The last weeks of January and the first of February are dates that in the university environment are associated with evaluation and exams. This year, in the context of the pandemic, we have observed a debate that has reached confrontation, regarding the adequacy or not of taking face-to-face exams in universities, at the height of the […] … learn more→

My earliest encounters with Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales are etched into my torn and tattered copy of the The Riverside Chaucer. I have even more indelible memories of my first seminar: sitting around a large table, forcibly holding down the edges of the hefty paperback, and nervously waiting for my turn to read a line of the General Prologue. Out loud. In […] … learn more→

Formal approval of Covid-19 vaccines means that colleges and universities around the world will soon face a fraught choice, if not a Faustian bargain: whether to mandate vaccinations for campus communities. In an era when even the smallest colleges possess a student health infrastructure capable of delivering mass inoculations, the temptation to vaccinate by fiat […] … learn more→

Jodi Benenson and Tara Kolar Bryan are professors in the School of Public Administration at the University of Nebraska Omaha. In the fall of 2020 they coordinated a team-taught graduate-level course called Pandemics, Protest and Policy that centered around public policy and management issues happening in real time. Here, they answer five questions about what they learned. 1. […] … learn more→

At a time when the world has been in chaos, it’s easy to forget young people might have completely different, yet significant and real, worries. We asked children about their sense of safety and what they worry about in their community. In July to August 2020 we used anonymous surveys with 176 young people aged […] … learn more→

Nobody could think 35 years ago that a puzzle would become the best-selling toy in the world , but the fact is that on January 30, 1978, the Hungarian sculptor and architect Hernö Rubik applied for a patent on what he then called “magic cube” . Completing this three-dimensional puzzle, better known as a Rubik’s cube, requires a series […] … learn more→

“School or no school, it won’t matter.” “Young people’s issues are minor compared to those of adults.” As researchers concerned with suicide prevention in youth, we sometimes hear people express sentiments like these about young people in the pandemic. But socialization is an important part of growing up. As much as COVID-19 has affected adults, […] … learn more→

Sport has benefits for education as well as for health and wellbeing. Being active can help with concentration, and improve grades. Sport also gives students skills that are valuable in the world of work, such as confidence, team working, leadership and communication skills. These can have a positive impact on future job opportunities. Despite this, involvement in […] … learn more→

National youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman’s recitation of “The Hill We Climb,” at Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration in the United States captured the attention of a nation and people globally. Gorman highlighted the power of poets in our current sociopolitical context to speak unique and timely truths, while tapping into larger literary traditions. Some commentators were […] … learn more→

On January 27 communities worldwide commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz — the largest complex of concentration camps and extermination centres during the Holocaust. This is the first year the International Holocaust Remembrance Day will be marked nationally in Australia. Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will address the event, which demonstrates the importance the government ascribes […] … learn more→