and treading slowly.  MOOCs are today’s focus – some of the students have chosen to study topics which will complement the learning from the module, whilst others have opted for content that will interest them  We have decided to limit MOOC length to between four and six weeks because we are essentially reflecting upon whether MOOCs are valuable and useful for HE students rather than analyzing content.

I love to sit in the corner of the room on the instructor PC listening as they guide each other through the technical hurdles and then settle down to listen and learn “Urban mining for a circular economy is my favourite so far… #random

Updated 3rd Feb 2015

The Sunday before a submission (and it doesn’t actually matter which day of the week the submission is happening on) always feels like the last chance saloon.  From this point onwards, if I’m not on top of my assignment I am up against it.  Sunday is always the day set aside to get it sorted.  Now for me that is sometimes as simple as prepping a set of slides for the following week, but this Sunday its all about the 4000 word assignment due at Aston on Friday… My divorce is granted on Monday, I move me and my kids out of the family home on Wednesday and this is due Friday……

I’ve just spent an  hour re-reading some of John Cowan’s work, to energise myself and create some focus, and next I created my image for the assignment … NB I always create/find the images to represent my work before I get down to writing… it is the strangest thing, I am compelled to illustrate the story before I write it…

Some student feedback this week has given me an insight into this.  They said (I paraphrase) that whilst they understood my lectures, at the time of delivery when they came to revise the fact that the slides are mostly images and not text makes revision difficult.  I suspect this is because the images don’t say the same thing to them as they do to me… I choose them and embedded the link is to my learning.. they didn’t choose the images so they don’t have the link.

This is quite a ‘big’ chunk of a problem for me to tackle… I am going to mull it over as I write up my assignment.

My colleague and online gaming partner Claire Robertson-Bennett shared this link with me. I was really drawn not only to Joshua Foer’s wonderful, life-changing experiences, but also the use of mems to learn words.

I’m going to make some time in the Christmas break (after I’ve moved house and the divorce is final!) to read some of Josh’s work and follow up with memrise. I am really keen to explore how imagery can help students learn concepts and think this may fit.

I will get back to you when I’ve investigated …

Started my Postgraduate course at Aston Uni this week.  Feeling very privileged…. because my employer is being so supportive of my plans and desires, because Aston is such a brilliant place to learn and because the students are back next week so the real work (and the thing I am most passionate about; teaching) can begin.

Picked up some nominations and an award for “Developing and sharing excellence” this week too… so as well as being invited to a posh lunch on 5th November, I will be celebrating by sharing much more!!!