AndrewGribben.com - Latest Comments

Re: The VIA Challenge

Edward Benton — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 04:24:08 -0000

I tried Starbucks VIA last year at one point during a price promotion. It was somewhere between the awful sludge that comes out of our machine at work and a cup of fresh coffee.

I've never enjoyed Starbucks, not because I'm on the bashing bandwagon, simply because I don't tolerate a lot of caffeine. I have a low number of "caffeine points" if you will and I want to "spend" them on the best coffee I can. Any more than two coffees in a day and I'm looking at unfocused frenzy territory - so I want those two to be as good as I can get them!

Excellent article

Re: Waiting for Napster

Andrew Gribben — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:44:54 -0000

I see where you're coming from regarding academic acheivement and class status, that makes sense; it's actually something that's mentioned in the documentary Matt is talking about. Regarding ICT (which I guess is the correct term, but seen a little passé within the tech industry) it will never fix things on it's own, but it's an area I know about and am willing to do something with.

Matt, that's great news. When and where would you suggest a showing?

Re: Waiting for Napster

Denis Stewart — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:43:51 -0000

Re your question about how to engage our political leaders, now there's a challenge! By the nature of our politics, not just in NI, politicians tend to be driven by short-term considerations. We the citizens who elect them reward them for doing things that are do-able within the life-span of a parliament/assembly. The problem is that, achieving sustainable, radical change in any system takes longer-term, '3rd horizon' vision [see http://www.internationalfuture...], couragous and persistent leadership and TIME! That said, it seems to me, from observation at a bit of distance, from the sidelines of our politic gaming, so to speak, that there are, among our MLAs/prospective MLAs some who manisfest great leadership qualities, whose hearts are orientated to making NI a MUCH better place and society and, importantly, who seem to be GOOD LISTENERS. So, maybe, post-election and if there is some wisdom in the appointment of a new Education Minister [cf that post I mentioned earlier, at: http://ning.it/hPXS7u ], perhaps it will be possible to begin to engage in conversation with that Minister and, very importantly, with a newly constituted Education Committee at Stormont.

Travelling hopefully ... :-)

Re: Waiting for Napster

Denis Stewart — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:17:51 -0000

Sometimes it's my limitations that are the cause of not following some bits of what you've posted! That aside, I've picked out for initial comments the broader point you are making about culture change, etc. More specifically, I think you - and Matt - are right about the need to engage the disaffected. Two thoughts in relation to that view:

First, it's not just kids from 'working class' or 'economically disadvantaged'home contexts who are most often disengaged from school education. My observation is that too many of the academically brightest kids - form whatever socio-economic background - disengage from their school experience. It's just that their diengagement is less obvious and often doesm' show up in grades/results from their participation in the dearly unbeloved external assessment processes, by which so many, politicians not least, lend such value.

Second, I'm convinced,albeit from very limited technical understanding, that INFORMATION/COMMUNICATION technology [I think you are mostly talking about 'ICT', not the broader notion of 'technology']has a vital role to play in what you call the 'connecting' process that helps young learners to engage with more enthusiasm and, therefore, enhanced success with the learning experiences provided in schools. BUT, making creative and really effective use of ICT in learning is not, in itself, sufficient for achieving high quality learning and encouraging love for, and skill in, learning. Other factors, such as the interpersonal skills of teachers and other adults who are LEARNING WITH young people, and an optimistic ethos of achievement, and a school/classroom culture that is conducive to students' voices being heard and heeded, are crucial.

All of which keeps drawing us back to the broader and, in my view, core/fundamental requirements for pragmatically visionary leadership [throughout school communities] that directs and enables positive cultural change, changes in individual and collective hearts and minds.

Re: Waiting for Napster

cimota — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:48:37 -0000

Glad to have made the connection, Andrew. I agree that NI needs to embrace educational technology in order to engage with the disaffected young. I know this is a subject close to the heart of our politicians - and also parents - how to get kids interested in self-education when they're presented with paper and pencils.

That movie, We Are The People We've Been Waiting For, I got permission to do a showing in Belfast from the copyright holder. Let's do that.

Re: Waiting for Napster

Andrew Gribben — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:47:17 -0000

Thanks for taking time out to reply Denis.

"some of the sentences I don't follow"
My ever patient wife once told me "it's good, but you're not a writer." I'm also not an english teacher, but that's no excuse. A proof-read and few changes later and now it hopefully makes more sense.

I whole-heartedly agree with what you say below, so how do we go about getting the politicians, teachers, parents and students to all want the right sort of change at the same time. There are bound to be good politicians out there, but a lot of the time it seems they are drowned out by the politicking that goes on all around them.

Re: Waiting for Napster

Denis Stewart — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:21:58 -0000

The weblink to some thoughts on neeed for 'pragmatic vision' in NI education should have been: http://ning.it/hPXS7u

Re: Waiting for Napster

Denis Stewart — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:18:38 -0000

Thanks for sharing this, Andrew. I'm clear about everything you say here [some of the sentences I don't follow]. But I do find one of your comments resonates with views of mine and others more articulate concerning 'changing education'. However may strengths an education system has - and NI's school system has it share of strengths, like any other - change is always going to be desirable, even essential. But, as I think you're saying, changing education is not just about changing education. In Northern Ireland, unless the cultural context changes [quite radically, in my view], there is little or no propect of the school educational system that sits within that context changing in more that the incremental ways that have been the story for decades. And by 'cultural' I have in mind all the ways in which people who live and have their being in NI have collective mindsets in relation, e.g. to environment, econonomy, arts, leisure, .. and, of course, religion. Perhaps the aspect of our cultural context that needs to change [be transformed] most urgently is our political culture. Our political leaders need to think about and lead educational development qiite differently from the ways we have seen MLAs and the NI Executive lead - or rather fail to lead - over the past almost decade. Politicians, it seems to me, have responsibility to lead processes of thinking together about possible, desirable futures. And they need to create and maintain ENABLING conditions within which school leaders, teachers, parents, business people, others in communities, .. can be innovate, sometimes on ways that will transform 'schooling' rather than just shore up the status quo. What NI education needs, in other words, is leadership that is both visionary and pragmatic that enables transformative innovation to emerge and 'shift' to happen; cf. http://rsafellowship.com/group... .
I could go on ... !!

