Posts by Conrad Hughes

The other day I was listening to a podcast on generative AI and its potential to “disrupt” education. The assumption was not only that disruption is a good thing, but that it is necessary.  Disruption is a word that is used increasingly in education circles. The idea is that old systems and structures need to…

When we go to school and university, it is not just to learn a dry set of technical skills and knowledge, we are also learning to develop attitudes and dispositions. At the end of the day, it is the way we work with other people, the approaches to situations and challenges that we take and…

The first IQ tests were designed in the early 1900s by the French psychologist Alfred Binet in order to identify neurodiverse students. This tradition has remained a staple practice in schools: neuropsychoeducational reports using progressive matrix pattern recognition as a sign of general intelligence are administered to students and, based on scores, students are identified…

Service Learning is an integral part of many curriculum frameworks worldwide. The idea behind it is to habituate students to view themselves as responsible citizens who can make a difference in other people’s lives. Projects often involve charity work, community service, outreach work, and other forms of social impact. It’s important to remind students that…

The world’s first universities in modern day Pakistan, India and Morocco were spiritual centres dedicated to the teachings of Buddhism and Islam. Only those dedicated to a monastic life were admitted. By the 12th Century, a number of European universities (such as Bologna, Oxford and Paris) operated as guilds whereby contracts between esteemed scholars and…