The Magazine of The New Curiosity Shop - February 2006

Welcome to Cloisters. We're all fired up and ready to go after the Christmas break and have great plans for the magazine. Watch this space for a new interactive version using the technology of Moodle. More on that next month.

We were very interested to read the Guardian interview (see our News link) with Boris Johnson who represents the UK Conservative Party on Higher Education. He proposes a hands-off approach to the actual content and planning of College and University courses, in other words not introducing political definitions of 'useful' courses. Perhaps some opposition pressure will come to bear against the current trend to direct all education towards training for work? Along those lines, we wondered what courses our readers would like to see. Who knows, maybe we'll end up offering your favourite. Just fill in the form here to tell us what would be your literae humaniores -your suggestion for a course.

Your course idea

Also, this month, we talked with Jenni Jenkins who teaches on "Me, Myself and Others" about her course and her own experiences with distance learning. Then there is the third part of Noel's column on online learning, Stuff and Nonsense, and our regular update on our courses.

This month we start a new Paul's Puzzle. Get your answers in early and see if you can win a course. The winner of our first puzzle was Tracey Hayashi. The correct answer was that the third brother would shout out and Tracey's correct answer was the first one out of the hat. Congratulations Tracey and enjoy your course, Coping with Change. Many thanks also to all those who entered our competition.

Stay online and keep learning.

Mark Toner February 2006

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Cloisters Contents

Course of the Month: Family History begins at Home

Being an Online Learner 3: Stuff and no Nonsense

Teaching Online An interview with Philosophy tutor Jenni Jenkins

Paul's Puzzle A new chance to win a free place on a course!

Course Spotlight

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Family History Begins at Home

Do you want to start looking into your family history but don’t know where to start? This course will take you through the absorbing process of finding out your family's story. Researching your roots can be highly addictive and it’s easy to get carried away. But it doesn’t pay to be hasty when starting out in family history; you can make progress more quickly if you begin your research on a good foundation and put aside some time for planning what you want to achieve. Take a chance to reflect on your own life, record your early memories, talk to older relatives now before it's too late and collect together family documents and photographs. See what information you already have before you go to record offices or start buying certificates. You can learn more and sign up here.

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Being an Online Learner

Last time, we talked about how communication was the key to a good online course: tutors and students ‘talking’ via email and discussion groups. But there is little point if you have nothing to talk about. This month, we’ll take a tour of the contents of an online course. More...

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Teaching Online

This month, we talked with Jenni Jenkins, the tutor on Me, Myself and Others. More...

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