EduLinks – Work, work, work and philosophy

More links to sink your teeth into…

BBC – The unstoppable rise of work experience

An increasing number of graduates are taking on internships. What’s going on?

Nick Petrie – Student media should work together

Online networks are so powerful when people come together. Student media could prove so much stronger if they emulate this collaboration.

Exquisite Life – Coalition politics, graduate taxes and the Browne review

What could come out of the Browne review and how will the coalition government deal with it?  William Cullerne Bown takes a detailed look.

BBC – Teaching philosophy with Spider-Man

Think that complex moral and ethical debates are stuffy and boring?  Think again. Academics have found that comics can tap surprisingly well into these discussions.

From Times Higher Education – Teaching graduates how to think will help them get jobs

“The point-scoring-let’s-assess-everything mentality seems to have turned off the genes for seeing the bigger picture. On graduating, the average student is rather like Kaspar Hauser on his first day on the streets: still needing to be taught how to think.

“What graduates really need is a broad grasp of ideas and concepts, with the ability to articulate them, either in writing or verbally, in a clear, logical, unambiguous way.”

From National Association of Scholars – Wanted: A college degree and the ability to lift 50 pounds

“Limiting job candidates to those who have completed college degrees erects an entry barrier for ‘less-educated’ individuals with quality work and life experiences, in addition to reinforcing the idea that everyone has to seek a college degree to have a successful career. In turn, this message (along with government and media influences) contributes to pushing millions of people who do not have the desire or ability—or need—for true higher learning through the college system. These pressures create a host of unintended consequences such as excessively lowered classroom standards in order to ‘maintain a respectful graduation rate’ or students overconsuming education in lieu of work experience – the latter of which is more likely to increase employability.”

Learning Styles Don’t Exist

Hat tip to @amcunningham for that video.

Employability & the Role of the University

Should universities teach students how to find a job? Are employment skills a necessary requirement for higher education to deliver today?

photo by micn2sugars

photo by micn2sugars

With so many new graduates each year, employers are spoilt for choice on who to give a job. If a company wants to recruit graduates, it’ll have no difficulty. If a company wants to recruit graduates with specific skills, the choice may be more difficult.

It’s like with A-levels. Universities find it increasingly difficult to work out which students to give offers to, because so many A-level students are receiving good grades. More unis are asking for at least one A* grade to help identify students of the highest calibre. But what happens when this grade fails to identify anything useful? And is this still a reasonable and effective method of finding the most able students?

There was a time when simply ‘being a graduate’ was enough to help you stand out from the crowd. Securing employment wasn’t as tough, because there were fewer graduates in the same position. Regardless of actual ability, having a degree was a notch above many.

Yet today, with so many graduates in the mix, employers look for more than a grade. Even a First at a prestigious university isn’t enough to grab whatever you desire.

Where does that leave you upon graduation? Should universities be responsible for ensuring a certain level of competence or employability before allowing you to graduate?

I’m not convinced it should be obligatory.  As a place of learning, university isn’t solely about business and career.  And it’s not possible to attain a particular level or type of ’employability’.

For instance, Boden & Nedeva highlight differences between Anglia Ruskin and Oxford:

“It is likely that local interpretations of notions of what makes graduates employable would be different for the University of Oxford and Anglia Ruskin University. The University of Oxford website does not contain an employability statement but, despite this, Oxford graduates are widely regarded as highly employable. Moreover, education at Oxford has not been changed in accordance with the employability agenda: broad-based knowledge and cultural capital are still the currencies that students accumulate.”
[Employing discourse: universities and graduate ’employability’]

Despite this, I believe students should be assured the following, whatever institution they attend:

  • Guaranteed availability of assistance and preparation for life after graduation if a student should request it;
  • Continued support from careers services, including a more detailed and personal service in some cases;
  • Clear information & explanation on improving employability and transition into work;
  • Before going in to HE, give students awareness that a degree is not an automatic passport to a job or career;
  • Give those pre-HE students guidance on the alternatives to university, along with general pros and cons to each.

