Community Media - Interactive World

Several of my blogs on education, study skills, academic writing, exams, English language/literature and creativity have now migrated to my new blog which you will find here . 52 Examples of Creative Writing Activities. Creative Writing: 5 Old Problems and 14 New Principles.   Poetry at War with Itself: the Sound of Futility.   My Five a Day: Writing Poetry 1.   The Vocabulary of Fear, e.g. Onomatophobia.   Ugly Urchin Alliteration: a Poetry Appreciation Prime. Gender, Women's Writing and Feminism.   A Song for St. Cecilia's Day. 52 Favourite Children's Books. Light and Shadow: the Age of Kindle. 106 Ways to Avoid the word "SAID"   Sound must seem an echo to the Sense! An Ear for Poetry Your Practical Revision Timetable Character Definitions and Techniques The gentle art of reading and writing blogs Blogging before Computing? Witty Will-power and Bardic Gender Politics Rude Shakespeare All Night Essay Crisis ...

I suspect that none of this will happen, but we dare to dream. My Utopian Manifesto To retain teachers and attract them back into the profession: (1) reduce testing, marking and assessment regimes by 80%. Have we forgotten that education is about learning not testing? Constant externalised evaluation exists to serve the machinery of capitalism insofar as the latter thrives on selection, competition, and elites. Learners, like teachers, are being worn down by intrusive and unnecessary testing. (2) cut admin and planning duties by 75%. Let us trust spontaneity and allow teachers to respond to a more participatory, learner-led environment. Education has become a factory production line and a bureaucracy. (3) raise starting salary by 25%. Teachers are very poorly paid compared to the business and financial sector. They should be rewarded for their work, and for making a sustainable contribution to human life on the planet. (4) trust teachers and schools to design their o...

As a former Professor at a College (Nene) that became a New University following the award of research degree powers, I would like to congratulate the higher education institutions that will now become Universities. In my view, we need more creative disruption in higher education in Great Britain, and much of that innovation springs from the new blood that has been running through the system since the major expansion that took place in the 1960s. In fact, Universities do not have to be super-instiutions that operate on an international scale and bloated global reputation. In order to be vibrant academic cultures what is needed is a capacity to serve the needs of students and their teachers; to value research and scholarship; and to connnect with their local communities. I assume that all of that includes wealth creation in a sense that is larger, wider and richer than the familair slogans about business entrepreneurship INSTITUTIONS BECOMING UNIVERSITIES Arts Universit...

Some people like editing, others don’t. Find out early on in the project about people’s skills and preferences, and training requirements – don’t leave it all to the end. Edit the film as you go along, in a rough and ready fashion. If you filled half a tape accidentally recording irrelevant chair legs there’s really no point wasting that space on your hard drive. Respect people’s wish for their contribution to be deleted. Review the day’s shooting with participants, if possible Make notes on the best clips of the day. This is called logging. Invent the system that works best for you. Always label tapes or disks at the time of filming.  Keep a note of the best clips, and the ‘who, what, where, when’ bits of information. It should be possible to create a rough edit based on (a) a selection of the best material actually filmed; (b) the valued work of a trained editing person or small team; (c) referring back to the story and storyboard as guides. In communit...

You do not have writer's block as such. It's a myth! It’s far more likely that you are stuck in an unimaginative rut, and that you are experiencing a shortage of stimuli, or a lack of variety in the brain and body soup that should be feeding and nourishing your creative mind. If things are really bad you may be depressed. The good news is that creative strategies may help to decrease the depth and frequency of your depressive phases. Other Common Solutions to poor creativity that you might wish to consider are: Engage in a variety of activities that are uncharacteristic for you. This may involve taking up a new hobby. It almost certainly means moving away from the torture of staring into a flickering screen. (See my other blog on internet and social media addiction, here .) Start a new project. Sometimes it’s your determination to stick at a dead project that explains why you can’t move forward. But you can always return to older projects in the future,...

Factors involved in Creativity Making an Effort : mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. Courage : to take risks. Stamina : not to give up, to revise and redraft many times. Perfect Imperfection : knowing when to stop. Mentors : to follow, and to rebel against. Style : it’s not just what you say but how you say it. Surprise : walking the unexpected, deviation from norms, serendipity Flow : an intense state of mind when you deliver peak performance Skills and Tools : to build and develop projects Confidence : to aspire and to avoid destructive thoughts and negative outlook Team work : ability and willingness to collaborate effectively and to respect others Solo or Group? It is often forgotten that creativity is not just individual, it can exist within a group or a community. Typically a small group will develop more ideas than a person working alone. That's why everyone is getting into co-creation now, from wiki, to games,...

   I hope that your exams have not been as traumatic as mine were at school. In this blog, I have taken a long hard look at exam success and failure. Obviously my research is based on real experiences, rather than irrelevant and dodgy theories. In my experience of 30 years of teaching in English, and in the Arts, in Schools, and in the University sector,  these are the most common reasons for poor results: 1.    Anxiety based on lack of confidence, poor planning and fear of the unknown 2.    Lack of familiarity with past exam questions 3.    Poor memory skills 4.    Failure to produce model answers in exam conditions 5.    Revision that does not edit and select key points 6.    Revision that does not tailor knowledge to the exam 7.    Answers which are too short, or too long. 8.    Poor awareness of what the examiners are look...