Daniel O'Sullivan

Accessible video using semantics from #lctheory to explain reflective writing available online vimeo.com/207029935 #acwri #AusELT #tleap

@greg_ashman 11/ Insights here gained through engagement with Legitimation Code Theory (#LCTheory) - specifically the dimension of Specialisation, which is based on the premise all claims are based on relations between objective knowledge and the subjective knower - for more see the webpage

@greg_ashman 11/ Once the full picture is visible, the debate becomes far more productive: different subjects legitimately value different things, and curriculum needs to reflect that complexity rather than flatten it into a false binary.

We talk past each other on knowledge. To me, mental ‘skills’ are knowledge. They’ve just become automatised: I know how to structure a paragraph or I know how to analyse a source. Sometimes, they are learnt implicitly and sometimes we teach them explicitly. I would suggest the latter is a better bet for most students, most of the time. To some, knowledge just means dates and names and ‘Henry VIII had six wives’. This is why they are baffled by the idea of a knowledge-rich curriculum. They think it is *just* facts of this kind. It certainly involves far more of them than is common practice, but it also includes these mental ‘skills’. So, can we simply redefine our way back to agreement? No. The true difference that is hiding inside the overt discussion of knowledge is that of transfer. Many of those who talk of skills see them as transferable: We can apply the same skill in lots of different subject areas or ‘domains’. It then makes sense to focus on these powerful tools rather than the accumulation of mere facts. This is an ambitious claim because transfer is the hardest thing to achieve in education research. Instead, I tend to see mental ‘skills’ as largely domain specific. Some things *can* transfer but to paraphrase Thorndike, only to the extent that the domains share common elements: solving linear equations in maths transfers to solving linear equations in chemistry. And the evidence is me on this.

@RonShamgar apply that same logic to the other parts of the economy where whole layers of folks watch the real work happen from a comfortable distance, making exponentially more money by standing around watching other people work, then taking a cut of the value those workers create

Just took this photo on George St, Sydney: 1x Guy drilling a hole, another 1 helping him, 2x guys standing watching them, another 2 guys standing watching the guys watching them…. Welcome to Oz 🤣🤣🤯🤯

@MushtaqBilalPhD There’s a whole field of expertise with tips like this if people searched it out

Recently came across Pat Thomson's amazing blog on academic writing. It's a gold mine of tips on academic writing. And totally free. Check it out at patthomson.net

@greg_ashman “Both/and” sounds neat, but the reality is those in power rarely face consequences. That makes accountability the more important principle to defend.

@danielanthonyos It can be all of those things.

“Nobody is above the law” is a sound liberal principle but it’s also worth pointing out that every time we prosecute a former leader, we incentivise future leaders to cling on to power for as long as possible.

@danielanthonyos theconversation.com/whataboutism-w…

Absolutely vile

@greg_ashman Similar to uni courses designed to cover a wide range of complex content knowledge, a large number of assessment tasks, while assuming student knowledge of procedural, instructional, institutional, disciplinary, academic and linguistic norms - only a few are set up to succeed

It's what causes otherwise sensible mathematics professors to claim maths isn't about practising procedures, it's about making conjectures and solving novel problems, as if they don't realise just how many complex schemas they possess. See also historians, scientists etc.

A centrepiece of my presentations on cognitive load theory in recent years has been this slide ⬇️⬇️⬇️

@samuelbarry04 Zimbabwe was hyperinflation. Paddington is just hyper-gentrification - unless I missed the bit where Zimbabwe was famous for $10m attached terraces with 5 bedrooms, a butler’s pantry and Sub-Zero fridges.

Project Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 well underway in Sydney! 10 million dollars for a TERRACE! An attached TERRACE! Australia, what are we doing?!?