On Tuesday I had a really thoroughly enjoyable time talking about the fun research I have been involved with and the impact it has had over the last few years, and the cool things people in our group are doing. Reminded how much fun and value there is in what we do. Really needing that reminder as I manage two faffy cat herding hideous form filling admin projects on tight deadlines at the moment. #UKHE

@westbynoreaster
On the flip side, I thought it would be easy to recruit a #UKHE #RSEng but struggled to find many interested. We're even owned by a uni 😆
@volcan01010

Tedious forms that forbid entering dates in the past... It genuinely already happened and the form was not filled in in advance and nowt can be done about that, so don't make me put a lie in the date field and the truth in a comment... If you want to progress towards compliance you need to be able to record instances of non-compliance. Humans make mistakes and systems need to make recovery easy. #UKHE #Compliance

Yesterday I did the cyber awareness training for both University of Strathclyde and University of Cambridge (Strathclyde's was better IMO). One thing that struck me was the coverage in both of the "dangers of free Wi-Fi". So far down my list of things to worry about I wouldn't mention it and neither of them mentioned the "use the university VPN" solution to that risk. It is not a scalable threat and so is relevant to targeted individuals but not so much general staff. #CyberAwareness #UKHE #NCSC

Few things motivate "we could do this aspect of teaching more efficiently" than hearing from colleagues from a more famous university how their approach uses only 10% of the staff time as we do and has a good argument as to why it is better for the students. #PGT #UKHE

📝 open letter from hundreds of researchers asking uk government not to approve new oil and gas field development (still open for signatures): https://www.zero.cam.ac.uk/who-we-are/blog/news/hundreds-uk-scientists-and-academics-urge-prime-minister-rishi-sunak-prevent

#climatechange #renewableenergy #renewables #ipcc #fossilfuels #ukhe

Some days the crumping and twanging sounds of UK Higher Education slowly collapsing under the strain are very loud. Each one a person, broken. She cannae take much longer. All we try and do locally to help is so inadequate in the face of such a broken system. #UKHE #UCU

On strike again today in solidarity with colleagues who can't afford to pay their bills after a >25% real terms cut in wages since 2009 and a really swinging additional real terms cut this year. All while workloads continue to increase. #UCU #UCURising #strike #UKHE

Been thinking about this overnight and I think my #UKHE priorities would be:

1. End casualisation in the workforce
2. Protect students in the private rented sector (possibly Labour are already considering this as part of their general plans for improving tenants' rights)
3. Tear up REF and TEF
4. Improve maintenance grants
5. Reduce, then abolish, tuition fees

2 and 3 would cost nothing, probably save money in the medium term, so I suspect #Labour would prefer to focus on these.

Listening in to the #ResearchOnResearch Institute event about the #REF (Research Excellence Framework) in the UK (#UKHE) while at work this afternoon. Interesting to hear about all the work going into understanding this research assessment enterprise: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/machine-learning-metrics-merit-the-future-of-research-assessment-tickets-477187489627

Strike action seems quite impactful: As far as I am aware: all meetings cancelled, no teaching happening, campus mostly closed, no applicable staff admitting to working. #UniStrathclyde #UCU #Strike #UKHE #USS #UUK

The one thing I have decided is that I am sick of moving to pursue career opportunities. I might move again for a job, but not *only* for a job.

This is tricky, though, because we don't have #OpenBorders so you're not generally allowed to move first and find work later. Indeed, my very existence in Scotland is contingent on having an employer willing to sponsor me, even though this is now my home.

#immigration #UKHE

The dispute also involves pay inequality (disparities with respect to race, gender, etc), unreasonable #workload models that require working unpaid overtime or sacrificing the quality of your research or teaching, and #casualisation, where universities hire folks on short term or zero hours contracts, creating incredible #precarity and #insecurity.

#UKHE #strikes #EIS #UCU

Strike strike baby!

Much of UK higher education (#UKHE) is on #strike today for a lot of reasons. The simplest to explain is that pay has declined in real terms for like 15 years or something and now during a #CostOfLivingCrisis employers are continuing to offer numerical salary increases which are actually decreases when you take into account #inflation. This happens as #universities continue to pursue a #corporate org structure which deprioritises research and education.

Thank you to friends and colleagues striking today. Fighting to make all our lives better, to allow us to see some future in academia. We aren't asking for much. Fair pay and better working conditions, particularly for ECR who suffer precarious contracts. There are so many dedicated staff, wanting to make a great student experience. Universities exploit this.
#ucurising #ucu #ucustrikes #ucustrike #ukhe #digitalpicket #digitalpicketline #strikes #strike #dontcrossthepicketline

“Our working conditions are student learning conditions” - picket pics from strand campus, with UCU, Unison, Liberate KCL & more 🪧🎊✨

#ucurising #ucu #ucustrikes #ucustrike #ukhe #digitalpicket #digitalpicketline #strikes #strike

for those bringing their union branches into the fediverse, this looks could be a good fit! https://union.place/

and spotted that @leedsucu is already there. 🪧🎊✨

#ucurising #ucu #ucustrikes #ucustrike #ukhe #digitalpicket #digitalpicketline #strikes #strike

tfw your union is not only here - but also verified ✅🎊🎏🪧📣💛
✨ @ucu ✨

here in time for strikes across uk universities next week.
and sending solidarity with those in california. #ucstrike #fairUCnow #fairUC

#ucurising #ucu #ucustrikes #ucustrike #ukhe #digitalpicket #digitalpicketline #strikes #strike

Postgraduate researchers (PGRs) have struggled through the pandemic with low-to-no income and the cost-of-living crisis is making postgraduate research even more inaccessible. #PGR members of #UCU are saying enough is enough and have started a grassroots campaign to demand a pay rise and package of financial support from #UKRI and other bodies.

PGRs Against Low Pay campaigners have launched an open letter that articulates their easily affordable demands. The letter has already attracted a huge wave of signatures, but campaigners need you and every other UCU member to get behind them. They are asking that you sign and share this letter, whether you are a PGR or an ally expressing #solidarity.

You can read the open letter here https://docs.google.com/document/d/17nl67cJHfcOyirVhN5k78tRQ2Yd3IXymMVcZ-0wLg5k/edit and sign it via this form. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfPKuItc4hAb42Ytu_q-GmS-fHuY78m9bkXDNkEaG3qAqRm7g/viewform Please circulate this request!

For more information about longer term work being done through the PGRs As Staff Campaign, please visit the UCU's website. https://www.ucu.org.uk/PGRs-as-staff

#HE #UKHE #Labour

Now reading: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/practical-guide-digital-teaching-and-learning

A practical guide to online #teaching and #learning.

I had to register for a free level account (which allows me to read 3 articles / month).

The dirty secret of UK Higher Education is that lecturers/teachers/tutors don't get trained until they're hired for a senior role, so ~most~ lecturers have not been trained in #pedagogy. By the time someone does get training, they often have years of experience teaching. But often not online teaching. I know, roughly, how to communicate ideas to a classroom full of people, but I don't have a theoretical underpinning that would allow me to easily map that to online practices.

What I do know from attending some workshops this summer is:
1. Lecture formats don't work. Seminar formats do. Therefore -
2. Students need to read / watch material ahead of the session.
3. Everything needs to be kept short because of fatigue. Presentations should be no longer than 10 minutes. Breakout groups should also be short and have clear objectives.

My memory of being a student is that some of the most interesting things that happen at uni are in unscripted/ unscheduled moments, so there needs to be space for student-lead offtopic discussions. These could be cast as breaks, but ones that the students have to attend.

#Uni #University #UKHE