- A couple of cool TED talks which are worth watching:
- The history of our world in 18 minutes – by David Christian (the brains behind The Big History Project)
- The brilliant Sir Ken Robinson gave a TED Education talk on the need for rethinking the way we do education. It’s a not a technocratic process, it’s social and organic. Profound.
- Paddy Ashdown on “The global shift of power” – a big, hand-wavy, shut-up and listen kind of talk on the future of the world as we know it.
- Great thought-provoking TED talk on “willfull blindness” and whistle-blowers (via Dan Logan)
- Whites must make sacrifices to uplift SAs poor – Thought-provoking and sobering interview with Stellenbosch Emeritus Professor Sampie Terreblanche on the state of South Africa’s unequal society, the dodgy dealings between the ANC and white-business around the time of the transition and what needs to be done to fix the situation. The status quo is not OK.
- ‘Damning CHE report into university performance‘ – M&G article
- Some cool new technology/education links:
- BioDigital Human – an interactive free web app that visualizes the human body in all its complexity. The future of biology education and medical training 🙂
- Google Make – Think of this as Google meets Mythbusters meets STEM education. Videos about how to make moulds, build circuits and do all the cool things that kids (and adults) love to do.
- NewsCorp’s Amplify Tablet – 3 minute video showing what the future of digitized education might look like. How exciting 🙂
- “Understanding comes with the mixture of knowledge and experience…start to handle the world as you handle your country and your community” – Great 5 minute video with Hans Rosling.
- Pictures tell stories that words can only hint at…inequality as seen through children’s bedrooms: Where children sleep
- Super useful matrix of SABER reports by the World Bank showing in one table all the education reports for all the countries. Brief reports on EMIS, Accountability, Teachers etc
- Report on Teacher Quality from the 2013 International Summit on the Teaching Profession
- Quote of the week: “The increasing tendency towards seeing people in terms of one dominant ‘identity’ (‘this is your duty as an American’, ‘you must commit these acts as a Muslim’, or ‘as a Chinese you should give priority to this national engagement’) is not only an imposition of an external and arbitrary priority, but also the denial of an important liberty of a person who can decide on their respective loyalties to different groups (to all of which he or she belongs).” ― Amartya Sen, The Idea Of Justice
Nic Spaull 