The Story So Far… Ragged University and Moving into the Future

Now that the covid pandemic is starting to move behind us all and immunity is improving in the general population the idea of public events can start to be thought about in terms of Ragged University.  It has been a tough three years for everyone on a range of fronts and when covid 19 struck and forced population confinement I had to choose how to adapt the practice of Ragged University for conditions of isolation.

Read more…

Shoestring Initiative: Ragged University – The Means to Organise Education Beyond Money

This presentation was given to the Shoestring Initiative on ‘Ragged University – The Means to Organise Education Beyond Money’ by Alex Dunedin. The Shoestring Initiative is a grassroots initiative to build community and support among first-generation students, staff, and faculty who identify as coming from poverty and/or living in poverty or working class backgrounds.  As members of the University of Victoria community from poverty or working class origins ourselves, we recognize that our backgrounds come with shared strengths and experiences, as well as unique challenges that continue to influence our work and life at the University of Victoria in Canada.
Read more…

Twas The Rant Before Christmas: Absent Friends and Being Absent as a Friend

Discovering the ideas, traditions and practices associated with open learning from around the world was singularly the most generative discovery of my life.  More than anything it has improved my health, happiness, and ability to think and act in the world in ways which are constructive.  This journey is one which cannot be measured but can be felt; that is experienced emotionally in such a way that connects the body beyond the reduction to facts and figures, and to people. Read more…

Winding up Ragged SCIO as a Charity: Miles and Miles to go Before I Sleep…

On Friday 29th November 2019 I got consent from the three trustees of Ragged Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (Scottish Charity 048364) to wind it up and close the books.  With unanimous agreement the request to dissolve Ragged as a charity was put to OSCR and is awaiting legal processing.  This post is a document of the communication(s) I made and some of the conversations I have had over the year about Ragged University and what place it might or might not have in the Third Sector as it stands. Read more…

Theorising Autopedagogy; Relating Education to Human Rights

This is a collection of notes on the idea of autopedagogy – the self directed innate behaviour of garnering means with which to learn in structured ways.  This speaks to ideas of a living curriculum and the creation of curricula through self orienteered gleaning, foraging, collating, creation and curation of activities. All the writings and the website of Ragged University act as an open copy book of the evolving and emerging ideas of education and models of learning available to everyone. Read more…