Girl on woodland path Earphones in. Oblivious To the robin’s song.

Still chasing Saturn.

Saturn was at its brightest and nearest last night.

No chance of a blood moon yesterday evening Cornwall - too light, too cloudy, too low - but compensated by a spectacular sunset.

Years ago, I was footling around on the piano after a conference dinner when someone asked if I could play her favourite tune Autumn Leaves. I couldn't but went home & learnt it. Now, every year, I record it and send it to her. So, @profsallybrown.bsky.social this is for you x youtu.be/twyxtkh6uAQ

80 years ago today, my mum - then 19 years old - typed this in her journal. #history #onthisday #familyhistory

Pieces: some recent and some not so recent posts mainly about education, creativity and assessment, with a few more personal pieces thrown in for good measure. #highereducation #Academicsky #Edusky stumblingwithconfidence.com/pieces/

That went well! From AHE to A&E. From the wonderful AHE conference in Manchester to A&E in Truro. (Don’t ask…..well, if you insist, three cracked ribs from a bad fall). Heigh ho.

More examples of ‘Drawing from Experience’ using visualisation to reveal the emotional impact of assessment on academics. #AHEconf2025 stumblingwithconfidence.com/2022/06/23/r...

More examples of ‘Drawing from Experience’ using visualisation to reveal the emotional impact of assessment on academics. #ahe2025 stumblingwithconfidence.com/2022/06/23/r...

A couple of drawings from my ‘Drawing from Experience’ session on the emotional impact of assessment at the #ahe2025 conference. We don’t talk enough about this! #Edusky #Academicsky

A1 A passionate openness to share and learn #lthechat

A brush, with solitude and silence. stumblingwithconfidence.com/2025/05/18/a...

Cornflowers are just stunningly beautiful.

Exactly 80 years ago today my mother typed this in her journal. She was 19 years old. #history

Sorry to have missed tonight’s #LTHEchat with Sally & Phil. But there were compensations.

Evenin’ all.

The whisky is finished. Night all and thanks #lthechat

A6 From a teaching perspective, what is there not to like about block learning? #lthechat

A5 Good design and taking a holistic approach to the whole programme design is absolutely key. So much in HE doesn’t work well (or not at all) due to poor design. #lthechat

A4 Block learning actually mirrors what happens out there in the ‘real world’. Many jobs involve block projects. #lthechat

A4 Hmmmm….. You need… Flexible mind-sets (people) Adaptable teaching spaces (environment) Efficient/effective systems Need to address all three together. #lthechat

A3 That still has the problem of assessment perceived (and practised) as a ‘bolt-on’ at the end of the block. Block teaching is a good candidate for assessment as an ongoing, dialogic process so, by the end, the students actually know how they’ve done. #Lthechat

A2 You need a decent ‘deschooling’ period not only to explain how the block system works but for students to experience it, with a very light-touch approach to assessment. #Lthechat

A1 I’d have thought a more pertinent question is who might block teaching exclude? #Lthechat

Evenin’ all from Truro. #LTHEchat

F-AI-L: forget about assessment? "Assessment is seriously and fundamentally damaged and no amount of major or minor engineering is going to fix it.....There is a growing recognition that #highereducation requires a paradigm shift....." stumblingwithconfidence.com/2025/04/02/f...

A question for the higher education hive mind…. In your HE system, what percentage of graduates end up working in a field NOT related to their discipline? In the UK the old figure I have c.1998 was 48%. I suspect it hasn’t changed much. #highereducation.

Sorry, on the road so can’t join you tonight. Have a good #LTHEchat

‘Beyond horizon, tale is told, Believed as true by some, That silver sea turns into gold And hope does truth become.’ Dennis Lange

Lovely walk yesterday from St. Agnes’ Head to Wheal Coates along a section of the South West Coastal path in Cornwall.

Evening all.

Telling Tales and the power of stories in education. ".....We live, communicate, interact through stories. We experience the world through stories. We are storytelling organisms who lead storied lives." #education #highereducation #storytelling stumblingwithconfidence.com/2014/03/29/t...

A blog piece about plagiarism and the ‘grey zone’ around it. #highereducation #art #music #education stumblingwithconfidence.wordpress.com/2025/03/10/i...

‘Taking a Line for a Walk’ Latest from Stumbling with Confidence. “You just get this one idea, which might, at first, seem a bit daft. But something just holds you back from thinking it is completely daft……..” stumblingwithconfidence.wordpress.com/2025/03/09/t... #education #creativity

This brilliant and important paper by Cath Ellis and Kane Murdoch is a ’must read’ for anyone in #highereducation involved in/concerned about academic integrity and assessment security. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Evening all.

Should we ban or should we celebrate books such as ‘Of Mice and Men’, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and ‘Lord of the Flies’? | Steve Marshall @kentandsurreybylines.co.uk

Spectacular skies over Devon and Cornwall yesterday as we drove back home from the north. Even managed to catch Mercury, below the moon 3rd photo, though we didn’t know it.

First signs…. #spring (?)

Plus ça change: hard times in #highereducation. 12 yrs ago a US tenured prof. moved from academia to industry. His blog listed the “forces making it increasingly unpleasant to be an academic in the US right now”. Sitting here in the UK it sounds very familiar: cielassociates.co.uk/plus-ca-chan...

Following yesterday's #LTHEchat about design, here's a new version of 'Design for Learning: a guide to the principles of good curriculum design' (open access). bit.ly/DesignforLea... #edusky #design #education

A6 In a perfect world we wouldn’t need to use notions like inclusion, accessibility, diversity. The stuff we make/create/design would just work for the vast majority of users. #lthechat

A4: By not calling it ‘accessible and/or inclusive design’! #lthechat

A3: It’s important to remember that being a good teacher/course leader/researcher/manager/administrator etc. does not make you a good designer. As a designer I’ve often thought that poor design is frequently the root cause of a number of problems and challenges in HE. #lthechat

A2: Working closely with a colleague who was both slightly sight impaired and dyslexic. She couldn’t read the ‘beautiful’ publications I was designing. Pale grey letters on a darker grey background! 🤦🏻🤦🏻🤦🏻#lthechat

A1: Designing for inclusion has to mean great design and that we mustn’t lose sight of the principles of good design. #lthechat

Greetings from Cornwall #LTHEchat

Excellent, challenging article by Randall Whittaker and Stephen Farrier (VC & Dep VC of Rose Bruford) and the need to fundamentally change the way we train actors in order to address the currents inequities. #highereducation #arts #drama wonkhe.com/blogs/curtai...

Today’s birdsong. #birds