iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 18m

In which we discover who did or did not watch Watership Down as a child...

Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I’ve been wondering for a while whether we end up with an unfortunate version of A combined with blacklisting (including institutions), onto slightly mitigated with vouching/sponsor. This is not a proposal btw but seems a possible strategy we see taken.

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Reposted by Giles Martin

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

'A third and two thirds can’t both be right. And when a minister at the heart of the government’s economic thinking picks one of them, it matters which is closer to reality.'

wonkhe.com

Students are working more than ever. Or are they?

Torsten Bell and Alan Milburn say fewer students are working. Jim Dickinson goes down the Labour Force Survey rabbit hole to find out why purpose-built surveys say the opposite

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Also in discussion with our new lecturers this week: Not getting sucked into ppt making things linear and always the focus. You can repeat, have extras, be non-linear, go back. You can also just take them down (blank out), shift focus to something/one else. Sometimes the best slide is no slide.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

It's start of term time and as usual these quick tips came up as not all new colleagues knew about them (and with our classroom screens the latter one is often why what you think should be there, isn't!. The former one similarly for online teaching).

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

After an extra pre-term meeting we've now sorted the HE Reading Group topics for the first trimester of the year. Invites on their way to the BSU (and guest) group members. Looking forward to good discussions at our informal meetings. Mixture of output by colleague, reports, book chapters, papers.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

*adding 'low risk of crocodiles' to the risk assessment section of my next conference attendance request at work.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

In Our Time doing the video of people talking podcast thing, via iplayer? The granddaddy of chart topping podcasts. I don’t listen like that, though now, academics, you have a chance to turn up in costume. You know you want to! www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

bbc.co.uk

In Our Time

In Our Time explores the ideas, people and discoveries that have shaped our world.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The sheep have turned up for the freshers’ poster fair.

Fields near Newton St Loe village and next to Bath Spa campus with a variety of sheep in attendance.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Welcome Week for new undergraduates and despite the negative news and commentary, thousands of excited young people about to study things they have a passion for, meet new friends and enjoy the next few years. Give it one week before they figure using the letters to spell out PASTA again.

Photo of the main house at Newton Park in Bath, the main campus for basketball University. Large letters spelling Bath Spa are on the grass in front of the building.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Good quick read on podcast assessments. Done well, supports new skills, enables different expression. Done poorly, they reproduce issues from before whilst provide a mirage of learning. As per academic writing, there are skills involved to be developed, time to be spent thinking and editing.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Ooh, nice, now a Tree trail walk at our campus too. I've been working through the Urban Tree Trails in the city - great to explore areas with a new lens. www.bathspa.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

bathspa.ac.uk

Bath Urban Treescape trail

BSU celebrates its natural beauty with its own Bath Urban Treescape Tree Trail

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I don't recall reading much with major second person writing, and now read two in a row by chance: The Raven Tower (Ann Leckie) - added fun (2nd p) narrative on reliability front due to the rules of the game for the gods. The Everlasting (Alix E Harrow) - back/forth each time loop/twist

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Welcome to the first half of our new cohort of the PGCHE on campus today. Our usual broad mix of disciplines to learn about and from even with our small group today, from acting to teaching, from music to creative computing.

Welcome to the PGCHE, session 1. Monday September 7th. Photo of the castle above the lake at Newton Park campus.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Whilst this tip is for panels, it's also a common tip I give for teaching seminars. Many of us have been in a class with 5 groups doing the same activity, then all asked to feed back in turn. Same stuff. First group go, then get bored, etc. Give different foci, or ask only for alt/different points

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Sometimes they have recaps in the extra/trailer section and I keep wondering why more don't - good way to encourage watching by reminding you what you enjoyed before and want to continue vs 'can't quite recall, will look later'. Now I've said that, I have to record recaps for my yr 1 module...

