What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Public Opinion and Same-Sex Marriage – John Curtice

    A while ago we had a real treat at St Mary’s. Prof John Curtice gave a talk about public opinion and same-sex marriage. It was one of those forums which was very special for those who were there. There simply isn’t anyone who knows how to read and interpret public opinion as John can and it was great to see him in action.

    It was also one of the first forum meetings which I videoed. Unfortunately, the talk that John gave was fantastic but the audio on the video was terrible. Lots of people tried to listen but some were quite disappointed. For that reason, I was delighted that John agreed to give a similar, though slightly updated, talk to the diocesan synod that we held here in the Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway on 1 March 2014. Once again, John was gracious enough to allow it to be videoed and this time the audio is tip-top, thanks to Kennedy Fraser’s work on the sound-desk.

    This can be posted freely. I suspect that it may help far more people in the church get their heads around where public opinion lies on this question than were at the synod the other week. Do share and use on other blogs and diocesan websites. And take a look – it is well worth putting aside half an hour to watch.

    Now the question for the day, is – in what ways does public opinion matter when the churches make their minds up about same-sex marriage?

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3 responses to “Listen up! Moocs are the future”

  1. Jaye Richards-Hill Avatar
    Jaye Richards-Hill

    Great stuff – peer assisted learning and peer assesvent to boot. The feedback you get from peers is incredibly motivational as well as informative and powerful in stimulating further learning. Have a look at Sugata Mitra’s work on Self Organised Learning Environments for further evidence of the power of a heutagogical approach to learning. I call it Knowledge Grazing! And it’s lifelong, isn’t it…

    The certificates and the open ‘badges’ for learning like this are great on a cv or profile. They demonstrate a self-motivated desire to learn for lesrning’s sake. We need to use thus approach more in schools to re-engage kids with learning and turn ‘schooling’ into real meaningful education.

    Well done you…and the thousands like you 🙂

    Reply
  2. Kelvin Avatar
    Kelvin

    One of the things that interested me was how much of a learning experience it was assessing the work of others. I’d thought it would be a bind but in fact it was incredibly interesting seeing what other people had made of it.

    There was an option to assess extra students than the three one needed for credit. An interesting concept – that marking is fun, interesting, educational and not for teacher.

    Reply
  3. PamB Avatar
    PamB

    As a graduate of the Open University I have to say that a lot of this sounds very familiar in essence, if on a much greater scale. However, I would nitpick (it’s my job) that moocs are PART of the future. Not such a snappy title, though.

    Reply

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