The National Tertiary Education Union this week struck an agreement with universities that no ongoing university staff member would be stood down involuntarily without pay. This deal is contingent on staff above a certain pay grade taking a cut of up to 15% of their salary. It’s still uncertain how many universities will sign up to the […] … learn more→
Author Archives: Kevin
More than 70% of academics at some universities are casuals. They’re losing work and are cut out of JobKeeper
The benefits of taking popular supplements
In the past, pills, powders, as well as shakes for muscle building and boosting energy levels were a preserve for professional bodybuilders. However, things are changing. Nowadays, anybody can invest in these bodybuilding products and become fit. You can take supplements and build that extra stamina. If you want to be built, you can purchase […] … learn more→
Drawing a family tree with your child: what psychology says about it
Digital technologies have not returned genealogy to the obsolete leisure department, on the contrary. This practice is now experiencing a resurgence of interest to the point that specialized software is available to carry out its family tree and that we speak of “geneanauts”, to designate those who navigate on the web in search of traces of […] … learn more→
Social distancing is no reason to stop service learning – just do it online
At Troy University in Alabama, students went online to help a county with a high infant mortality rate in the state of Georgia to analyze health disparities and develop solutions. At Cornell University, where I teach, law students are providing legal services online to death-row inmates in Tanzania and children and young farmworkers in upstate New York. At […] … learn more→
Will Covid-19 change universities forever? Don’t jump to conclusions
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, we are being told that higher education will never be the same again. Many commentators are predicting dramatic, lasting effects on universities, going well beyond what we actually know about the immediate impact of Covid-19 on international student recruitment for the next academic year. The virus has inspired […] … learn more→
Where do I call time on the way we do the PhD
There’s a looming economic crisis in higher education. Perhaps you have lost work already and you’re wondering how you will support yourself (I’m really sorry). It’s hard to know if you’ll get more or less teaching next semester and what form it will take. Will it be online? Or face to face? Maybe your courses […] … learn more→
Debate: Between the State, teachers and parents, the time for a new school contract?
What if the experience of containment was ultimately good for the school? As with any crisis, the lessons that can be drawn from it will depend on the ulterior motives that both will invest in it. By extracting oneself from the political perspectives that will have to be analyzed at one time or another, a new horizon […] … learn more→
Why children need to play with their friends as soon as they can
Approximately 1.4 billion children worldwide are currently living under partial or full lockdown as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the UK, and in many other countries across the world, it has been six weeks or longer since children last played, in person, with a friend. Initial data collected as part of my ongoing research […] … learn more→
Online invigilation will be a tough examination
With many universities shifting their exams online as a result of the coronavirus, questions are being asked about how students can be given an equal chance to succeed given their varying levels of access to a conducive home environment. This, I predict, is likely to be a very vexed issue given the volume of complaints […] … learn more→
What we do and don’t know about the links between air pollution and coronavirus
As an atmospheric scientist, I am well aware that air pollution is bad. And as a human being in 2020, I am also well aware that this coronavirus is also bad. However, while it’s true that both pollution and the pandemic are worse in cities, simplistic correlations between air quality and COVID-19 deaths have often […] … learn more→
