I buy the Guardian fairly regularly. Yes, that’s right I buy the print version. Call me an old-fashioned ‘digital immigrant’ if you like but it’s portable, works underground and I can fill in the crossword! I almost always buy Tuesday’s Education Guardian and although the Higher section rarely has much to offer me – I usually find the comment interesting – there’s usually something in the education section as a whole that catches my eye. And then of course once a month it comes with ‘Link: Using Technology to teach and learn‘. Now I always read this (it’s in my job description!) but it is generally very much focussed on Schools. Usually though there is one page tucked away at the back for HE. No longer. The Guardian says:
From this week most of our coverage goes online to give more space to an area that gets little press coverage and yet commands huge budgets
Part of me thinks great, more coverage but then I think, hold on who is this material aimed at? It’s not aimed at me, a learning technologist; I’ve heard of Moodle, I know what a podcast is. If it’s aimed at a more general education audience then is burying it in an elearning section of the education section a good way to reach them? (OK, burying it on page 23 of a monthly supplement wasn’t that good either). Anyway, where is this wider coverage? Link (print version) highlights a new article on ‘universities and web2.0’ but it doesn’t seem to be online today!
Perhaps I’m unfair, the Guardian at least offers something, but there does seem to be a dearth of both HE and learning technology coverage in the press with the exception of THE. Perhaps both fields are some-what specialist (combined they certainly are!) but wouldn’t it be better for the Guardian to drop Link, drop the elearning section and integrate these stories into the wider education coverage.
Having said all that, in this month’s Link if you’re interested in eportfolios you’ll find an article on e-portfolios (in Schools).
Image: http://flickr.com/photos/nicohogg/1804494413/
