It’s a tough time to be a university student. Amid a global pandemic, overstretched mental health services and sweeping university staff cuts, students have had to attend classes and hand in assignments while juggling work, family and finances. For international students, isolation, cultural differences and extra expenses added to their worries. Unsurprisingly, university enrolments have […] … learn more→

Dance, by its very nature, is inclusive. It belongs to everybody and may appeal to young people who cannot engage in, or do not enjoy, traditional team games. Creative dance does not require formal training, making it ideal for all children – no matter their body type, cognitive ability, or skill level. It is not […] … learn more→

Agriculture will soon be worth A$100 billion a year to Australia. The industry employs more than 250,000 people, stewards 80% of our land area and drives world-class agribusiness and food sectors. In an uncertain employment market, every new agriculture graduate has a choice of six job opportunities. Agriculture today is fast-paced, global, diverse, reliant on high-end scientific discovery and increasingly responsive […] … learn more→

Dominique, a Black electrical engineering doctoral student, found herself in an awkward situation in the lounge of a hotel where she had been attending a conference on science. A white man at her table assumed a nearby Black woman was on the hotel cleaning staff, so he asked her to clean their table. The woman […] … learn more→

What have been the main talking points among academics as we’ve adapted to online teaching this year? The logistics of managing Zoom or Teams? Developing curriculum content? Making learning sessions engaging? At my own institution, much of the conversation has been about something quite different: what one colleague called “death by blank screen”. Why, colleagues […] … learn more→

Since COVID-19 forced many of America’s schools to teach kids remotely, parents and elected officials have been rightly concerned about when things will get back to normal. But there are certain aspects of education where a return to a prepandemic “normal” may not be in the best interests of America’s students. I believe that stationing […] … learn more→

If you are drafting, it is pretty easy to find a lot of advice about the benefits of free writing. Lots of people find that timed writing sprints help to generate content. Unstructured writing is useful to work out what you want want to say. The pomodoro sprint works really well for many academic writers, […] … learn more→

Results from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019 testing round were released last week. They showed Australia had improved in Year 8 maths and science, and Year 4 science, from the previous testing cycles. The TIMSS is a standardised, international assessment administered to check how effective countries are in teaching maths […] … learn more→

Good news on Covid vaccines has finally provided hope that the international student number may bounce back sooner rather than later. But the journey to something close to “normal” will be a tough one and the final destination may bear little resemblance to the student recruitment market that existed before the pandemic. The most immediate […] … learn more→

  On his first day in office, President-elect Biden vows to take swift action to ensure that the US rejoins the World Health Organization and Paris Climate Accord. But while the US might be about to rejoin the international community, it should not return to its old role as “leader of the free world”. That […] … learn more→