Jeremy Knox | University of Edinburgh (original) (raw)

Books by Jeremy Knox

This book is about the rise to prominence of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): its high-prof... more This book is about the rise to prominence of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): its high-profile marketing and emerging approaches to research; the notions of participation and community bound up with its beginnings; its spatial ordering of university provision and online education; and the unprecedented number and spread of its students. However, this book is also about the human condition: a human condition that is profoundly and intimately entwined with the ideas and practices of education, of which the MOOC is merely one, albeit contemporary, manifestation. In this second decade of the 21st century, the MOOC may indeed draw upon the latest and most cutting-edge of digital technologies, and enfold itself in the broader transformations brought about through global connection and communication, yet a deep-rooted humanism not only endures, but powerfully shapes, and is shaped by, the kind of education on offer.

Papers by Jeremy Knox

Recording of webinar in Blackboard Collaborat

Postdigital Science and Education

Communiars. Revista de Imagen, Artes y Educación Crítica y Social

Artificial Intelligence and Inclusive Education

This chapter provides an introduction to the book—Artificial Intelligence and Inclusive Education... more This chapter provides an introduction to the book—Artificial Intelligence and Inclusive Education: speculative futures and emerging practices. It examines the potential intersections, correspondences, divergences, and contestations between the discourses that typically accompany, on the one hand, calls for artificial intelligence technology to disrupt and enhance educational practice and, on the other, appeals for greater inclusion in teaching and learning. Both these areas of discourse are shown to envision a future of ‘education for all’: artificial intelligence in education (AIEd) tends to promote the idea of an automated, and personalised, one-to-one tutor for every learner, while inclusive education often appears concerned with methods of involving marginalised and excluded individuals and organising the communal dimensions of education. However, these approaches are also shown to imply important distinctions: between the attempts at collective educational work through inclusive pedagogies and the drive for personalised learning through AIEd. This chapter presents a critical view of the quest for personalisation found in AIEd, suggesting a problematic grounding in the myth of the one-to-one tutor and questionable associations with simplistic views of ‘learner-centred’ education. In contrast, inclusive pedagogy is suggested to be more concerned with developing a ‘common ground’ for educational activity, rather than developing a one-on-one relationship between the teacher and the student. Inclusive education is therefore portrayed as political, involving the promotion of active, collective, and democratic forms of citizen participation. The chapter concludes with an outline of the subsequent contributions to the book.

This Editorial describes the main challenges at the intersections between algorithmic cultures an... more This Editorial describes the main challenges at the intersections between algorithmic cultures and human learning. It briefly analyses papers in this Special Issue of E-learning and Digital Media ‘Learning in the age of algorithmic cultures’ and shows that researchers in the field are still struggling with grand ideas and questions. It suggests that studies of algorithms and learning are in their infancy and emphasizes that they carry potentials to confirm our existing ideas and surprise us with fresh insights.

This paper asks whether assemblage theory provides a useful way of thinking through the challenge... more This paper asks whether assemblage theory provides a useful way of thinking through the challenges of knowledge production for social justice in the context of the relationship between social movement activism and the academy. We begin by describing the problems associated with spatial metaphors that reinforce reified generalities whereby ‘horizontal’ social movements are opposed to hierarchical higher education (HE) institutions. We then give a brief account of DeLanda’s (2006) interpretation of the assemblage, focusing on the concepts of immanence and difference, actual and virtual and deand re-territorialisation. Having described the problem and sketched out the theoretical context, we move on to consider the analytical value of assemblage theory, focusing on the merits of its materialist anti-essentialism. This leads on to a critical discussion of the ways in which speed and mobility are inscribed with normative value in some political readings of assemblage theory. We argue aga...

This paper will explore two examples from the design, structure and implementation of the ‘E-lear... more This paper will explore two examples from the design, structure and implementation of the ‘E-learning and Digital Cultures’ Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) from the University of Edinburgh in partnership with Coursera. This five week long course (known as the EDCMOOC) was delivered twice in 2013, and is considered an atypical MOOC in its utilisation of both the Coursera platform and a range of social media and open access materials. The combination of distributed and aggregated structure will be highlighted, examining the arrangement of course material on the Coursera platform and student responses in social media. This paper will suggest that a dominant instrumentalist view of technology limits considerations of these systems to merely enabling or inhibiting educational aims. The subsequent discussion will suggest that sociomaterial theory offers a valuable framework for considering how educational spaces are produced through relational practices between humans and non-humans...

eLearn

The fields of eLearning and distance education are long established, as are cultures of openness ... more The fields of eLearning and distance education are long established, as are cultures of openness in tutoring and institutional instruction. So what's new about MOOCs? This article considers what huge enrollment numbers and an increasingly global audience mean for education in the digital age.

