The LSU Top 5 #50
We’re 50 weeks old!
(Linking doesn’t mean we necessarily agree with these articles!)
Death of an adjunct – The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The death of an 83 year old adjunct French professor in poverty provides a cautionary tale of casualization of the university-teaching workforce.
NPR follows up (link).
Why this year’s freshers are just part of a failed experiment – The Guardian
In this article, the author argues that British (and other?) governments have failed students by investing in universities as job/economic-creation bodies, while the market has not responded to the large increase in graduates with a parallel increase in suitable jobs, leaving students in debt and dead-end jobs.
Grades improve when students lead learning – Times Higher Education
Putting students in the centre and letting them decide how they learn seems like a nice idea. But in an experiment at Avans University in the Netherlands, attendance rose from less than half to 96% and grades improved. A nice idea, and an effective one!
Employers and Community-College Students Aren’t Sold on Online Degrees, Survey Finds – The Chronicle of Higher Education
This author of this article seems surprised that many employers and students are less satisfied with online degrees. But given how recently online education has mainstreamed, which of these is more surprising?
- 56% of employers favoured applicants with a traditional degree; or 26% don’t care and 17% prefer online degrees?
- 42% of students reporting less learning from online courses; or 58% saying they learned as much or more?
It will be interesting to see how these change in the next few years.
Perma.cc – Harvard Law School Library
With 70% of published links in citations not linking to the original material, readers of even fairly new work must resort to a faith-based trust in the author’s reading and interpretation. Perma.cc, developed by the Harvard Law School Library in conjunction with other university law libraries, will store a frozen version of the cited material for two years or, if the citation is confirmed by a journal, in perpetuity. Still in beta, it isn’t clear if this will just be for law publications.
We love hearing your thoughts on these articles, so feel free to comment below!
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