Monthly Archives: August 2025

Expressing gratitude isn’t necessary, but a little appreciation may still go a long way

Expressing gratitude isn’t necessary, but a little appreciation may still go a long way

Gratitude statements like “Thanks! You are so kind!” and “Thank you! What you did was really helpful,” are common when someone receives assistance from another person. Such expressions of gratitude and appreciation have long been thought to encourage the helper to do kind things again in the future. But do they? In contrast to past research, […] … learn more→

Four ways to experiment with artificial intelligence in the university classroom

Four ways to experiment with artificial intelligence in the university classroom

Every day, students arrive in class with summaries compiled by ChatGPT or ideas outlined by a virtual assistant . Given this reality, an awkward question arises: what’s the point of meeting in class? The traditional classroom is losing its meaning as a place where what a machine can generate in seconds is repeated. The challenge , then, is to […] … learn more→

The cabinet of unrealised ideas

The cabinet of unrealised ideas

Ever thought about writing a campus novel? I often play with plots but never get around to the writing. And I get stuck on endings, just as I do when I write an academic paper! I recently dipped into my cabinet of unrealised ideas and pulled out… Title: “Attribution” The book examines how institutional failures can […] … learn more→

Preparing for School sports: Outdoor gear essentials

Preparing for School sports: Outdoor gear essentials

Ready to make sure your athlete is prepared for all of school sports has to offer? With over 8 million participants in high school sports in the 2023-24 school year, student athletics have never been more popular or more competitive. 54% of high schoolers are involved in some kind of team sport, and the right […] … learn more→

Does ChatGPT make us stupid?

Does ChatGPT make us stupid?

In 2008, The Atlantic magazine shocked the public with a controversial report entitled: Is Google Making Us Stupid ? In a 4,000-word essay that later became a book , the author, Nicholas Carr, answered this poignant question. The short answer is yes: Technologies like search engines impair the ability to think deeply and acquire knowledge. Carr’s core argument is […] … learn more→

Maths is most popular A-level again – more students should get the opportunity to take their study further

Maths is most popular A-level again – more students should get the opportunity to take their study further

In 2025, more young people than ever have opened their A-level results to find out how they did in their maths exam. Once again, maths has been the most popular A-level subject, with 112,138 entries in 2025. This is up by more than 4% compared with 2024. Entries in further maths, an A-level that expands on the […] … learn more→

Exactly what is in the Ivy League deals with the Trump administration – and how they compare

Exactly what is in the Ivy League deals with the Trump administration – and how they compare

The Trump administration and Harvard University are reportedly close to reaching a settlement that would require Harvard to pay US$500 million in exchange for the government releasing frozen federal funding and ending an investigation into antisemitism on campus. This follows similar deals the White House struck with Columbia University and Brown University in July 2025. Both of those universities agreed to undertake campus […] … learn more→

What if AI could help us disconnect and achieve digital well-being?

What if AI could help us disconnect and achieve digital well-being?

In 2022, nearly two-thirds of the world’s population was an internet user. In absolute terms, that’s 5.28 billion people who, on average, spend nearly seven hours a day in front of a screen. We live, then, in a hyperconnected world in which the work environment has become flexible. But this flexibility, which has positive aspects such as work-life balance […] … learn more→

More and more people are seeking lifelong learning.

More and more people are seeking lifelong learning.

Education has historically been one of the fundamental pillars for the development of societies, constantly evolving to adapt to the social, economic, and cultural changes of each era. In recent decades, the acceleration of technological transformations and globalization have generated a new educational paradigm that transcends traditional concepts of when and how learning occurs. The knowledge […] … learn more→

AI is making reading books feel obsolete – and students have a lot to lose

AI is making reading books feel obsolete – and students have a lot to lose

A perfect storm is brewing for reading. AI arrived as both kids and adults were already spending less time reading books than they did in the not-so-distant past. As a linguist, I study how technology influences the ways people read, write and think. This includes the impact of artificial intelligence, which is dramatically changing how people engage with books or other kinds of writing, […] … learn more→