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Had a great chat with the group attending today. Good to see people from PGCHE cohort as well, and lots of creative assessment links as the proposer (linked to their MA work in HE) and most of group in our new merged School of Creative and Cultural Arts. Authenticity, holistic vs analytical etc etc

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Bluesky/social media on good days gives you lots of lovely randomness. TIL from one thread that a) England had only 15% forest cover in 1086 b) that muntjac deer here are all invasive and from a group that escaped in 1925 That's the wiki dive sorted for lunchtime...

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

A little rain and the green shoots are up quickly nearly turning the meadows over Bath green from a very yellow scorched look a week ago. First time pleased for a rainy August bank holiday.

Photo of fields with green shoots mixed with older yellowed grass, on hill overlooking a misty Bath skyline.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Trying really hard not to see this as a visual metaphor for academia...

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

We've found the next Chancellor's gown for graduation

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

TIL it's a moquette (only lived there for over 25 years...). Delightful nerd love for something seen but rarely questioned. Also gits my general argument that a way to enhance civic space and society is random themes of stuff, adding meaning to the everyday if you choose to look.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Suggestions for everyone 'older' considering cost of living for new students or graduates. Using an inflation calc, work out these in today's money: 1. Your rent aged 18/21 ish 2. Your starting salary when you began your career (every CEO please do this) www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-pol...

bankofengland.co.uk

Inflation calculator

Check how prices in the UK have changed since 1209

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Additional question: Are we current still in the "I hope your summer is going well" stage or now in the "I hope you had a good summer" stage? Though latter always sees a bit like subtle criticism that you did not in fact do all the writing you told yourself you'd do...

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

A favourite travel “cheat” of mine: using National Trust places for stops instead of services stations. Plenty v close to major roads and junctions. (This one is Knightshayes Court’s cafe, conveniently nr A361 route to north Devon beaches)

A large former stables now converted into a National Trust café

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

One of interesting things moving into a uni with significant professional practice and creative practice areas, supporting staff coming in from other careers (not trad academic route) or still in them, is seeing the parallels with research in many ways (including nexus here) but no uni time for it.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

This is one of the major dangers often ignored when treating universities like a (bad) business* and treating staff transactionally. The system relies on staff not treating it transactionally. Just a restructure takes 2 yrs to work through. (*yes I’ve seen plenty work over hrs in businesses too)

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Early September pre-term HE Reading group session at Bath Spa coming up on 1st Sept, whilst I'm planning the sessions for the main autumn term (still open to suggestions for the year). This one on "Indeterminacy in using criteria" and a discussion around rubrics.

Higher education reading group, Tuesday September the 1st 2:00 PM. Indeterminacy in using criteria. Image of a mug in a book.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

We're going to have to go through the whole 'digital natives' thing again with 'AI natives' now aren't we... sigh...

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

It’s all fun and games until the same system marks the boss as a sociopath… 😬

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I don't suppose anyone has a useful map on regional number/density of universities (and places)? Also proportion in the same region for home/uni? Not sure this gap will be helped by hollowing out opportunities and HE deserts in various subjects...

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

This might be interesting to consider this alongside the idea of a hyperstition from the 90s, fictions that make themselves real. In some ways, coming from different angles, both are looking at things in a context of mass-overwhelming-information and people's attempt to make sense of such a world.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Some may be shift in apps/web, but BSky also has an issue with two different usage approaches - I'll call them town square and cafe. The former is the politics linked use, one big megaphone place, debate etc. The latter a venue for a lot of quite separate conversations with friends/contacts.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Grateful for several colleagues giving up time (and expertise) to chat on record for a new set of podcasts for use internally. Now to work out if I can edit in a heatwave...! Purpose: resource as part of learning (alongside live stuff) to hear the thinking of experts, critical ways of thinking.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

