Did you get where you intended to in life? Are you as healthy, wealthy and wise as you want to be? If not, perhaps the problem is a lack of motivation. Some studies suggest that motivation – rather than ability or skill – is the best predictor of educational and professional attainment. But what do […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
Do challenges make school seem impossible or worthwhile?
What do examiners think of the PhD by publication?
The thesis-by-publication (or alternative thesis) format is becoming more and more ‘trendy’ for the modern day PhD student. This approach offers students an opportunity to write their thesis alongside writing peer reviewed publications and refining those all-important research skills. There are many excellent ‘how-to’ articles out there, but what do examiners think of alternative thesis? […] … learn more→
It’s that time of year…
As this post publishes I am on my way to the Tate Summer School, the gallery’s annual professional development programme for teachers. I’ve been making this journey at this time of year since 2012. This is my sixth Summer School. Why? Because I work as a partner ethnographer, “embedded’ in the Tate Schools and Teachers team who […] … learn more→
Florida remediation doubles down on doublespeak
One of the best kept secrets of “higher ed” is how much of it is repetition of high school, or lower. It’s particularly bad at what are called (or used to be called) community colleges, institutions taxpayers were suckered into paying for in exchange for their kids being “taught” the same subjects taxpayers paid for […] … learn more→
‘Unfair’ student loan system must be reviewed
For an 18-year-old with limited experience of the earnings and tax system, it’s not easy to foresee the long-term effects of borrowing the average £44,000 cost of a degree. So a new report by London Economics, commissioned by my union, the University and College Union, should be required reading for all Year 13 and college students and […] … learn more→
Are academics paid too much?
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→
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→
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→
