Kicking off

This blog is an attempt to bring together two areas of my life where I’ve a need to chew over big ideas. Here’s why.
For many years I submerged my awareness of world issues. I aimed to do my bit on a personal lifestyle level, but was involved in major tasks close to hand. I was trying to find my place in the world, and the world seemed to be ticking over okay. After 10 years of distractions, I turned my attention back to the ball, and discovered that it wasn’t really the abundant bluegreen jewel I thought it to be, and was somehow turning into a sterile greybrown deathtrap. As I tried not to get sucked into new commitments, I found myself saying “people are the only things that make a difference. If people stand up for what’s right, then the world changes for the better”. Then I listened to what I was saying (!) That comment waymarked a change between the person that I was and the person that I’m becoming. I’ve had a year of figuring out what’s really going on in the world (see for example this entry (http://extra.shu.ac.uk/wordpress/?p=320) in a previous blog), and want to use this space to consider some of how the world works (or doesn’t) from a sustainability perspective.

Secondly, in my education-focused role, I need to consider how we currently go about teaching and learning, and how and why it might and should change. This includes a range of factors – political, economic, sociological, technological and pedagogic. There’s an obvious opportunity to explore the feedback loops between the drivers for education, and those in the wider world. And if we as educators can't think critically about our role in the world then what use is all that thinking anyway?

Hokay, that sets the scene, and that’ll do for today.