Last July 3-5 2023, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, made an annual visit of Indonesian-Australian leaders with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. The two country leaders agreed on several matters formulated in the Joint Communique: Indonesia-Australia Annual Leaders’ Meeting , one of which was a commitment to strengthen relations between the people of the […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
Foreign campuses penetrate Indonesia: the importance of strengthening local perspectives
Studying online: a long-distance race
Online education from home sounds great: in our pajamas, no traffic jams, no queues, no wasting time running from one place to another, just sitting at our desk, even on the sofa or in bed, and voila! With much more free time for other tasks, and in less time than in a face-to-face course, we will […] … learn more→
Exam results 2023: how to make sense of ‘grade deflation’ as A grades fall
Students across England are receiving lower grades than they might have done in 2022. The percentage of A or A* grades given for A-levels has fallen from 35.9% to 26.5% in 2023. Pupils’ grades are closer to those from before the pandemic, when 25.2% of results were at A or A*. In 2021, 88.2% of all grades […] … learn more→
How many words in a chapter – convention and purpose
The how-many-words-in-a-chapter question plagues book and thesis writers alike. When supervisors are asked about chapter word length, many of us hedge. It depends, we unhelpfully say, on how you have organised your results. The number of chapters and therefore words follow the way you construct your argument. You might have three cases and a cross […] … learn more→
How 25 years of education policy led us to believe we can only succeed in life with a degree
The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is putting measures in place to restrict student numbers on what he has termed “rip-off degrees”: university courses that have high drop-out rates and are unlikely to lead to highly skilled jobs. Instead, the government is promoting apprenticeships, through which young people train for a specific career while in employment. Ucas, […] … learn more→
Despite giving students chances to cheat, unsupervised online exams gauge student learning comparably to in-person exams
Students don’t have to be supervised during online exams. That’s because unsupervised online exams can accurately assess student learning, according to our study published in July 2023 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Our data set comprised nearly 2,000 students from a public university in the Midwest. We analyzed exam scores from the first […] … learn more→
I have too many words – why is this a problem?
It’s time for a look at the problem of too many words. Is this really a widespread problem I hear you ask? In a word, yes. You see, despite the worries about whether we will write enough, the reality is that a lot of us write too much, rather than write too little. Often far too […] … learn more→
Rhyme and reason – why a university professor uses poetry to teach math
Title of course: The Ways Math and Poetry Can Open Your Eyes to the World What prompted the idea for the course? I have always enjoyed writing poetry. As a high school mathematics teacher, I recall telling my students that everything is and can be connected to math, even creative writing. Then, as a graduate […] … learn more→
Help to settle in and friendships beyond class: what makes students feel like they belong at uni
Belonging is about feeling accepted, included and valued. If students feel like they belong at their university, research shows it plays a crucial role in their overall wellbeing, self-esteem, and motivation to study. As the Universities Accord interim report says, universities have an “obligation to students to foster belonging”. The draft report also notes “too few” Australians are completing […] … learn more→
3 ways higher education can become more hopeful in the post-pandemic, post-AI era
We live at a time when universities and colleges are facing multiplying crises, pressures and changes. From the COVID-19 pandemic and budgetary pressures to generative artificial intelligence (AI) and climate catastrophe, the future of higher education seems murky and fragmented — even gloomy. Student mental health is in crisis. University faculty in our own research from […] … learn more→