Monthly Archives: April 2018

3 vital ways to measure how much a university education is worth

3 vital ways to measure how much a university education is worth

The past several years have seen increased calls for colleges and universities to demonstrate their value to students, families and taxpayers. And the pressure has come from both sides of the political spectrum. Barack Obama, for example, didn’t mince his words when he spoke a few years ago on the University of Michigan campus: “We are putting […] … learn more→

Academics behaving badly – calling out the Cleverclogs

Academics behaving badly – calling out the Cleverclogs

The Drs Cleverclog are well known in academic circles. A very large extended family of know-it-alls. At least one of them makes their presence known at every conference, meeting and large academic gathering you go to. Even if you don’t recognise them by sight, you know them by their behaviour. The Cleverclogs have an opinion […] … learn more→

The evil Uni-Bank alliance

The evil Uni-Bank alliance

The student loan scam only creates the potential for evil. We would not have over 20,000,000 citizens trapped in a deadly debt spiral if our higher education system had not exploited that potential as ruthlessly as possible. Technically, this scam is an unholy alliance between our Federal government, which backs the loans and enforces collection, […] … learn more→

Wisconsin Higher Ed removes the academics

Wisconsin Higher Ed removes the academics

A few years ago, I mentioned Wisconsin was retroactively changing their tenure contracts. To summarize what I said in 2015: no more new tenured faculty, and tenure can be removed from old faculty whenever admin wants. Now, admin said these changes were necessary but…you’d have to be pretty stupid not to see what the general […] … learn more→

A philosophical defence of the traditional lecture

A philosophical defence of the traditional lecture

The lecture is dead. And, according to Carl Wieman, there should be no Lazarus-style resurrection. Wieman, a Nobel prizewinning advocate of active learning from Stanford University, argued here, just over a year ago, that belief in the value of traditional lecturing was akin to belief in bloodletting in an era of modern, evidence-based medicine. And […] … learn more→

Do teaching qualifications contribute to teaching quality?

Do teaching qualifications contribute to teaching quality?

As part of the subject-level teaching excellence framework, the Department for Education is consulting on whether to introduce a new measure of teaching intensity. One of the six options presented for consideration as part of the current consultation is a “gross teaching quotient” weighted by qualification/seniority of teacher. This would weigh contact time by qualification/seniority of […] … learn more→

We calculated how much money trees save for your city

We calculated how much money trees save for your city

Megacities are on the rise. There are currently 47 such areas around the globe, each housing more than 10 million residents. More than half the global population now lives in urban areas, comprising about 3 percent of the Earth. The ecological footprint of this growth is vast and there’s far more that can be done to […] … learn more→

Subversion is at the heart of the academy

Subversion is at the heart of the academy

“A university,” wrote Robert Maynard Hutchins, “must stand for something, and that must be something other than what a vocal minority, or majority, demand at the moment.” As president of the University of Chicago, Hutchins was pretty sure of what his university should not stand for. A prime example was big-time intercollegiate sports. In axeing […] … learn more→

Spelling mistakes on the resume ... more than just mistakes

Spelling mistakes on the resume … more than just mistakes

Spelling, a problem limited to the school sphere? The question of spelling has for a long time remained exclusively a matter of the educational system alone, with the ministry setting objectives to be achieved per cycle and periodically evaluating the level of students. Several studies agree on the regular and consistent decline in the level […] … learn more→