Curiouser and Curiouser!

Curiouser and Curiouser! on london-met http://matt.blogs.it/ RSS feed for topic london-met Copyright 2006 Matt Mower Squib/0.1 self@mattmower.com self@mattmower.com en-gb Meeting with old friends from UNL Wed, 10 Jul 2002 12:34:28 +0100 Meeting with Mike & the Gang from the University of North London.   http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00000143.html Why Radio? Tue, 16 Jul 2002 22:13:04 +0100 <A href="http://radio.weblogs.com/0108194/2002/07/16.html#a132">Hmm... Ya think?</A>. See I think that all the cute little features that are being added to Radio are going to "in a few years time" bog it down terribly. However MT is a wad of perl code, which means it can be a point of departure for whatever anyone wants to do with it, without having to learn a proprietary "less than impeccably documented" scripting language (grumble grumble.) However, initial ramp-up with radio can't be beat (to say nothing of the 40m of cloud space), so here I am. I like radio alot, but I have to say the more compelling reason to use it over other blogging software is ease of setup & the year of service that comes with using radio. As a developer, I've given up on trying to do really neat things with radio. It's just too hard to track down the documentation. [<A href="http://radio.weblogs.com/0108194/">The Universal Church Of Cosmic Uncertainty</A>] <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> » I think there are two different issues at play here: language and platform. Is MT a better blogging system than Radio because it is a wad of Perl code rather than a wad of Usertalk code?  I'm not sure but I guess so if only because of Perls popularity.  Neither would be my first choice for writing a complex application but both are adequate to the task. But the important issue for me is the platform.  I would class MT as an application and Radio (along with Frontier) as a platform.  In particular an ideal platform for delivering groupware applications.  Here's an example from my experience:  About 5 years ago att UNL we were looking for a learning mangament system for lecturers to use to construct & deliver on-line courses.  A question which stymied most vendors we spoke to was: <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> "How do you handle a lecturer who wants to update his module whilst on a cycling holiday in the south of france?"</BLOCKQUOTE> For the most part they had no answer to the disconnected scenario and had to bluff or fall back to legacy software "Oh they can edit stuff in Word and then C&P when they get back."  Right... I can imagine constructing some very novel solutions to this kind of scenario with a combination of Radio & Frontier.  I can imagine some novel applications for k-logging too. It's the flexibility and power of the platform that I'm betting on.  </BLOCKQUOTE> http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00000223.html As if we needed the stress Wed, 11 May 2005 22:09:20 +0100 Currently studying for Cognitive Psychology 1 exam which is scheduled for next Monday afternoon but may be postponed due to a <a href="http://www.natfhe.org.uk/says/lonmetun.html">strike by lecturers</a> in the NATFE union. Of course you'd be hard pressed to learn about this from the Pravda like <a href="http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/news/latest-news/">London Metropolitan University website</a>. It's good news only there and any students who might be wondering whether their exams will go ahead can go hang. Topics include:<ul><li>History of, and major influences in, cognitive psychology</li><li>perception</li><li>attention</li><li>memory</li><li>decision making and reasoning</li></ul> Note I have no argument with lecturers withdrawing their labour if they're in a dispute. I do have a problem with the University (to whom I am paying over a thousand pounds of my own money) keeping me in the dark about something like this. The University makes quite a lot of money from us postgraduates. I'm sure that, aloong with the other problems we've had, this will be encouraging many (myself included) to consider where else we might spend our money next year. http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00002576.html London Metropolitan University is a compete shambles Tue, 05 Jul 2005 12:25:58 +0100 Today I received a letter from Robert Aylett the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of <a href="http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/">London Metropolitan University</a> where I am studying for a postgraduate diploma in psychology. The contents of the latter are as follows:<blockquote> I am writing to inform you of possible disruption to the publication of module results and the confirmation of awards as a result of industrial action by the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE). NATFHE has conducted a ballot, the outcome of which is that NATFHE members have voted in favour of action to boycott the assessment process. NATFHE has indicated that the action will take the form of withholding student marks and boycotting assessment boards. Teaching staff who belong to this trade union have be advised by the Union not to release marks and grades for items of assessed work. The University regrets, therefore, that there might be significant disruption to the assessment process. In particular it might not be possible to confirm module outcomes for the affected modules. Also, it will not be possible to make any awards based on these modules. The University recognizes the inconvenience and disruption to students that this industrial action will cause and regrets that NATFHE members have choosen to take this action. The University is also in close contact with the Union and is seeking to engage in talks to resolve the dispute. If action continues we