Postdigital Science and Education

Educational Philosophy and Theory

Recording of webinar in Blackboard Collaborat

Postdigital Science and Education

Communiars. Revista de Imagen, Artes y Educación Crítica y Social

Artificial Intelligence and Inclusive Education

eLearn

Postdigital Science and Education

Educational Philosophy and Theory

Television & New Media

The burgeoning field of learning analytics (LA) is gaining significant traction in education, bol... more The burgeoning field of learning analytics (LA) is gaining significant traction in education, bolstered by the increasing amounts of student data generated through educational software. However, critical discussions of LA are in short supply. Drawing on work in the cultural studies of data and critical algorithm studies, this paper begins by examining three central issues: the distancing and “black boxing” of LA disciplinary practices, the mythologizing of objective data, and the concern for future prediction. The second section describes the design and implementation of the “Learning Analytics Report Card” (LARC), a pilot project that sought to develop experimental approaches to LA. As such, rather than seeking to simply produce analytics, the LARC attempted to foster critical awareness of computational data analysis among teachers and learners.

eLearn Magazine, published by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)., 2013

Higher Education Development Association, University of Oslo, 2013

Versão em português de "How goes the revolution? Three themes in the shifting MOOC landscape", po... more Versão em português de "How goes the revolution? Three themes in the shifting MOOC landscape", por Jeremy Knox, in "Educação e Tecnologia: abordagens críticas". Livro completo disponível em https://ticpe.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/ebook-ticpe-2017.pdf

Neste artigo, Jeremy Knox revê a literatura acerca de Recursos Educacionais Abertos, introduzindo... more Neste artigo, Jeremy Knox revê a literatura acerca de Recursos Educacionais Abertos, introduzindo cinco críticas ao movimento: (1) há uma subteorização de “abertura”; adotando os conceitos de liberdade positiva e liberdade negativa, o autor sugere uma desatenção à teorização consistente acerca da prática da aprendizagem auto-direcionada; (2) o movimento engloba tanto a defesa quanto a rejeição, simultaneamente, da autoridade institucional; Knox mostra como a literatura endossa as reputações de instituições estabelecidas enquanto reivindica sua liberação com relação às mesmas; (3) o papel da pedagogia é limitado; o autor discute como o movimento se alinha à subteorização do modelo de educação centrado no aluno; (4) REA se baseia em pressupostos humanistas acerca da auto-direção e autonomia; e (5) há um alinhamento com as demandas do capital; Knox propõe uma interpretação foucaultiana da subjetividade, que oferece perspectivas alternativas às noções de poder e emancipação no discurso do movimento. O autor sugere que essas críticas podem compor um quadro para o desenvolvimento de uma área acadêmica de teorização rigorosa.

The artcasting project will develop, test and assess a new digital and mobile form of evaluation ... more The artcasting project will develop, test and assess a new digital and mobile form of evaluation of arts-based engagement, in the context of ARTIST ROOMS On Tour exhibition. The goals of the project are to understand how mobilities approaches can enrich arts evaluation; to design, develop and pilot the artcasting platform; to generate a new approach to evaluation that can be built upon in the future; and to influence ARTIST ROOMS evaluation practice. This paper introduces artcasting, describes the conceptual foundations of the project, and outlines its contribution to the development of new conversations and innovative approaches to evaluating cultural heritage engagement.

As one of the instructors on ‘E-learning and Digital Cultures’, a five week course from the Unive... more As one of the instructors on ‘E-learning and Digital Cultures’, a five week course from the University of Edinburgh which ran for the first time in January this year, I propose to share some insights from the successful completion of our MOOC. ‘E-learning and Digital Cultures’ experimented with innovative teaching methods and experimental course design, including the use of open access materials and the incorporation of social media beyond the Coursera platform.

This presentation will discuss:
1. Using social media to nurture a sense of community before the course begins.
Encouraging students to form communities and study groups using Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus.
2. Curating open access materials.
Structuring a course around a set of copyright-free videos and articles, rather than pre-recorded lectures.
3. Involving students in the creation of course content.
Supporting students to independently write reflective blog posts and engage in discussion around course themes. This will also outline the ‘EDCMOOC News’, a blog aggregation system that automatically collects student blog posts together in one space.
4. Fostering creative online practices for peer assessment.
Inspiring students to create a ‘digital artefact’, comprised of images, video text or sound, and encouraging critical thinking skills through peer assessment.

