Helen Beetham: designing for a hopeful future

Show notes We might see predominantly our own little slice of the higher education sector but something we all have in common is a concern with the knowledge ecology and how we think with students about their learning. For this, writing matters. Writing is a way of thinking and being; it is a form of dialogue, and conversation matters too - with each other, and with our students. By writing long-form essays on her Substack, Helen has found a lightening of voice and a closer connection to an audience. For her, writing is a commitment to writing as development, a way of coming to be and coming to know; she’s a different person at the end of a piece than when she started. And perhaps this process is more important now than ever. The knowledge ecology in which we all work and live feels dominated these days by big business. Despite sometimes unavoidable pressure to support and promote these technological interventions, our knowledge practices can remain open, communal, and ethical.  The resources we mentioned Ivanič, R. (1998) Writing as identity: The discoursal construction of identity in academic writing. John Benjamins Publishing Maxwell, G. (2012) On poetry. Harvard University Press Nussbaum, M. (1992). Love’s knowledge: Essays on philosophy and literature. Oxford University Press Seymour, R. (2019). The twittering machine: How capitalism stole our social lives. London: The Indigo Press And the publication we talked about https://helenbeetham.substack.com/