As my random wiki reading finally paid off at pub quiz at last conference on this topic, I’ve decided all should know about the Great Emu War: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu_War (Look, I like learning new things, and part of that is learning very random things)

en.wikipedia.org

Emu War - Wikipedia

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Reading around a few papers on deep reading, attention and similar. Like the idea of Continuous Partial Attention (Stone) vs multitasking "In the case of continuous partial attention, we’re motivated by a desire not to miss anything. We’re engaged in two activities that both demand cognition."

lindastone.net

Beyond Simple Multi-Tasking: Continuous Partial Attention

What I call continuous partial attention is referred to as complex multi-tasking in cognitive science. Most of us don’t walk around distinguishing between simple and complex multi-tasking when we …

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Reposted by Giles Martin

Laura McInerney @missmc.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Folks: these days the England system has BTECs, T-Levels, degree apprenticeships, a whole load of other apprenticeship assessments, and very flexible HE entry across a broad range of providers, including foundation years for those without L3. We already *have* a lot of pathways!

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Re: Bluesky bubbles The way this place works is far more heavily linked to your choices on who to follow, block, which feeds you utilise (and could be even more so with added functionality around there). My bubble appears to be primarily academics, public intellectuals, authors, creatives.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

This is the point we've been discussing at our university for years now around the debates and discussions on 'AI ready graduates'. It's a very key difference. See also entry level jobs simply not being there due to management thinking AI will solve everything.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

I wonder if uni fees could be a very interesting example for politics and psychology. For years they were kept static, real terms cuts, in part due to not wanting perception of raising fees. Politically problematic. Now (finally) pegged to inflation. Result politically?.... not much.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

There's an interesting question in the middle of this blog: “What in this course feels like it was designed for someone other than you?” Maybe add 'why do you think it is designed that way' as well if having a discussion on it. (Sometimes they are, sometimes they just seem to be)

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Or they go themselves as adults. FE is well placed for all sorts of adult courses, particularly skills, short and leisure courses, but these all been badly cut. Overlap with the vocational courses (or tasters even) for young or career changers. Experience at the college changes views.

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Trung Le Nguyen @trungles.com · 28/05/2026

So I’ve started Pride and Prejudice, and already I feel bad for Mrs Bennet.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

One thing missing from a lot of discussion around education, be it vocational/technical/academic, FE/HE, employer linked or whatever, is post initial education. Education isn't/shouldn't just be something done in a line up to roughly 18-25, maybe gap, but linear. Retraining, CPD, career transition

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

TIL about JISC's degree verification system, HEDD. hedd.ac.uk Our university has also launched its online portal for graduates to access and give access to certificates and transcripts. Been wondering for a while, since digital badges made an appearance, what would happen for degrees.

hedd.ac.uk

Homepage | Higher Education Degree Datacheck

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Thinking and reading about many of the current challenges for independent learning, and perhaps intersecting with AI, cost of living impacts, social media etc, is the challenge of deep reading and thought. Interesting set of ideas here (+links/books): carlhendrick.substack.com/p/ultra-proc...

carlhendrick.substack.com

Ultra-Processed Minds: The End of Deep Reading and What It Costs Us

A reflection on the reading life. What formed it, what threatens it, and what remains.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Whilst there may be good intentions behind this, it seems highly limiting and doesn’t sit right within schools/ compulsory education. Would not the better place for it be funding FE and apprenticeships? Encourages retraining and movement to cold spots too. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

theguardian.com

Burnham to tell schools in England to adapt teaching to local business needs

PM wants curriculums for students aged 14 and above to be more responsive to local jobs market

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

After 5 days in hospital (visiting) this week, I’m in awe of the supreme patience many staff have with everyone, older patients, worried families. Whilst understaffed (etc) The contrast with angry politics is quite something. Not sure if they can teach some of that somehow but would really help.

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Giles Martin @gilesdrmartin.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Trying to help older family members with tech and modern life and you see * dark patterns targeting them everywhere * frankly abusive marketing * huge amounts of AI slop pushes at them * enshifitication now so bad even tech unaware fed up * utilities and others very delivery rippling them off

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