Re: Sectarian Culture

Andrew — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 03:56:54 -0000

Thanks. I think those that do decide to ignore the rest of it though. The same way some cults with choose to focus in on one particular prophecy or teaching.

Re: Sectarian Culture

Alan in Belfast — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 17:43:12 -0000

Good post.

> need to actually apply the Bible to their whole lives, not just choose parts of it as it suits.

Of course, there are many who justify sectarian and bigoted actions via the Bible, so interpretation is key.

Re: Froyo & iPad

Mark — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 06:20:36 -0000

Not a requirement? Surely you jest, sir.

Re: Froyo & iPad

Andrew — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 17:07:02 -0000

It's not a requirement, just a tasty added extra drizzled over the top. nom nom

Re: Froyo & iPad

Mark — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 11:10:37 -0000

I see no chocolate in that list...

Re: Ditch the Tech

simonmcc — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 16:56:21 -0000

RT @grib: New blog post: Ditch the Tech http://andrewgribben.com/2010/06/ditch-the-tech/

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

Re: Death of the Ebook Reader?

Russell McQuillan — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:35:49 -0000

I am looking forward to my iPad coming but as I said over on my own blog, I don't think its going to change the world but following on from that, It may change some markets. E-Books being one, personally though I don't like e-books, could never bring myself to read a book on a screen I like having a book in my hand and on my shelf after I have read it.

But who am I? Maybe e-books will open up books to people that don't normally read books, if I went round all 50 of my scouts, I would put money on it that only a handful read 'out of school' books.

On a bi-note. My op's Director pitched to the NYSC in the early 90's an online stock trading website. Their response ....... people will never trade stock online!

Re: Death of the Ebook Reader?

Andrew — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:25:23 -0000

Alongside the Barnes & Noble app, I'll be using the Kindle app too giving me access to quite a lot of books, but as with the Kindle DX I think the iPad is going to be too big for casual reading. Like you most of my tech books are PDF, and the iPad will be perfect for viewing them, all we need to do now is get one :)

Re: Death of the Ebook Reader?

Mark — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:15:18 -0000

To your headline: maybe, I guess.

I have every intention of continuing to use my Sony Reader for fiction, alongside the iPad which will be much more suited than the Sony to PDFs of tech books and so on.

Yet the iPad will also open up the Kindle store for me. (I have recently stared using the Kindle iPhone app in anticipation. Not half bad.) Amazon's catalogue is formidable.

Re: Death of the Ebook Reader?

grib — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:06:30 -0000

New blog post: Death of the Ebook Reader? http://andrewgribben.com/2010/04/death-of-the-ebook-reader/

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

Re: The VIA Challenge

Andrew — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:00:47 -0000

Since writing, I've noticed two things that I wanted to point out.

All VIA ready brew is certified "Shared Planet" which although setup by Starbucks is commitment to source coffee ethically. As I said above, we have to remember Fairtrade is not the only way and we shouldn't get caught up in the brand or the lack thereof without proper research.

Secondly the ingredients listed on the back of the latest packs has changed from "soluble and microground arabica coffee (100%)" to "Instant (major ingredient) and microground (minor ingredient) arabica coffee." A very subtle but important difference. What is VIA really made from?

Re: Ubuntu in Education

Andrew — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:20:44 -0000

There's been a bit of a delay but part 2 is coming shortly. I thought I should let the computers settle in a bit and let the users get used to them. As well as how it's all configured I'll cover how we've continued to deploy the computers to other classrooms and thanks to Simon McCartney, we've switched to using NFS home mounts, giving a very elegant roaming profile solution; although we had a few permission problems that are now solved. And I'll throw in a few photos too :)

Re: Ubuntu in Education

Julie — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:06:30 -0000

Hi Andrew,

If you do write more about your experience as suggested (and I hope you do!) I would like to make a suggestion as well: it would be awesome if you could also include a bit on the human aspect, how you managed to get both the teachers and students to be interested.

This is great, all the best with the project!

Re: Ubuntu in Education

Andrew — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 11:11:43 -0000

Thanks everyone for you support. Week one has had a few hiccups (my fault) but overall has been a very positive experience for all. I Phil, I think that's a great idea, I'd love to be able to help anyone else planning it.

Re: Ubuntu in Education

PhilJo — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:17:43 -0000

Hi Andrew,

Nice article.

Could I make a suggestion/request?

A follow up with a link to the packages used and configuration procedure would be a useful resource for others in your situation.

Best of luck with the project

Re: Ubuntu in Education

Declan McGrath — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 09:04:08 -0000

Great to hear this Andrew.

All the best with this project,
Declan

Re: Love of Maths is the Square Root of All Evil

Alan in Belfast — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 03:56:28 -0000

Given the beauty and completeness of Euler's Identity (incidentally, the only bit of A-level, never mind university, maths I've needed to use since graduating), I'm sure we'd get away with fudging the answer down to something approximating 22/7!