This presentation will critique the implementation of Open Educational Resources in higher educat... more This presentation will critique the implementation of Open Educational Resources in higher education. Open access has emerged as a prominent debate in the field of distance and digitally-mediated learning, in which technology is advanced as both the vehicle for widening participation and the solution to the perceived elitism of the traditional institution. OER have been in the forefront of this dialogue with claims of social transformation and global deliverance from poverty; however they remain significantly under-theorised. While OER literature often emphasises the removal of barriers to information, it fails to adequately address the consequences of open access in terms of education itself, tending to make assumptions about the capacity for individuals to act purely in an autonomous fashion as ‘self-directed’ learners. This paper will therefore problematise the ways in which the OER movement imply particular notions of freedom and independence in the advancement of their educational agenda.

The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) has received overwhelming media attention in the last year.... more The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) has received overwhelming media attention in the last year. MOOCs, such as those offered by Coursera, Udactiy and edX, ostensibly offer the prestigious education of the world’s leading universities for free. However, the question nobody appears to be asking concerns the learning ‘space’ in open access education. MOOC providers seem to promote their platforms as transparent windows to the educational institution, and notions of geographical context, physical environment and learning space appear to be written out of the equation. This ignite talk will therefore propose alternative ways in which we can *sense* the space of the MOOC, helping us to think about this educational activity as an assemblage of human, technology and place. I will briefly outline an RFID system which allows books to automatically tweet their own content, GPS tracking and geofencing that logs the movement of participants, and sensors which record motion, temperature and light levels in learning environments.

"This presentation will review existing literature on Open Educational Resources (OER), exploring... more "This presentation will review existing literature on Open Educational Resources (OER), exploring the implications of institutional circumvention and the promotion of self-directed learning in a digitally-mediated higher education. Three critiques will be introduced:

1.) An under-theorisation of 'openness', in which the concepts of positive and negative liberty will be used to suggest a neglect of coherent theorisation concerning the practice of self-directed learning. The OER movement presents the most significant and wide-spread implementation of open access education on the web. However, the OER literature focuses predominantly on issues of access, and the practice of free and open education remains under-theorised. OER is often posited as the solution to an increasing demand for higher education that surpasses current provision, yet much of the literature neglects to adequately consider how self-directed learning might actually take place in the absence of educational structure and pedagogic expertise.

2.) Humanistic assumptions of unproblematic self-direction and autonomy. Where no regulations are prescribed about how learning should operate in practice, it will be suggested that the 'free' and 'open' learning proposed by OER cannot in principle be predicted or assumed to function according to predefined ideas. However, this view of undefined openness appears to contradict many of the aims expressed in the OER literature. The prognostications of rational progress, emancipation from ignorance, and increased provision for the intellectually needy, appear to sit uneasily with the idea of a decentralised system that avoids predefined aims. In the absence of directives it will be suggested that proponents of OER assume an innate human ability to self-direct. A Foucauldian interpretation of subjectivity will be outlined here to propose that the human being emerges from structure and organisation, rather than being foundational.

3.) An alignment with the needs of capital, in which the Foucauldian concept of governmentality will be suggested to offer an alternative perspective on the notions of power and emancipation in OER discourse. Rather than a rational improvement to education, or a more humane and naturalised form of learning, the use of OER will be proposed as a further refinement in the exercise of power. While the use of OER might circumvent the more overt practices of discipline exacted by the traditional institution - regulating, organising and categorising the bodies of its learners - it is problematic to assume that such a form of open education is emancipated from regimes of control and subjectification. OER literature neglects to consider its own discursive alignment with the marketisation and commodification of education, and the ways in which this technology constructs the learning subject as human capital. In claiming a model of open, free and de-institutionalised education, the OER movement conceals the ways in which the apparently self-directing learner is a product of its own discursive practices and permitted behaviours.

This presentation is not intended to dismiss the OER movement per se, but rather to seek its refinement through a more rigorous theoretical examination. The three critiques introduced here are suggested to provide a coherent framework for future work in this area."

5th volume in the series edited by the ICT in Educational Processes Research Group at UNESA, Rio ... more 5th volume in the series edited by the ICT in Educational Processes Research Group at UNESA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil