Argument is crucial to academic writing. It’s argue argue argue all the way. Once we have identified a problem or puzzle that we think is worth researching, we then make a case for research, creating the warrant for our work. We present evidence in a persuasive sequence. We argue that the research results have a […] … learn more→

Podcasting is helping to revolutionise tertiary education. Universities have found themselves caught between shrinking budgets and an official insistence that they make graduates job-ready. Academics have had to be creative and flexible about how they engage their students with crucial learning, and podcasting is one way to do this. In the past year, universities have […] … learn more→

Facebook advertising is a great way to promote your business, but many people are hesitant about spending their money on it. The truth is that Facebook advertising works wonders for many businesses and has proven to be worth the investment time and again. Agencies like Local Digital have even made advertising on Facebook easier. This […] … learn more→

For decades, U.S. courts have ruled that public school students “do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression at the schoolhouse gate,” as the Supreme Court said in 1968. In that case, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District, the justices held that high school students who were suspended for protesting […] … learn more→

A Coalition party room meeting this week debated the A$1.7 billion childcare package announced in the budget, which would increase subsidies for families with more than one child in care and remove a cap on subsidies for higher-income families. Some MPs reportedly argued childcare shouldn’t be the only type of care being subsidised and parents should also […] … learn more→

Some of the things we reasonably thought turned out to be the other way around. Perhaps tolerance is the passion of the inquisitors and ignorance is strength. The point is that every time the media asks about Wikipedia they tend to ask the wrong questions. Is Wikipedia reliable? How good are Wikipedia articles? And here we could, in a […] … learn more→

If humans and mosquitoes had a battle at the end of the world, who would win? That’s the question I pose to 30 young kids each summer during a two-week camp called “Mosquitoes & Me” in Des Moines, Iowa. I am an educational anthropologist who studies the cultural dynamics of science education. Along with my colleagues Lyric Bartholomay and Sara […] … learn more→

When it comes to education, we cannot think about race, sex and class in isolation. When I was commissioned by the UK government to investigate how these issues affect academic achievement, I discovered how they all matter – and in combination. I believe that an analysis that focuses on any one of these in isolation […] … learn more→

Mentoring is known to be a critical component of job satisfaction and career development. It is also widely recognised that career advancement in medicine, research and health more broadly remains in favour of men. Traditional academic mentoring programs rely on a unidirectional mentor-mentee relationship: a senior academic mentors a junior (female) academic. This model has been shown […] … learn more→

Professors fiercely champion free speech. Many believe that unfiltered, even offensive, expression is fundamental to post-secondary academic life. But what about their students? Should student social media posts be punishable, even if they are made off-campus? This emerging issue in the perpetual battle over free expression speaks to the perils of ever-present devices, ubiquitous wifi and instantaneous […] … learn more→