Don't teach social media skills in school

The majority of people don't want Facebook and Twitter to be taught in schools according to a survey by YouGov on behalf of Open Text.

via Computer Weekly which reports that

Craig Hepburn, director of social strategy at Open Text, said, "While people are happy to use social media applications in the working environment, they are unhappy about them being taught in school. However, these tools could well be the future of business, you only have to look at the growth of business social media site LinkedIn - which now has over 40 million members - to see the importance of these applications and the fact they will play a big part in future generations' personal and professional lives."

Ht-Joanna Geary

Universities are not controlling information any more

It appears now that we have a digital divide in our universities according to the findings of the Committee of Inquiry into the Changing Learner Experience:

Ht-Mark Comerford

This report in the Times higher education supplement says that

The evolution of the internet has produced a generation of students with "a preference for quick answers" and a "casual" approach to the evaluation and attribution of information,

One academic

expressed "strong reservations" about students' ability to critically evaluate information from the web.

and another said that

"Universities are not controlling information any more. What they should be doing is supporting students in becoming much more critical thinkers."

A level results out

Stand by for images of excited teenagers crowding around a noticeboard awaiting information.Screams as the results become known.Numerous stories about how exams are getting easier,and not producing the right sort of students.Local papers with front page stories featuring the twins that have got 8 A's between them etc etc etc.

Yes it is that day that enlivens every year the slow August news,the A level results are published and every news organisation will in some way make the most of it.

In fact it has already started,the Independent leading with the story that

Independent and selective state grammar schools are overwhelmingly responsible for the rise in A-grade passes at A-level, the head of Britain's biggest exams board reveals today. The growing divide in achievement means the gap in performance between the country's top-performing selective schools - state and private - and the rest is now at its widest for more than a decade. The trend is expected to be exacerbated following the publication of A-level results for more than 250,000 sixth-formers this morning.

And the Times and the Telegraph running stories about how the exams are being devalued.

UPDATE 10.02

Sky news are broadcasting live from a college in Manchester as students collect their envelopes,so far all those interviewed have A's.Sky repport that now 25.4% of grades are A's