Fast and feral

If working with academics is like trying to herd cats ...

PoppyOne of the feral campus cats looked after by the Campus Cat Coalition

Jack and JillMy pets. 2 of 5 kittens found in a garage. Adopted at 16 weeks. House- trained, desexed, and very affectionate.

Pedigree cats are suffering from life-threatening diseases and deformities caused by inbreeding, vets and animal welfare experts have warned. Telegraph, UK, 2009

Well bred carefully designed pedigrees

1. There will always be locally developed ‘quick fix’ educational software on campus.

2. Diversity and duplication leads to more robust flexible solutions and allows for discipline-specific optimization of tools.

3. Selective adoption and integration of locally developed software is the fastest way for the overall system to adapt to change.

4. Local software development costs much less than centrally planned ‘pedigree’ solutions.

Arguments for supporting ‘feral’ online learning tools

Local developments supporting adaptationin institutional systems

1. Quality control is replaced by trial and error along with selection.

2. Students can become confused by multiple systems – and staff even more so.

3. It’s hard to plan institution-wide support systems.

4. Cheap fast changes may not provide economies of scale.

On the other hand...