Founded in 1989, the German Association for Australian Studies is a politically independent, interdisciplinary organisation devoted in the public interest to furthering scholarship concerned in the broadest way with Australia and to promoting Australian studies, both in teaching and research, in German-speaking countries. #Australia #HigherEd https://australienstudien.org/about-us/

Founded in 1989, the German Association for Australian Studies is a politically independent, interdisciplinary organisation devoted in the public interest to furthering scholarship concerned in the broadest way with Australia and to promoting Australian studies, both in teaching and research, in German-speaking countries. #Australia #HigherEd https://australienstudien.org/about-us/

By boosting graduation rates, earnings and upward mobility for low-income Black students, Historically Black Colleges and Universities reduce the risk factors tied to crime and incarceration.

A criminology scholar defends this:
https://theconversation.com/historically-black-colleges-and-universities-do-more-than-offer-black-youths-a-pathway-to-opportunity-and-success-i-teach-criminology-and-my-research-suggests-another-benefit-272976
#highered

Summary of efforts to reform how college teaching is evaluated https://engagedlearningcollective.substack.com/p/a-practical-guide-to-modern-teaching-evaluation?publication_id=2871860&post_id=186426333
See the TEval project for some best practices: https://teval.net/
But also this 6-year old google doc that already had over 100 references about bias in student evaluations of teaching: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14JiF-fT--F3Qaefjv2jMRFRWUS8TaaT9JjbYke1fgxE/edit?tab=t.0
#EdDev #Teaching #HigherEd #HigherEdReform

Sharing this one for those outside of Australia as its a doozy.

How Australia’s university students are using to AI to cheat their way to a degree

Students are graduating with degrees they never earned as AI tools write their assignments, sit their exams and secure High Distinctions. Why aren’t our universities doing anything about it?

https://archive.is/OrCkX

#HigherEd #Education #AIinEducation

Sharing this one for those outside of Australia as its a doozy.

How Australia’s university students are using to AI to cheat their way to a degree

Students are graduating with degrees they never earned as AI tools write their assignments, sit their exams and secure High Distinctions. Why aren’t our universities doing anything about it?

https://archive.is/OrCkX

#HigherEd #Education #AIinEducation

It's really hard to take McGill University's austerity talk seriously when they're dumping millions of dollars on union-busting law firms, anti-labor consultancy firms, and private police to intimidate its students.

#McGillUniversity #TheRover #unions #highered

https://therover.ca/mcgill-spent-over-1-million-fighting-unionization/

It's really hard to take McGill University's austerity talk seriously when they're dumping millions of dollars on union-busting law firms, anti-labor consultancy firms, and private police to intimidate its students.

#McGillUniversity #TheRover #unions #highered

https://therover.ca/mcgill-spent-over-1-million-fighting-unionization/

Do most people know that a ‘good’, 'full-time', 'permanent' job in #STEM #research is often just a constant search for part-time, temp jobs called ‘grants’?

This very short article explains the increasingly #softMoney model of #science in #higherEd:

https://grad.uw.edu/advice/debunking-myths-about-tenure-track-positions/

Yesterday I learned that some high schools in my metro area now give “writing assignments” based on an instruction to prompt an #LLM. The student does no actual writing, because “ #AI is the future.” Writing, it appears, is an output-only process, just as reading is a facts-extracting-only process. This is a PSA to #highered faculty for next year and beyond.

Yesterday I learned that some high schools in my metro area now give “writing assignments” based on an instruction to prompt an #LLM. The student does no actual writing, because “ #AI is the future.” Writing, it appears, is an output-only process, just as reading is a facts-extracting-only process. This is a PSA to #highered faculty for next year and beyond.

Since this morning I have received 35 emails from a colleague who has somehow triggered an out-of-office message response to all their received emails going back to spring 2023. I used to team teach with this colleague, so their out-of-office-bot has a lot of old emails from me to respond to. The office has messaged them asking them to turn off their out-of-office message, but they are, you know, out of the office. #officelife #highered #ugh

Since this morning I have received 35 emails from a colleague who has somehow triggered an out-of-office message response to all their received emails going back to spring 2023. I used to team teach with this colleague, so their out-of-office-bot has a lot of old emails from me to respond to. The office has messaged them asking them to turn off their out-of-office message, but they are, you know, out of the office. #officelife #highered #ugh

Seeking advice. I frequently teach a #HigherEd #AcademicChatter class in the US on Social Informatics which includes a module on #OpenGovernment and #CivicTech to give students an overview of the sector (international, national, state/provincial, local) as a public good, driver of economic health, and locus for potential careers. Obviously there have been changes in US federal policies with deleterious trends in the past year, and I have those covered.