I’m uncertain who would be responsible for supplying the resources for the last two points…universities, schools, government department, outsourced…?  But it is necessary.  Harriet Dunbar-Goddet at 1994 Group makes a simple, yet entirely valid point:

“Information is not enough, prospective students also need advice and guidance on how to make use of it.”

Any number of tools can be offered to students, but it counts for nothing if there is little awareness and an inability to make proper use of those tools.

In response to Harriet’s point, I said that it’s like being given all the separate components to build a car and then being expected to build it yourself with no fuss. You’d recognise some of the parts, but they would mean nothing in isolation.  There is similarity in this:

“As Tomlinson (2007) points out, students nowadays no longer anticipate a clear link between their merit in education and its reward in the labour market.”
[Less time to study, less well prepared for work, yet satisfied with higher education]

A selection of courses at some universities allow a year in relevant industry. This helps many graduates stand out both on their CV and in terms of actual experience, which is often lacking upon graduation.  Bullock et al, say:

“Our study confirms other findings that an extended work placement enhances the likelihood of a good degree and preferred employment. Although the sandwich model preferred in this university is not perfect, the perception shared by students, academics and employers is that benefits outweigh drawbacks.”
[‘Work placement experience: should I stay or should I go?‘]

Even if work placements and generous employability support are provided by universities, is it enough?  A recent paper by Hinchliffe & Jolly examines broader knowledge, identity and well-being as possible keys to greater employability. They look at a more holistic approach whereby students focus not solely on employability, but on the bigger picture:

“Our studies suggest that universities and government would be better employed promoting student employability indirectly through the promotion of graduate identity and well-being (through the provision of opportunities for functioning) rather than directly through employability skills.”
[Graduate identity and employability]

Given the issues discussed above, it’s no wonder that a degree doesn’t automatically result in magical employment.

Boden & Nedeva are concerned that matters go beyond employability. Is higher education in danger of giving too narrow a focus to learning when it should be giving a wider perspective?

“Universities should be the critical friends to civil society, enlightening, informing and engaging, as part of their service. The growth within universities of pedagogical approaches based around the ‘delivery’ of ‘teaching materials’ in a narrow set of ‘skills and competencies’ bodes ill for the execution of this wider public intellectual role. This, we argue, is perhaps the most alarming of implications.” [Source]

And the take home point?

When you identify any goal, career or otherwise, strike out using your own initiative and find who and what can help you around your own actions.

Whatever your university has to offer, take responsibility for your future. Look beyond the grades and beyond the reputation of the institution.  Look to yourself and what you have to offer.  It’s often a lot more that you think.

“Writer’s Block” – The uninvited break

“I don’t believe in writers block particularly. I think you can feel you’re getting writer’s block and then you call it writer’s block and you’re in trouble. So I refuse to call it writer’s block. I call it ‘time for tea’ instead.”
[Graham Coxon, via morjames]

You’d be forgiven for thinking that “writer’s block” is some sort of disease, given the amount of coverage and advice it gets.

photo by amypalko

photo by amypalko

Faced with a 2,000 word essay, your words need to be important, hard-hitting, scholarly, impressive…

You want those words to be right, so you don’t write any old stuff.  You ponder the possibilities and dismiss most ideas as non-starters.  After hours of doing this, you’re no closer to completing the essay.

Thinking too much about the right words can stop you in your tracks.  You’re allowed to write whatever you want while nobody is looking.  The nonsense you start producing now won’t be the final essay you hand in for marking.

So write nonsense.  Talk rubbish.  Get words down on the page and see where it takes you.

James Dunn recently mentioned writer’s block “coming in waves, as inspiration wavers, usually through little mental stimulation or nothing of note occurring”.  James isn’t alone.  It’s hard to be inspired all the time.

Thursday Bram makes this point, saying that she can pump out 500 words in 30 minutes with no problem, but that doesn’t mean an eight-hour day of writing should produce 8,000 words.  She has managed this feat and even written a 12,000 word e-book in a day:

“But every time I’ve made a push at writing so many words, I’m absolutely useless for two or even three days afterward. There are certainly elements of exhaustion: writing that much leaves me feeling physically wrung out and like I just hiked up a mountain. I may not have run a marathon, but I’ve definitely exerted myself.