will keep you informed by setting out the latest position on the following web site <a href="www.londonmet.ac.uk/admin/assessment/latest">www.londonmet.ac.uk/admin/assessment/latest</a></blockquote> Well now, what do we think about this? First off the URL referred to doesn't work as of the time of writing. I spoke to Robert Aylett in reference to his letter and my impression was not positive. In full <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/y/yesminister_7777145.shtml">Sir Humphrey</a> mode he deflected responsibility from the management, prerring to refer me to a prepared statement by the quislings at the Students Union (Did you know the University wrote their constitution for them? Think Iraqi government and you'd not be far off). What of a sincere apology for inconveniece? I would hold my breath. Unfortunately I would have to say that this is par for the course for management at London Metrpolitan University. How does the saying go?<blockquote> Those who can, do; those who can't, teach. Those who can't teach, administrate. </blockquote> So, what do I do? I really want to punish the University for being such a dreadful service provider. Although I have enjoyed the course for the most part that is despite the efforts of the University, rather than because of them. My best advice to any prospective student is to think hard about whether to give your money to London Metropolitan University. Ask yourself what kind of academic environment you want to be in and carefully compare your alternatives. HE in the UK is not a rosy picture anywhere but I'm quite certain there are better places than this. I will be considering them myself although I will be hampered in doing so if I do not receive my last set of assessment results. http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00002726.html You think it's over? I'm only just begun... Mon, 15 Aug 2005 18:15:06 +0100 For students who may think that <a href="http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/">their Higher Education establishment</a> is shockingly unprofessional in how it deals with it's customers (i.e. me) the following information is provided:<ol><li>Go through internal procedures</li><li>Complain to the Vice Chancellor (even if he's the root of the problems)<li>Complain to the board of governors (who oversee everything so carefully)</li><li>Complain to the <a href="http://www.nusonline.co.uk/">NUS</a> (although they will refer you to your local union who may be completely spineless)</li><li>Complain to the <a href="http://www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/codeOfPractice/section5/default.asp">Quality Assurance Agency</a> (although they may only be interested in purely academic quality issues not general incompetence)</li><li>Complain to the <a href="http://www.oiahe.org.uk/summary.asp">Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education</a> (feels like the last chance saloon to me!)</li><li>Don't bother with the funding council cos they're <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/aboutus/complain/institutions.htm">not interested</a></li></ol> http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00002837.html Say no to funding tax parasites Mon, 05 Sep 2005 15:08:30 +0100 I was reflecting today on how <a href="http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/">London Metropolitan University</a> is run. Anyone who has spent much time there knows that it is run by and for the benefit of University management. Staff come a poor second and students (if at all) a distant third. As an example of the level of incompetence you will find at London Metropolitan consider that today I still don't have confirmed results for either of the modules I sat exams for in May of this year! And we're already a week past the date of resits! I was told, when I asked, that I should take a day off work to make myself available for a resit if I thought I might have to take one. Pardon me? Besides my fury at getting such a glib response I thought one of the few things you could reasonably expect your University to do was grade you and tell you if you passed or failed. Clearly my mistake. You don't have to hang around long to get a feel for the shocking disregard in which students are held. Reading the following just brought it sharply into focus for me:<blockquote>The public sector succeeds at what its real aim is, which is to live off the bounty produced by those outside the public sector. The growth of the public sector in the U.S. and other countries shows just how successful tax parasites can be. Having worked for a public university that is somewhere between 25 and 50 percent funded by the State of New York, I can vouch for the parallel between working for the U.S. post office and working for a university. Those of you who have attended universities will have encountered the unresponsiveness of the professors to the students. Unfortunately, nearly all private universities also dip liberally into the public treasury via subsidies for research distributed by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Health. [ <a href="http://www.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff20.html">Privatize the Levees and the Public Sector -- Michael S. Rozeff</a> ]</blockquote> I think public funding of Universities should end because it breeds institutions with no regard for their raison d'etre. As a first step I think we should give the money to students and let them pay the University, or not, as they see fit. If they don't spend it on a degree then maybe they'll use it to start a business or do something else worthwhile. I for one will enjoy watching as a lot of bad universities go to the wall. Good riddance to them and those who mismanage them for their own ends. http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00002881.html