I am seeking help covering emerging #DigitalSovereignty trends. Especially those which involve non-US entities leaving or planning departures from US-based tech because of any combination of tariff demands, copyright/surveillance policies, or other concerns about corporate and/or political power. I already cover the UK transition to Open Document Format in 2014. So I'm not presenting this as something new, but the speed and urgency is definitely picking up (see example links of EU moves to promote FOSS alternatives to US tech, France dropping Teams and Zoom).

1. Examples and links are definitely welcome

2. Thoughts from folks about how to explain this emergent scenario to US-based #ComputerScience and #Informatics and other college students, and its impacts on their futures. Thoughts from outside and inside the US are very welcome.

3. Same as no.2 but where do you see this trend in 5 years? 10 years?

You read this far? Thank you! Wow!

e.g. EU https://www.opensourceforu.com/2026/01/eu-plans-to-scale-open-source-into-commercial-rivals-to-us-technology/

e.g. France https://www.zdnet.com/article/france-dumps-teams-zoom-digital-sovereignty-replacement/

Seeking advice. I frequently teach a #HigherEd #AcademicChatter class in the US on Social Informatics which includes a module on #OpenGovernment and #CivicTech to give students an overview of the sector (international, national, state/provincial, local) as a public good, driver of economic health, and locus for potential careers. Obviously there have been changes in US federal policies with deleterious trends in the past year, and I have those covered.

I am seeking help covering emerging #DigitalSovereignty trends. Especially those which involve non-US entities leaving or planning departures from US-based tech because of any combination of tariff demands, copyright/surveillance policies, or other concerns about corporate and/or political power. I already cover the UK transition to Open Document Format in 2014. So I'm not presenting this as something new, but the speed and urgency is definitely picking up (see example links of EU moves to promote FOSS alternatives to US tech, France dropping Teams and Zoom).

1. Examples and links are definitely welcome

2. Thoughts from folks about how to explain this emergent scenario to US-based #ComputerScience and #Informatics and other college students, and its impacts on their futures. Thoughts from outside and inside the US are very welcome.

3. Same as no.2 but where do you see this trend in 5 years? 10 years?

You read this far? Thank you! Wow!

e.g. EU https://www.opensourceforu.com/2026/01/eu-plans-to-scale-open-source-into-commercial-rivals-to-us-technology/

e.g. France https://www.zdnet.com/article/france-dumps-teams-zoom-digital-sovereignty-replacement/

I welcome the new Alliance for Higher Ed ( #AHE).
https://allianceforhighered.org

"The Alliance is the coalition uniting all of higher education to defend and improve the field as a foundational pillar of democracy. We stand in opposition to authoritarian policy and actions, financial intimidation, and political interference."

Article about it:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/politics-elections/2026/01/28/alliance-forms-protect-higher-ed-political-meddling

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #HigherEd #Trump #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

"These court victories tell us that … we have a right to say that Charlie Kirk said some disgusting things, and just because we’re faculty members doesn’t mean we don’t have the right to say those things"

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/weekly-education/2026/01/26/faculty-firings-over-kirk-commentary-are-unraveling-00745705

#uspol #AAUP #HigherEd #academia

Free hybrid #Quarto workshops this week @unibibkoeln and on Zoom:

**Thursday 22 January**
10.00 – 11.30 Intro to Quarto – Papers and Slides
14.00 – 15.30 Themes, templates, pandoc – Style your Quarto
16.00 – 17.30 ReproducibiliTea in the HumaniTeas: Quarto/RMarkdown for reproducible research and academic writing

**Friday 23 January**
10.00 – 12.30 Quarto for teaching and Open Educational Resources
14.00 – 16.00 Using Quarto with #git

Registration and detailed schedule: https://gschwier.pages.git.nrw/quartoworkshop2026/

Artwork CC BY Allison Horst from the “Hello, Quarto” keynote by Julia Lowndes and Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel, first presented at the #RStudio Conference 2022.

#ReproducibiliTea #academia #Rstats #OpenScience #OER #OpenEducation #HigherEd

@npub16dsu2ghu9yd363utyw7dejqc8rgx5ps7r4hxddrvx2x64dh73p7qqkh6vy

After exclusions the sample was closer to 100. That’s actually decent, given typical course enrollments in #higherEd. It’s also enough statistical power to detect the effects that prior research when comparing between (rather than within) participants’.