From Oxford to MIT, many of the world’s leading universities are now offering online courses and distance learning is an opportunity being seized upon by more and more people. Online courses have gone from something of a joke, with a reputation for being of a lower quality than a traditional degree, to becoming a viable […] … learn more→

In March this year, University of Technology Sydney associate professor Chongyi Feng was detained by Chinese officials, unable to board his flight home to Sydney. He was held and interrogated for ten days before being allowed to return to Australia. Here, the expert in intellectual and political development in China recounts his personal experience and […] … learn more→

On Friday June 2, the Evanston Public Library held a hearing that may lead to the firing of librarian Lesley Williams this week. Her alleged crime? Posting a message on her personal Facebook page criticizing the library’s efforts at racial equity. This makes it an important case in the wake of Garcetti v. Ceballos, about […] … learn more→

Choosing your co-authors is not dissimilar to choosing a life partner (except you can always change your partner, but once your names are together on a paper, there’s no taking it back). Generally, academics team up with close colleagues or others from their field, but the literature also evidences some unexpected collaborations. David Manuwal, an […] … learn more→

It’s so funny to hear the leaders of higher ed bleat about how hard they’re working to keep tuition down. It’s even funnier to watch them get a 6 digit signing bonus, and, for the Poo Bahs, a 7 digit parachute when they leave, and constant raises and luxurious benefits while they work. Then the […] … learn more→

In 1939, the fictional professor J. Abner Pediwell published a curious book called “The Saber-Tooth Curriculum.” Through a series of satirical lectures, Pediwell (or the actual author, education professor Harold R. W. Benjamin) describes a Paleolithic curriculum that includes lessons in grabbing fish with your bare hands and scaring saber-toothed tigers with fire. Even after […] … learn more→

“The profit per boy is £40.” The utterance conjured Dickensian visions of a calculatingly finger-licking Fagan, or a pitiless mill owner, or even a slave-marketeer, prodding the muscles of small merchandise and critically examining their teeth. But the independent-school headmaster, from whose lips I heard the pronouncement more than 40 years ago, was not talking […] … learn more→

In the UK, the world’s fifth richest economy, vulnerable children are being denied education. Asylum seekers and refugee children are struggling to access education – and unable to attend school or college. This contravenes rights to equal educational access in accordance with international human rights law. I’m currently working on research projects about child refugees, […] … learn more→

Words like worm, trojan horse and zombie may seem like the stuff of science fiction, but they’re part of the reality of life online. Now that we communicate, work and entertain ourselves on the internet, these familiar terms start to take on new meaning. They’re just a few of the cybersecurity threats we face. While […] … learn more→

In some ways, Sweden’s education system embodies the egalitarian, democratic and meritocratic values for which the country is famous. Most students, for instance, receive both free tuition and a monthly stipend. However, in a nation consistently ranked among the five least corrupt in the world, it is an open secret among academics that their sector […] … learn more→