My career has been divided between school and university teaching: in both I made late discoveries. I’d been a teacher of English in high schools for almost 20 years before it became clear to me that the most significant component of what I was doing with my students was what I call “making meaning”. Each […] … learn more→

I’ve been thinking about guilt lately. Academic guilt. And why I seem to feel it – a lot. The most recent guilt ridden occasion was just last weekend. The week before I’d been away for four days at a conference. I’d left home at 5 am on Tuesday and arrived back at 2 30 am […] … learn more→

Confessions of a College Dean is a surprisingly popular blog, as he never really confesses to anything. I’ve known a few Deans that were downright criminal. I’ve shown many an upper level administrator engaging in morally reprehensible acts that, even if the Dean didn’t perform the acts as well, at least looked the other way. […] … learn more→

A toddler with birthday cake smeared across his face, grins delightedly at his mother. Minutes later, the image appears on Facebook. A not uncommon scenario – 42% of UK parents share photos of their children online with half of these parents sharing photos at least once a month. Welcome to the world of “sharenting” – […] … learn more→

We often think about what young people can expect to gain from university, or what universities contribute to society. But it’s not often that we talk about how higher education can change society beyond the shaping of individuals. As tuition fees rise, and universities are cast in increasingly intense competition for students and staff, their […] … learn more→

A few weeks back, another odd story from higher ed made the rounds. A professor decided on a new grading policy: Professor lets ‘stressed’ students decide their own grade Hey, grades are stressful, even assigning them isn’t fun.As a student I hated getting grades…I particularly hated bad grades, which is why I generally studied hard […] … learn more→

For countries that sustain a substantial part of their economies through agricultural activities in today’s world, crop damage might not be an irrelevant issue anymore. While crop damage occurs to a certain extent every season, in recent years, the severity of the problems that increase the effect of crop damage on the supply side, has […] … learn more→

In a recent blog post entitled “How to Stop Flipping”,Inger Newburn outlined the dangers of flipping between tasks without progressing on any of them. Her suggestion was to write a detailed and time bound to-do list, using the example of the literature review. The second dot point advised students to “look in your diary for […] … learn more→

Why are women and girls still so underrepresented in the study and teaching of STEM disciplines?  The question has received a good deal of attention recently, as it should, and one common conclusion is that sexist attitudes and practices, including blatant sexual harassment and discrimination, remain far too common and are often ignored.  See, for […] … learn more→