Started writing this blog as a project in 2012 while in England, to promote British Culture through the means of news, keeping up to date and at the same time giving a glance at what I considered relevant in the day to day British affairs. It has been a journey that started back in July 2012 and continues until the present time. Unfortunately some texts I have no longer, but gathered as many as I was able to retrieve. This is a blog with daily entries I hope you shall find interesting.
Is it a process or we are all just going to walk that path someday somehow somewhere …
Definitely it seems food for thought considering children have such a vivid imagination from an early age.
What is the impact of children’s interaction with technology since the beginning of their lives? Is this really changing them for the better as they use educational games? Or is it that the time when kids would imagine that a box was a castle long gone and dusted?
What can we do then? Anything?
I’ve got the impression that these are many unanswered questions … on purpose, as it is more of a reflection.
Not long ago, I was immersed in a good read about fiction books, and here I am sharing with you the original paper entitled:
Review FICTION: Simulation of Social Worlds by K.Oatley
Earlier today I was talking to a medical researcher and we were discussing about communication research which became a really productive time as I share my experience as an educational researcher. We both having travelled a fair bit and exchanging knowledge and expertise.
Some questions were raised though … in terms of science and research in different fields, what is holding our countries?
A matter of genre?
A matter of social classes?
A matter of lack of motivation?
A matter of perceptions?
or is it maybe a matter of getting funds?
How to do it best?
Is was then that I remembered a piece of news that mentioned Professor Brian Cox and his take on science careers.
“Science careers are not boring ot only for boffins”, he stated on Engineering Open House Day back in July when organisations opened their doors to the public -children included of course- in order to allow them get a glimpse of what is behind doors.
Honestly I believe it is a brilliant idea, to get to know how engineering has such a strong connection with our daily lives, and that sometimes we take for granted, in that way awareness is being raised to value the true importance of becoming an engineer.
Importing and Exporting knowledge seems the way to go.
Moocs -Massive Open Online Courses- are ever so popular, as they should be, as they are “courses of study made available over the internet without charge to a very large number of people”.
A wide variety are already in the market, from Future Learn to EdX, from Coursera to Open2Study, and how to forget our first online courses via The Open University that opened our eyes to a complete new way of studying, to name just a few.
Highly pleased to read that a South African country has entered the race … GetSmarter. And they are not alone, but with MIT, the University of London, the University of Cape Town or the University of Witwaterstrand.
The title itself says it all, we certainly are living exciting times for #Education indeed, the use of technology and the access we have which opens a whole new world of endless possibilities, for just being online “making the most of our time” as we continue our life-long journey.
In fact, there is a dedicated site called BBC’s Global education series that is looking at education from an international perspective.
One story that I would very much like to share today has been written by editor Sean Coughlan and tackles a topic that is not very often talked about, education and social division, but from an online learning point of view in how youngsters use digital technology.
As seen by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development -OECD- in a report of the use of online technology by teenagers at homes in more than 40 countries of Europe, Asia and South America.
Results are utterly interesting and most definitely #FoodForThought.
So, this is the first time I am back after a needed break due to several reasons, personal and professional ones, starting new projects, a fair bit of travelling which included Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeuro, Amsterdam, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, having met some amazing people along the way … big thanks.
To be honest, feeling motivated, very grateful and ready to start a new chapter, like in a new book, the book of my life. Talking about books have read so many fascinating pieces and papers (researchers), I may write a review, or not.
Well, it is about time to turn the page, and yet, where to head now? Taking a day at a time seems the way to go.
To start with, very much would like to share with you, dear reader, something I read last month however I found it so interesting, revealing, controversial that I realised I should the following link>
It is about storytelling, books and plots based on a research from the Project Gutenberg ( a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to “encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks”. It was founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital library).
The document states that the most popular stories have been found to follow the ‘fall-rise-fall’ and ‘rise-fall’ arcs.
And these 06 arcs are:
WHAT ARE THE SIX ARCS?
Fall-rise-fall: ‘Oedipus Rex’, ‘The Wonder Book of Bible Stories’, ‘A Hero of Our Time’ and ‘The Serpent River’.
Rise-fall: ‘Stories from Hans Andersen’, ‘The Rome Express’, ‘How to Read Human Nature’ and ‘The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali’.
Fall-rise: ‘The Magic of Oz’, ‘Teddy Bears’, ‘The Autobiography of St. Ignatius’ and ‘Typhoon’.
Steady fall: ‘Romeo and Juliet’, ‘The House of the Vampire’, ‘Savrola’ and ‘The Dance’.
Steady rise: ‘Alice’s Adventures Underground’, ‘Dream’, ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ and ‘The Human Comedy’.
Rise-fall-rise: ‘Cinderella’, ‘A Christmas Carol’, ‘Sophist’ and ‘The Consolation of Philosophy’.
News from the UK ... from here & there 