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Learning – to what end?
“Dad? What does this spell? F-L-A-P-P-E-R?” My 5 year old is an engineer in the making. He has a book of how to make a whole array of paper planes. And so he starts his self-crafted apprenticeship. “Dad? Can you help me with step 10?” But this is the Expert Section. “Can you just do it?”…
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Entrepreneurship
It’s the things you don’t know you don’t know that’ll kill you every time…
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OER16 – Open…
What a distraction twitter is – especially if it means drawing something. I’ll see something on twitter, have a thought, and before I know it, I’m trying to create that thought. I came across Jim Groom tweeting the title for his keynote at OER16, and I couldn’t resist. I highly recommend tuning in…
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London Underground
The London Underground map is a design marvel. It makes your paths straight. Just looking at it lightens your load. On seeing it for the first time (as a fresh-faced 20 year-old), I thought someone had intentionally worked a bottle shape into its design (essentially the outline of the Circle line.) After attending an excellent after-hours…
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What’s inside an Open Badge
It’s easy to talk about open badges without really understanding what’s inside (it’s just a digital badge, right?) There’s actually a whole bunch of stuff inside. The badge class is like the template. All badges issued from a certain badge class will inherit those properties. The assertion relates to the recipient of the badge and…
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Pink…
The first time I went to see Mount Kilimanjaro, it wasn’t there. Get up first thing tomorrow morning, just as dawn breaks. So I did. And there it was, that awesome monster of a mountain. And it was pink. I grew up in a colour-coded world. In Belfast, even the kerbstones are painted. I’ve realised…
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The long burn
A cracker of an idea. A business idea. I should start a business with this idea right now. Figure it out in my spare time and then just set it up… For me, startup never happens like this. It starts with a hunch, a curiosity, almost an irritation. So much uncertainty. So many unknowns. It’s half-baked…
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To create is to notice
Let there be light! And there was light, and it created a really interesting shadow… The skill of noticing detail’s. Like any embedded skill, it takes a lot of practise. It’s like a teacher and a badly placed apostrophe (hee hee!) – it jumps out of the text and hits you on the head –…
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This is my own hand
Listen… aha! There’s one! But what does it look like? Why are they saying that? Just start drawing – let’s see what shapes my pen creates, and go with it… Some of my earliest visual thoughts come from keynotes at education-related conferences. I would try to zone in and capture just one thought the speaker…
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Fixed Mindsets
Fixed mindsets. In my experience, these are easier to spot in others when you rub up against them (the mindsets that is…) but a lot more difficult to spot in your own self.
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Tests – Big in Education…
A few years ago, I completed a MOOC (massive open online course) on the Science of Everyday Thinking. I really enjoyed it. I tried to put my finger on what it was that helped me stay the distance. I liked the bite-sized nature of it. The videos were punchy and conversational. The edX platform was…
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Understanding dyslexia: the reading circuit
The idea of the “reading circuit” really helped me understand dyslexia a bit better. Fluency takes effort. I’ve always been a slow reader. I didn’t really ever enjoy it. Turns out it’s not the actual material, as in the last decade, I’ve listened to a grillion (not quite as much as a bijillion but more…
Er… hello?
This is a blog of openly licensed thinkery. They are doodles, thoughts and ideas of Bryan Mathers – little curious tidbits which have emerged from juicy conversations. Also, this is a dumping ground for abandoned artwork. But one man’s dump is another’s treasure trove – amirite?
You can include artwork from this site under a Creative Commons CC-BY-ND licence.