Large-scale testing, or what many know as standardized testing, often carries important consequences for students. The results of large-scale tests may be used by schools or policy-makers to make important decisions such as grouping students by ability or assessing how well schools are doing. Yet when it comes to literacy testing, while the competencies of literacy have […] … learn more→

Admin: “Please be aware we had another phishing attempt on our servers, do not respond to e-mails in the following format…” –I get phishing/hacking e-mails on my institution’s account about every week or so. Like most folks, I get many “phishing” attempts on my e-mail. Some are quite good, but many have a weakness which […] … learn more→

A couple of weeks ago I shared some of the research I have been doing with my colleagues Associate Professor Hanna Suominen and Dr Will Grant about recruiter’s attitudes to PhD graduates. I recommend you read the previous post on anti-PhD attitudes before this one, but briefly: our research concerns recruiters, who are important gate keepers in the non-academic employment process. […] … learn more→

Of course a PhD is “hard” – as in it “has a high difficulty setting” and also “is a lot of work”. It is three or more years of creating new knowledge, after all. But how “hard” should it be, and what kind of “hard”? In my work teaching research and writing skills at La […] … learn more→

It is fashionable now to talk in France of alternative pedagogies in the continuity of the new education which, at the beginning of XX th century meant put the child’s needs at the heart of the system, and encourage more active posture students. The historical authors often cited are Steiner, Freinet, Montessori … In a […] … learn more→

Looking for another role be an exciting and/or daunting state. It could mean that you’re finishing your PhD, coming to the end of your contract (still waiting to hear if your contract is renewed…), or wanting to move on from where you are. There is work to do, however, before you actually are on that […] … learn more→

More Australian universities are relying on casual academics to teach their students. It’s difficult to estimate the exact proportion of academic staff on casual contracts, but reports suggest up to 80% of undergraduate courses in some Australian universities have been taught by a casual academic. By mid-2018, an estimated 94,500 people were employed at Australian universities on […] … learn more→

“To offer all students a greater openness to entrepreneurship” is one of the wishesexpressed by Minister Frédérique Vidal to the higher education community in January 2019. Would it be a matter of further stimulating more activity creation and systematically spot potential Bill Gates? The flowering of start-ups is certainly crucial for the French economy. But it turns […] … learn more→

As millions of people tune in to watch the Final Four, much of their focus will be on the numbers on the scoreboard. But a March 2019 report from U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, calls attention to numbers of a different sort. The report – titled “Madness, Inc.” – details just how […] … learn more→

Before the days of the student loan scam, universities were renowned for their endurance. The oldest university in the world is over a thousand years old, and even “abandoned” universities like in Timbuktu still endure, because they were collections of scholars…not institutions devoted to siphoning off student loan money. Despite the money pouring into higher […] … learn more→