When 12 students and one teacher were killed in Littleton, Colorado 20 years ago, it not only became what at the time was the worst high school shooting in U.S. history. It also marked when American society was first handed a script for a new form of violence in schools. We make that observation as researchers – […] … learn more→
Author Archives: Kevin
How Columbine became a blueprint for school shooters
Why the world is due a revolution in economics education
Economic thinking governs much of our world. But the discipline’s teaching is stuck in the past. Centred around antiquated 19th-century models built on Newtonian physics, economics treats humans as atomic particles, rather than as social beings. While academic research often manages to transcend this simplicity, undergraduate education does not – and the influence of these simplified ideas is […] … learn more→
How fake news gets into our minds, and what you can do to resist it
Although the term itself is not new, fake news presents a growing threat for societies across the world. Only a small amount of fake news is needed to disrupt a conversation, and at extremes it can have an impact on democratic processes, including elections. But what can we do to avoid fake news, at a time when we could […] … learn more→
Who needs an editor? You.
I work as an editor and have felt a little overwhelmed by the number of language errors and typos I’ve spotted in books and on signs lately. There’s no need to be afraid of editors. Most of us are gentle, friendly souls who just want to help others communicate more effectively. Someone once described editors […] … learn more→
The collapse of America’s largest University isn’t good…it’s great!
It really is a wonder what makes a news cycle. A few dozen Muslims get killed by a Leftist lunatic in New Zealand, and it’s all over the US news, and they can’t even get the political affiliation of the self-proclaimed terrorist right. Meanwhile, about a dozen Christians are killed every day just for being […] … learn more→
What robots and AI may mean for university lecturers and students
The number of robots around the world is increasing rapidly. And it’s said that automation will threatening more than 800m jobs worldwide by 2030. In the UK, it’s claimed robots will replace 3.6m workers by this date, which means one in five British jobs would be performed by an intelligent machine. Jobs in higher education are no exception […] … learn more→
Intelligence mé trust you received ideas!
Updating our representations of intelligence is not useless in the current context of a knowledge economy. It is now common to hear about smart objects, homes or smart cars. But then does not the human being have an intelligence different from that of machines, objects or even animals, even plants? If everyone – humans, objects, animals and […] … learn more→
Destress from the academic week
If it is not teaching students, it is preparing for the next day or week and then marking and assessing the students work. If that is not difficult enough add in one thousand different administration tasks that need to be completed. All this while keeping a smile on your face and a kind word for […] … learn more→
The abysmal rabbithole of Higher Ed corruption
I’ve written before the college paper writing scam, where a significant portion of college papers are written by ghost writers. Every few years, one of these ghost writers “spills the beans,” exposing just how easy this is to do. Back when college classes had 25 students or less, when faculty weren’t teaching half a dozen […] … learn more→
Linguists found the weirdest languages – and English is one of them
Is English “weird”? Many of us might feel this is true when we’re trying to explain the complex spelling rules of the language, or the meanings of idioms such as “it’s raining cats and dogs” to someone who is learning English. Teaching or learning any language is, however, never an easy task. But what is a “weird” […] … learn more→