“The other reason that I need so much recovery time is that I feel like I’ve burned up whatever it is that lets me put together sentences in a generally pleasing fashion. My writing simply sucks after one of my all-day writing sessions.” [Thursday Bram]

Some people find it a struggle to even begin, let alone pumping out 500 words in 30 minutes.  It’s not burn-up, because the match hasn’t even been lit.

As writer’s block is psychological, there is no solution to fit all shapes and sizes.  Blocks can manifest themselves in many ways, such as:

  • General tiredness
  • Personal problems
  • Burn out
  • Lacking inspiration
  • Seeking perfection ‘out of the box’
  • Pressure to produce something ‘better than last time’
  • Uncertain what is required
  • Not enough research to provide much discussion
  • Distractions
  • Lacking belief in your own ability and/or comparing yourself to others

Just look at famous writers and artists.  Nobody is immune from writer’s block, no matter how talented they may be at their craft.

If you’re truly stuck, try writing random words.  Write a shopping list and then write about writing the shopping list.  Write about why you can’t write.  Type out a paragraph from a book and look at the words on the screen.  The screen isn’t blank any more…is that less intimidating?  Increase the font size on screen and let the text take up more space.  Use handwriting instead of the keyboard, and vice versa.  Try something…anything different.

If you really don’t want to suffer from writer’s block, don’t accept the break exists.  On the flipside, do accept that you need a break sometimes.  I don’t want to hear that you’ve gone bonkers…

EduLinks – Bursaries, bank accounts & breaking out

Got that Friday feeling?

New York Times – Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age

It seems that many students don’t realise they are plagiarising, even when the plagiarism is huge.  Why?  Because “concepts of intellectual property, copyright and originality are under assault in the unbridled exchange of online information”.

PhDBlog – The rationality we routinely adopt

While Teh Pesky Interwebs is changing views of copyright, is it also helping to “give us a richer, nuanced and more authentic perspective”?

Guardian – Student bank accounts: Overdrafts and incentives

Not all bank accounts are the same.  And not all freebies are as worthwhile as you think.  The Guardian gives the lowdown on all the offers currently available to students.

From PsychCentral – The End of Privacy, The End of Forgetting?:

“Far from our becoming a society that doesn’t care about privacy, the more our privacy is misused and abused by Big Companies for their own profit and gain — or used against us by a potential future employer, current employer, significant other, etc. — the more sensitive we become to privacy issues. That’s because people aren’t stupid. They know if they post something online, it can come back to haunt them. If they didn’t know that once, they’ll know it the minute they do it and find out it prevents them from obtaining something they want out of life.”

Inside Google Books – Books of the world, stand up and be counted!

Google says there are currently 129,864,880 unique books in the world.  Given that revelation, are you doing enough research for your coursework…?

XKCD – University websites: the truth

Inside Higher Ed – No Laughing Matter

When XKCD published the cartoon above, it got noticed.  Students, academics, parents, all sorts of people were linking to this comic and talking about it.  When something like this speaks to so many of us, it’s time to consider change.

From Swift Kick Central – Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech:

“I am graduating. I should look at this as a positive experience, especially being at the top of my class. However, in retrospect, I cannot say that I am any more intelligent than my peers. I can attest that I am only the best at doing what I am told and working the system. Yet, here I stand, and I am supposed to be proud that I have completed this period of indoctrination. I will leave in the fall to go on to the next phase expected of me, in order to receive a paper document that certifies that I am capable of work. But I contest that I am a human being, a thinker, an adventurer – not a worker. A worker is someone who is trapped within repetition – a slave of the system set up before him. But now, I have successfully shown that I was the best slave. I did what I was told to the extreme. While others sat in class and doodled to later become great artists, I sat in class to take notes and become a great test-taker. While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment. While others were creating music and writing lyrics, I decided to do extra credit, even though I never needed it. So, I wonder, why did I even want this position? Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost? I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I’m scared.”

Student Bursaries

Bursaries were in the news this week.  Universities are spending more of their fee income on poor students, but figures show that ‘top’ universities tend to spend far less than others.  Here be the linkage:

Office For Fair Access
BBC
Guardian
Telegraph
UCU

Have a great weekend!