I just want my data to mean something

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.

  • Higher Education

    Higher Education

    Ok. If you’re an academic, and Higher Education and formal learning is the pinnacle of all knowledge and wonderment, then this may be mildly insulting (er… apologies for that…). However, the thing I’m most grateful to my University for is that it allowed me to reinvent myself (in a few different ways). Growing up in a small town…

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  • Fooling around at the airport

    Fooling around at the airport

    There’s always inspiration to be found – even at Heathrow’s terminal 5, which (since the day after halloween…) is featuring a festive feel. I’m not sure if this actually makes any sense about class – but I certainly had fun creating it using the new photo feature on the Paper by 53 app I regularly…

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  • Digital DNA – women in tech

    Digital DNA – women in tech

    The recent Digital Leaders conference was entitled “Building Digital DNA”. Jacqueline de Rojas (VP at Citrix) spoke about women in tech (or the lack thereof). I was thoroughly impressed with some female students I met a few weeks ago whilst doing some visual thinkery for UCL Academy. They had no problem seeing themselves as future engineers. Sure enough, looking…

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  • Choosing a badging system

    Choosing a badging system

    With any solution there are often three different approaches: bespoke, modular and off-the-shelf. Choosing the most appropriate path is more difficult than it seems. This is certainly true of selecting a Badging system. There’s also value in learning through trying multiple approaches at the same time, and assuming that as a result unseen requirements and…

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  • Badge Platform Questions

    Badge Platform Questions

    A while ago, Doug Belshaw and I were working on the #OB101 course, in order to help others think about OpenBadges and how to dip their toes in the water. Some of this thinking relates to a discussion at the Badge Alliance community call about some OpenBadge platforms not really being open. So what should you…

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  • Maths & English

    Maths & English

    This thought came out of the table discussion amongst Primary and Secondary teachers. Other subjects deemed less important than Maths & English are being squeezed (and in some cases squeezed out) of the learning landscape.

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  • Feedback…

    Feedback…

    This thought was mentioned a couple of times. The context of course, was how teachers could provide quick and positive feedback on students work. A subtext to this thought was also provided by a student at the Maker’s Academy – where they review the curriculum every month, depending on both student and employer feedback –…

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  • Education is what builds community

    Education is what builds community

    This was a thought from James Townsend, who works for the Church of England, about just how important education is to the whole community.

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  • Death of the Saturday Job

    Death of the Saturday Job

    What did you learn from your Saturday Job? I used to pick potatoes for my uncle – which taught me some valuable things about work (and how to throw a potato…)

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  • School and Work

    School and Work

    Following some table discussions, this thought emerged about the gap between school and work – and how learning and earning should ideally overlap.

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  • Work Experience

    Work Experience

    This was a comment by Jamie Dunn which resonated with me. Surely there are better ways to give young people an experience of work?

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  • Social Ties

    Social Ties

    I really enjoyed listening to George the Poet talk about social ties within the community he grew up – both good and not so good…

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