Questions by Colin MacLean

Two questions you might like to ponder…

The first is about tough decisions. Resources are limited but people always want better outcomes (to be healthier, better educated, safer, with better transport and housing etc). Where would you focus public resources (people and money) and what would you spend less on? Do you think government should be ‘bigger’ or ‘smaller’. There are no right answers – but there are very different and equally legitimate answers. Read more…

Philosophy of Education: An Anthology was suggested by Keith Smyth

As part of the Ragged Library, Keith Smyth, Senior Lecturer in Higher Education at Edinburgh Napier University suggested ‘Philosophy of Education: An Anthology. Curren, R. (Ed.) (2007) Oxford: Blackwell.’…

Within any discipline area the published anthology is a notoriously difficult prospect. Striking the balance between breadth of coverage and depth of exploration for those who are new to a particular field of knowledge, while at the same time also offering a reference text of value to those who are more experienced scholars or practitioners, would seem an uneasy undertaking.
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Life-long Learning Without Life-long Debt By Gary Saunders and Ali Ghanimi

From Edinburgh to Brighton; Britain’s free, alternative higher education network offers life-long learning without life-long debt By Gary Saunders and Ali Ghanimi.  In response to the introduction of increased tuition fees and the withdrawal of direct funding to the arts, humanities and social sciences in universities; a new generation of cooperative and non-fee-charging organisations, which offer free higher education, has emerged across Britain.
Rising up out of the ruins of what the ‘idea of the University’ has become, they are part of a growing global movement against the commodification of knowledge and hope to create a space for people to think about and experiment with alternative models of higher education. Read more…

The Concept of The Ragged University

Ragged University is a concept, an idea which no one individual can control – “everyone is a unique and distinct body of knowledge, accredited by their experience and with a membership of one.”

The Ragged website is a hub for developing an open network of people interested to share knowledge with each other, making life richer and more interesting whilst improving our lots.  The project is informal and knowledge sharing is what we do. With the technology which is easily accessible, the Ragged project aims to recapitulate the some of the principles of the ‘enlightenment’ and embrace renaissance thinking whilst having a bit of fun.  We are all capable of learning any subject and eclecticism is important in learning new ways of thinking.
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Hope In The Dark suggested by Gordon Asher

Hope in the Dark Rebecca Solnit

As part of the Ragged Library, Gordon Asher – University of West of Scotland, University of Glasgow, University of Strathclyde suggested ‘Hope in the Dark’ by Rebecca Solnit…

 
Hope in the Dark: The Untold History of People Power – The Never-Surrender Guide to How the World Gets Changed. Rebecca Solnit provides a candle of hope when it seems dark. When struggles for social justice leave us shattered and burnt out, cynical and despairing, discouraged and despondent – hers is a necessary voice of hope.

Charting The Rise of the Reluctant Innovator by Ken Banks

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who come alive”Howard Thurman (1899 – 1981)

When David Rowan, editor of Wired Magazine, invited me to write a short article for “Ideas Bank” last spring, it gave me a great opportunity to share something I’d been witnessing on an increasing scale since my days at Stanford University in 2007. Read more…

How to be an Explorer of the World suggested by Rick Hall

How to be an explorer of the world by Keri Smith

As part of the Ragged Library, Rick Hall – Honorary Fellowship at Nottingham University in the School of Education suggested ‘How to be an Explorer of the World’ by Keri Smith (Penguin 2008)…

 
This is a hand-drawn handbook and collection of creative thinking ideas and activities. Keri Smith has gone on to produce a collection of ‘non-books’ designed to avoid prescriptive thinking – but How to be an Explorer is the first and most open, and in some ways most surprising. A book that we issue as standard to our Ignite! Creative Sparks to provoke alternative ways of connecting ideas.