So, I have a problem. What was a wonderful open source product was bought by a big publisher. I'm an open kind of guy so this has always been a bit disquieting. It recently got a bit worse....more...
The following is an edited version of something used in a course I teach that's currently hidden away in the LMS. I'm adding it here because I'm using it with another group of students....more...
The following is a summary and some thoughts on Harland (2014). The abstract for the paper is...more...
My name is David. I'm an academic. It's been 8 years since my last journal paper (but what a paper it was, thanks Shirley)....more...
The use of blogs in one of the courses I teach is now into it's fourth semester. Well past time to do explore how it's all going, evaluate some of the design decisions, and make some decisions about future developments. In preparation for that it's time to look at some of the extant literature to look at findings and methods. The following is the first such summary and is focused on @spalm et al's...more...
After spending a few days visiting friends and family in Central Queensland - not to mention enjoying the beach - a long 7+ hour drive home provided an opportunity for some thinking. I've long had significant qualms about the notion of leadership, especially as it is increasingly being understood and defined by the current corporatisation of universities and schools. The rhetoric is increasingly strong amongst schools with the current fashion for assuming that Principals can be the saviour of schools that have broken free from the evils of bureaucracy. I even work within an institution where a leadership research group is quite active amongst the education faculty....more...
The following is an initial attempt to restart some earlier explorations of research methods that may prove useful in examining the "Story of BIM" for potential useful insights. The starting place is ethnography and auto ethnography and an exploration of some writings....more...
According to the Wordpress dashboard for this blog this is the 1000th published post (I have 100 odd drafts that I never finished or thought better of posting). Given I'm about to mark first year in a new job in a new institution in a new region, undergo my annual performance review and commence a new academic year, it would seem time to reflect and think about the future....more...
For a long time I've had a vague interest in narrative research, i.e. it's one of those things I always meant to learn more about. Here are some initial explorations....more...
Following up on a broader research idea the following paragraph summarises a nascent, more specific idea a colleague and I are stumbling toward. It fits within the broader agenda....more...
If you hadn't realised by now, this blog is often used as a notebook to record ideas in development. This is by no means complete, but the record is there....more...
So after three weeks at the new institution and busy thinking about how I'm going to do something interesting with my course design I find out that EOIs for a fairly large and beneficial set of research grants is due in a week or so. Bugger. No way I'm going to get my head around the new field, teaching and meet that deadline....more...
One of these days I plan/hope to have the time to catch up on some reading that I have let slide over the last couple of years. To this end this post marks a new practice. I'm using a "to read" category on this blog to save some detail of things I need to come back to, read more carefully and follow up on some of the references....more...