If you\’ve ever travelled Ryanair in the UK or Europe, you\’ll understand why their unofficial motto is, \”It\’s your fault\”. It seems that having created a market for budget travellers, with no service, let alone no frills, CEO Micheal O\’Leary, has been forced by market pressures to ease up on the no frills, and start […] … learn more→

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It’s been 5 years since I finished my PhD, and when I finished, I remember thinking that there was so much I wish someone had told me about what it’s really like to do a PhD. Yes, there are lots of books of the ‘how to write a thesis’ variety. […] … learn more→

In her 2012 TED Talk on the virtues of massive open online courses (MOOCs) Coursera co-founder, Daphne Koller, makes her case by arguing that MOOCs will open up never-before imagined access to higher education across the globe.[1] The “promise” that online learning will dramatically expand access to higher education is, in fact, at the center […] … learn more→

The hairworm is a long, thread-like parasite that sits bundled up inside the body of its host. It grows so large that it takes up most of the room inside the host’s body, waiting for the right moment to come bursting out. But that is not the scariest thing about the parasite, because it can […] … learn more→

It would have been easy for the administration at Hofstra University to turn its budget-driven eye toward the single remaining full-time painting line in the department of fine arts, design, and art history and see it as perfect for the chopping block. All that salary, so few majors—why not redirect that money to one of […] … learn more→

For many educators, the dream feels tantalisingly close: free, quality education for everyone in the world. The arrival of Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs led to predictions of a great new age of democratic learning. One in which anybody, anywhere, can go online and access courses from some of the world’s best universities at […] … learn more→

The liberal arts have always been a North American preoccupation. It has traditionally been one of the main ways in which American and Canadian higher education has presented itself to the world. Liberal-arts colleges are some of the jewels in the crown of American higher education, and the spirit of the liberal arts has impressed […] … learn more→

The temptation is always there. As educators, we know from the start that not every day is going to be the best or most productive day of our careers. We know that while we are prone to love our students and take a serious personal interest in their development, each one who comes along is […] … learn more→

Recent cases involving the use of computer generated images as evidence in courtrooms have shown the powerful impact they can have on jury decision making. But studies show that jurors can be unduly influenced by these images and videos. The case over the murder of British student Meredith Kercher is a particularly high-profile example that […] … learn more→

Growing up in a rural town in Wisconsin, I spent my weekends and summers with a pitchfork and straw bedding down calves on a local farm. I went on to study political science and Afro-American studies at the UW-Madison only a few miles from the hospital where I was born. Now, as the Vice President […] … learn more→