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Thursday Jan 31, 2008
Big Mac with a diploma to go
Monday's news that McDonalds (as well as FlyBe and Network Rail) have been given awarding body status by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority was met with a fairly predictable initial response.
The day after, The Independent reported that teachers were "furious", as well as featuring a slightly patronising comment piece (a quick summary: vocational qualifications are jolly good, as long as they don't really count for much).
However, now everyone's had the chance to calm down a bit there are some signs of growing support (see here and here). Quite right too I say.
Before anyone blows their lid about McDonalds rivalling the beloved institution that they studied in, they should be sure that in another breath they don't complain about the lack of basic numeracy skills in the UK.
Equally, why is it that when you're going for your first job, everyone talks about the value of "life experience", but then kicks up a fuss when you quantify and accredit that experience? In terms of the A-Level that McDonalds are offering, let's get some perspective – it's an A-Level in Shift Management, not English Lit.
I'd have thought that McDonalds would be a useful place to study shift management, as it's an integral part of their business. As Mr Burns (no, not the one from the Simpsons) points out, this could also transfer very easily into a career in the NHS, for example.
The same applies to volunteering – it won't be long before you can gain nationally recognised qualifications through voluntary work, and why not? Rather than being a footnote at the end of your CV, the skills and experience you've gained in the "real world" will get the accreditation they deserve.
Posted by Sam Thomas ( 10:01 AM ) Link to this post Comments[0]
Tuesday Jan 22, 2008
We love Jamie Oliver
Well, we love what he's doing with young people, anyway.
TheSite.org has interviewed a young guy called Daryl about his brilliant experience apprenticing at Jamie Oliver's restaurant Fifteen.
Posted by Dom Waghorn ( 5:24 PM ) Link to this post Comments[0]
Can CSR ride out the storm?
The Economist published some interesting research on CSR last week that suggests that "doing well by doing good" is now firmly embedded in business executive's list of priorities. More than 50% of respondents to their survey said that CSR was a "high" or "very high" priority for their business now, compared to 34% three years ago.
As the accompanying article points out, some companies are streets ahead in terms of maximising both their beneficial impact on society and their profits and reputation, whereas others seem to be dragging their feet somewhat.
No big surprises there, but the grim news from the world's stock markets this week adds some interesting context.
Will those companies with well established programmes continue to give their time and money? As all fundraisers know, despite the best intentions in the world, cash donations often drop off when the going gets tough. Or will CSR's increasing focus on reputation management move it further up the agenda?
Who knows. It does feel like we're at a bit of a tipping point for CSR though – it will be interesting to see what level of commitment remains if the bad news continues for the private sector.
Thursday Jan 10, 2008
Volunteering for the public domain
I'm always interested to see how volunteering is the motor behind making the internet a really valuable educational resource for all. Wikipedia is probably the preeminent example of this, however Librivox is another amazing example of this phenomenon of volunteering for the benefit of greater online knowledge."LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. Our goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books."
LibriVox was started in August 2005, by Hugh McGuire, a Montreal-based writer and web developer. More about him can be found at hughmcguire.net. Apparently LibriVox was inspired by AKMA's audio volunteer project amongst other projects.
As only books in the public domain can be read for Librivox, it means practically that mostly books published before 1923 are potential audio books. If you are an audio book junkie, you'll be amazed by how many books they have already- over a 1000 books on there for download. Librivox's growth is pretty phenomenal and has become one of the most productive publishers of audio books out there.
Apart from the volunteering element, what I think is ingenious about the project is its use of collaboration and partnership- the trump card for not for profits if managed well. In Librivox's case they partner with Project Gutenberg who have online text files of books in the public domain, and the Internet Archive and ibiblio.org who host the audio files for free that Librivox volunteers produce.
If you interested in volunteering for Librivox you can find more information here. Posted by Patrick Daniels ( 3:59 PM ) Link to this post Comments[0]
Thursday Jan 03, 2008
Teenagers participate; parents worry - welcome to 2008
What will 2008 bring for young people and their use of technology?Answer: more of it and more often.
You only need to peak at the new US report into teens and social media to know that the intertwining of online and offline is well and truly here for young people.
The PEW report, while focused on American teens, is likely to be reflected in trends here too. Here are some of their findings which I think are most interesting and valid for 2008:
Young internet users expect to participate
64% of 12-17 year old internet users in the US have created online content. That is a massive level of engagement and much bigger than I expected. Media, as predicted has been turned on its head.
But they do it more safely than you would think
Contrary to tabloid hysteria and to what most people would guess, young people are savvier about what they post online than older people. They don't post pictures widely or give out lots of personal information.
Parents still worry
Despite what I've just written above, parents are still worried about their children's online behaviour. This is unlikely to go away. It is their job.
Online activity doesn't replace offline activity
The teenagers that are active online are also active offline. As Danah Boyd points out, there's not necessarily a causal link here but the view that kids who sit at their computers never go outside is obviously untrue.
Email is dead. What about chat and instant messaging?
Communication tools change quickly and social networking has replaced the more traditional online tools for young people. Perhaps micro-blogging will really break out in 2008?
Posted by Dom Waghorn ( 11:51 AM ) Link to this post Comments[0]