As the 30th anniversary of the movie Dead Poets Society arrives in June and the 200th birthday of the American poet Walt Whitman also passes, fans of the 1989 movie can take a moment to wonder at its inspirational grip. The film, considered for some as a dramatic highlight of Robin Williams’ career, told the story of students from a conservative elite […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
As Dead Poets Society turns 30, classroom rapport is still relevant and risky
Let’s make it mandatory to teach respectful relationships in every Australian school
Media reports of findings from the latest National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey caused a stir in recent days, with some highlighting the importance of education programs to teach young people about gender-based violence. The survey of young people, aged 16-24, revealed some concerning findings. Nearly one-quarter of respondents agreed that women tend to exaggerate the problem of […] … learn more→
Want to become a data scientist?
Data Science has been creating a buzzword for a while now with more people aiming to look ahead for the alluring career opportunities it comes with. In addition to this, if you are looking for a change in career to data science or you wish to build a career in it and you are extremely […] … learn more→
How South Africa’s universities are making more students multilingual
South Africa is a multilingual, multicultural space. As is the case for many other countries in Africa, it has a number of official languages – 11. Although the South African Constitution, other legislation and some policies promote the use and development of all 11 languages, this does not happen in practice. For instance, the country’s […] … learn more→
Learning from the enemy: A look at a diversity guide
Of all the corrupt, money-sucking fiefdoms on campus, none is more dangerous than the Diversity fiefdoms. Most people think our campuses are divided into departments and those certainly exist, but the departments only generate revenue for the school, providing classes for students to take. Much of that revenue pours in “institutes,” little fiefdoms which few, […] … learn more→
How to harness the power of semantic gravity in your writing
A month or two ago, I wrote a post called ‘The Uneven U’ which outlined ideas about paragraph structure from Eric Hayot’s book “The elements of academic style: writing for the humanities”. Briefly, Hayot claims that there are five levels of abstraction in sentence structure: Level five: Abstract; general, oriented toward a solution or conclusion Level Four: Less […] … learn more→
How reading enriches children’s education
For book lovers, it may seem obvious to share stories with their children. Why would not they pass on their love of letters to them? However, researchers have shown that the benefits of this activity are not limited to the creation of a link but go far beyond, both from the point of view of the adult […] … learn more→
The emerging impact landscape
There’s considerable confusion about what ‘impact’ is, and this is no surprise given that it’s a term that’s used for so many things in the contemporary research space. For my research, I’ve had many, many conversations with people across higher education in Australia and Canada at all career levels (research higher degree students, Early Career […] … learn more→
States – not just Congress – should unlock student financial aid for people in prison
When it comes to higher education in prison, much of the media and advocacy focus is on trying to get Congress to lift a longstanding ban on giving Pell Grants to people serving time. While a bipartisan effort to restore Pell Grant eligibility to people in prison has stirred optimism among advocates, the top Republican on the House Education Committee – U.S. Rep. Virginia […] … learn more→
Not every school’s anti-bullying program works – some may actually make bullying worse
School bullying can have serious consequences for victims including depression, psychosis, self-harm and suicide. With increasing evidence of harm, a groundswell of school anti-bullying programs and campaigns in Australia and internationally have vowed to stamp out bullying. The schools’ intentions are good, but often these programs have not been properly evaluated for effectiveness, and studies show some types of programs can actually make bullying […] … learn more→
