Summer Edition _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Extremism risks uni reputation : Pyne Academic extremism risks damaging the standing of Australia's universities, says education minister Christopher Pyne. 6 January 2014 | Pyne's comments come in the wake of the controversy over the support for the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement by Sydney University's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies and that a Sydney University senior lecturer was part of a WikiLeaks Party delegation granted an audience with Syrian dictator … [Read more...]
MOOCs as a form of furtive learning
03/01/2014 by
The Scan has tended to ignore MOOCs apart from "big" developments - Australian universities joining up with MOOC platforms (Coursera, edX) or Australian universities setting up their own platforms (Deakin, UNE, OUA). One of our most visited posts ever (from 2012) is UNSW launches a MOOC program. A search of our posts still reveals a lot of posts - dozens???? We posted something for The Summer Edition from the Christian Science Monitor - Are MOOCs making education a monoculture? - which has attracted an interesting amount of interest. We hope the CSM benefits - it's a quality media outlet. We'll do somewhat more on MOOCs in future - there's a lot of interest ...a little bit more than we … [Read more...]
Things to do
30/12/2013 by
iTunes U If you’ve got an Apple device - iPad, iPhone or iPod - you can improve your mind while you're relaxing on the beach - cue up ancient Roman history or physics podcasts on La Trobe University’s iTunesU. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Summer School for Gardeners Open Gardens Australia and the University of Melbourne are conducting the inaugural Summer School for Gardeners - Keeping Gardening Down to Earth at Melbourne's Burnley campus 22-24 January 2014. The three-day seminar and workshop program will provide opportunities to learn about the latest gardening … [Read more...]
Melbourne awarded $20M for new ARC Centre of Excellence
28/12/2013 by
University of Melbourne Newsroom | 18 December 2013 The University of Melbourne will lead the establishment of a new $20M ARC Centre of Excellence, which will create innovative mathematical and statistical models for analysing big data sets. Many data sets and collections have the potential to make vital contributions to society, business and government, as well as impact on international developments, but they are so large or complex that they are difficult to process and analyse using traditional tools, said Melbourne’s ARC Laureate Fellow, Professor Peter Hall. Current solutions are ad-hoc, since adequate, mathematically founded statistical techniques currently … [Read more...]
Coates appointed to lead CSHE
04/12/2013 by
4 December 2013 Hamish Coates has been appointed to the Chair of Higher Education at The University of Melbourne’s influential Centre for the Study of Higher Education, succeeding Simon Marginson. A specialist in assessment and evaluation, Coates focuses on improving the quality and productivity of learning, academic work and leadership. Coates says he welcomes the opportunity to contribute to CSHE’s research and professional development: Universities have never been more important for our future, yet funding is tight and complexities abound. In coming years we’ll lead R&D that creates new value for higher education, helping to further build Melbourne as an international … [Read more...]
A system of capped funding?
14/11/2013 by
IRU News | 1 November 2013 Capping university funding, as proposed by Melbourne University vice-chancellor, Glyn Davis, would create a system that would be opaque, have no coherence across institutions and invite extensive micro managing of university expenditure, writes Conor King of the Innovative Research Universities group. What does it mean to change university funding to a capped funding amount which universities can use as they will? Can it both give Government certainty of expenditure and protect universities from micro managing of their operations? Under current arrangements universities receive base funding based on the load of enrolled students in particular … [Read more...]
The Scan | #143 | 11 November 2013
11/11/2013 by
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Typhoon Haiyan slams the PhilippinesSuper Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful on record, destroyed thousands of homes as it tracked across central Philippines. Winds of more than 300km/h, flash flooding and landslides have left families without shelter, food and water. Thousands of people are feared dead. Red Cross staff and volunteers are on the ground in the disaster-affected communities, helping people evacuate and providing emergency first aid and relief supplies, such as food, water and … [Read more...]
Capping uni funding would be a lose-lose for everyone
09/11/2013 by
The Conversation | 9 November 2013 Melbourne University’s Vice-Chancellor Glyn Davis has called on the federal government to reform the university funding system and allow universities to “decide their own student profiles within the funding envelope”. “Decide student profiles” sounds better than “restricting access” and “within the funding envelope” certainly sounds more agreeable than “cutting higher education funding” but they amount to the same thing. If Davis’ suggestion is taken up by the government, there will be significant consequences with regards to who will be able to get into university and what they will be able to study. The current uncapped system, where there … [Read more...]
Would-be teachers face personality testing
08/11/2013 by
The Age | 7 November 2013 At Melbourne University, aspiring teachers must now navigate an online test that looks for personality traits that will help them get the most from their training. This year about 1500 students with undergraduate qualifications used the survey tool, which also tests verbal communication and numerical ability. Only about a quarter of the applicants who took the test will be accepted. Students who want to graduate as teachers from Melbourne University must complete postgraduate qualifications in education. Melbourne University education professor John Hattie said the test assesses a broad range of traits from extroversion and agreeableness to … [Read more...]
Cap funding, says Davis
08/11/2013 by
The Australian | 8 November 2013 Uncapped funding for university enrolments should be replaced by an entirely new system that caps funding to institutions but allows them to set their own goals, according to Melbourne University vice-chancellor Glyn Davis. Under the Rudd-Gillard governments, universities witnessed a 34% rise in undergraduate enrolments, with government spending on university places forecast to rise from $5bn in 2010-11 to $7bn by 2016-17. Davis says the review of the uncapped system foreshadowed by education minster Christopher Pyne needs to give the government budget certainty while allowing universities the freedom to determine the make-up of their student … [Read more...]
