The BBC salaries report has prompted me to do something that I’ve had in mind for quite some time. So here it is: my salary is £48,327. I am 42, and have had a full-time academic job since 2008, when I was 32. Before that, I took a long time to do a master’s and […] … learn more→
Author Archives: Kevin
Are academics paid too much?
Higher Ed as party trap
Admin, 1996: “If you do not get your retention up to 85%, your contract will not be renewed.” –why I had to leave a certain state university. “Retention” is the percent of students that do not drop the course and do not fail. On this particular campus of 50,000+ students, fraud was so rampant that […] … learn more→
Academic writing: how to stay afloat
How do successful academics write, and how do they learn to write? What are their daily routines, their formative experiences, their habits of mind? What emotions do they associate with their academic writing? And where do they find the “air and light and time and space”, as the poet Charles Bukowski put it, to get […] … learn more→
Optimism about US international student numbers is misplaced
At the recent annual conference of Nafsa: Association of International Educators in Los Angeles, many leaders in the field of internationalisation emphasised that global solidarity would remain despite US president Donald Trump’s “America first” stance and his curbs on travel and immigration from certain countries. They insisted that talk of deep declines in foreign student […] … learn more→
In the absence of national leadership, cities are driving climate policy
Imagine a future in which every one of Australia’s 537 local government areas, including all our capital cities and major regional centres, achieve net zero greenhouse emissions. It might sound like a pipe dream, but it could be closer than you think. A new Climate Council report, released today, tracks the climate action being taken […] … learn more→
When it comes to kids and social media, it’s not all bad news
While we often hear about the negative impact social media has on children, the use of sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram is not a one-size-fits-all activity. Children use it in a wide variety of ways – some of which are adding value to their lives. There are risks associated with social media use. But […] … learn more→
How much do you really understand about the peer-review process?
Every research-active academic is familiar with the process of peer review. Certainly, there are differences between disciplines, and debates over double-blind, single-blind and open (in all its different forms) continue to rage. But, fundamentally, most academics with whom I speak hold up peer review as the “gold standard” to which we should subject work. Yet, […] … learn more→
How to start podcasting your research
As you can tell, I love this work. So much so that I started a second podcast on the side called “You’ve Got This” for higher education professionals wanting to increase their confidence and capacity for dealing with the day-to-day demands of academia. Rather than an interview podcast, this is a solo show that usually […] … learn more→
Inaction on climate change risks leaving future generations $530 trillion in debt
By continuing to delay significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, we risk handing young people alive today a bill of up to US$535 trillion. This would be the cost of the “negative emissions” technologies required to remove CO₂ from the air in order to avoid dangerous climate change. These are the main findings of new […] … learn more→
Online Ed = Bad for bad students
For decades, there’s been a constant push to bring coursework online. From an administrative point of view, online courses are wonderful: almost no overhead, a worldwide market, and possibly infinite class size. The big expense is you need an educator to run (note: I don’t use the word “teach”) the course, but you can use […] … learn more→
