Contract cheating – where commercial cheating services provide assignments for university students – has become a global problem. Australia is not immune. According to the latest data, record numbers of Australian students are paying someone else to do their assessments. This comes amid broader concerns about rising levels of cheating during COVID. Last week, the University of […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
With record numbers of students cheating, unis should revert to old school in-person exams
Retraining: those bac+5 who turn to crafts
An interior designer turned baker, an ex-banker at the head of his cheese factory, or a marketing manager turned electrician… such professional trajectories, if they remain atypical, are less and less surprising today. On the one hand, professional retraining is normalizing: according to the third Center Inffo/CSA training and employment barometer , 21% of working people were preparing for […] … learn more→
Why I teach a course connecting Taylor Swift’s songs to the works of Shakespeare, Hitchcock and Plath
What prompted the idea for the course? This class is part of a group of introductory English offerings that focus on basic methods of literary analysis and research. It fulfills different requirements for potential English majors and the general student population, so I am always looking for news ways to engage them. For a few […] … learn more→
The universities accord could see the most significant changes to Australian unis in a generation
On Wednesday evening, Education Minister Jason Clare announced key details for the universities accord. Clare wants to make a “long-term plan” for universities with the terms of reference covering funding, affordability, employment conditions for staff and how universities and TAFEs can work together. This will be the first broad review of the system since the 2008 Bradley Review. […] … learn more→
To solve society’s challenges, universities must engage with alternative ways of knowing
Almost 50 Canadian universities and colleges signed the Scarborough Charter on Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion in Canadian Higher Education. The charter, which emerged from a national conversation in 2020, acknowledged the ethical responsibility of universities “to give voice to alternative ways of knowing.” These tools for thought, or “ways of knowing,” are crucial to real problem […] … learn more→
Everything is in the comics: how to take advantage of them to strengthen knowledge
Ana, a student teacher, is about to attend her Physics and Chemistry class, something she doesn’t like very much. For her, who comes from a baccalaureate of letters, her pure sciences always seemed difficult to understand. At the other end of the city, 12-year-old Jordi has breakfast reluctantly, because he’s on Natural Sciences first thing in […] … learn more→
International students are returning to Australia, but they are mostly going to more prestigious universities
When Australia’s borders slammed shut during COVID, international students were among those who were stranded. This disrupted lives and studies, and put a major revenue stream for Australian universities in doubt. The latest data shows international students are returning to Australia. Since international borders reopened in December 2021, the number of overseas students in Australia has risen […] … learn more→
Motivation and belonging: the keys for women to stay in engineering
Women continue to be underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers, and specifically in engineering. Numerous initiatives are helping to attract more women to these careers; however, something seems to be wrong when they reach university, as they show a 23% higher dropout rate than men. Our recent study has investigated the reasons for abandonment, with the aim of designing effective measures to retain these […] … learn more→
Future Air Force officers get a 30,000-foot view of death in this course
Course Title: “Death, Dying, and Finding Meaning” What does the course explore? Our course explores not only how people die in the physical, biological sense but also personal and societal beliefs about dying, death, and the afterlife. We do this in various ways. First, students write about and share their own experiences with death. Some […] … learn more→
What is academic optimism and how to achieve it
We live in a time of accelerated changes in the social, economic, and technological fields. The school lives its own scenario of changes, also multiple and complex: From a school based exclusively on content to a school focused on skills that include that content and its application in specific problem situations. From a pencil and paper […] … learn more→
