Casualisation of work – Page 2 – Music for Deckchairs

What you have when you don’t have tenure

Kate Bowles January 7, 2014 3 Comments

Over the holiday period there’s been a flare-up among US higher education bloggers, that began with important questions about the miserable process of tenure-line job searches conducted at big annual conferences (do candidates really end up sitting on the bed in front of the search committee? Good Lord), and jumped from there to whether those currently tenured are doing enough to change the system that gives them their privileges. Understandably, tenured US bloggers wrote back, most substantively agreeing that university…

Being an academic, Casualisation of work, Change management, Higher education

Because work

Kate Bowles January 6, 2014 3 Comments

At this time of year, many of us are dreaming of lying on a quiet beach under a palm tree … . Instead, we are more likely to be watching the sun shine down from behind the office window, while staring obsessively at our computer screens and becoming consumed by our overflowing inboxes. It seems that Australia isn’t the laidback nation it’s perceived to be. Aussies: reluctant to take annual leave, Big Fish Global Consulting Group, back in 2012 Summertime…

Being an academic, Casualisation of work, Higher education

Irreplaceable time

Kate Bowles November 24, 2013 55 Comments

Part one: the hamster wheel The majority of Australians working extra hours or hours outside of normal work hours do so in order to meet the expectations of their job. Almost 60 per cent of respondents report this, with 45 per cent saying that this extra work is necessary often or sometimes. This represents 5.2 million Australian workers who are working extra hours to keep their workload under control and on target. Prue Cameron and Richard Denniss, “Hard to Get…

Being an academic, Cancer, Casualisation of work, Higher education

In the pipeline

Kate Bowles November 4, 2013 8 Comments

Adjuncts want, most immediately, more pay – a livable wage. They want space on campus in which to work. They want benefits, of health insurance especially, and a budget for essential work-related expenses (such as computers and support for their maintenance and repair). They want job security: renewable contracts guaranteeing long-term or consistently longer-term employment; advance notice for teaching appointments. They wish, most broadly, for equality: a role in faculty governance; a stake in the curricular or operational decisions of…

Casualisation of work

Normality’s shadow

Kate Bowles July 28, 2013 11 Comments

Research has shown that those students (all of us, really) remember a new word or fact best when they learn it and then relearn it when they are just on the cusp of forgetting it. Area9’s instructional software uses algorithms to predict each user’s unique memory-decay curve so that it can remind a student of something learned last week at the moment it is about to slip out of his or her brain forever. Seth Fletcher, ‘How Big Data is…

Casualisation of work, Edtech and online learning

Business as usual

Kate Bowles June 2, 2013 3 Comments

In an evolving market, the development of sustainable business models is always a challenge but I believe that if we build something great, a whole range of business opportunities could come our way. Simon Nelson, CEO, FutureLearn, Feb 2013 Over the past year, MOOCs have opened the doors of access to quality education, and have captured the attention of educational leaders and students worldwide. Today, we’re excited to announce the next step in our mission to foster student learning without…

Being an academic, Casualisation of work, Edtech and online learning, Rankings

Under pressure

Kate Bowles November 29, 2012 7 Comments

It’s week one again, and I’m up late reading students’ introductory posts at the start of a mostly online course. They don’t know each other, and in sharing photographs and writing publically about why they’re taking the course, they’re showing quite a bit of trust in strangers that they haven’t met in person, including me. This care that they show each other is really why I still choose to work online, after a year immersed in the blither of techno-futurism,…

Being an academic, Casualisation of work, Edtech and online learning, Rankings

With friends like these

Kate Bowles September 27, 2012 6 Comments

Here’s a little grenade-with-the-pin-out that was rolled towards Australia’s university lecturers today by the Minister for Communications, Broadband, and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy. Under the alarmist heading that Australian Universities Must Adapt, Senator Conroy popped this question: “What is a lecture worth if the best lecturer in the world at MIT is online for free for all to access?” Really—that’s it? After all we’ve heard about MOOCs revolutionising higher education, it comes down to this crude bit of cost-benefit…

Being an academic, Casualisation of work, Higher education, Student engagement

Broken?

Kate Bowles July 14, 2012 3 Comments

I’m not really one for live blogging, but I’m up late following the UK Guardian’s weekly online live chat, just concluded, on the subject of academic casualisation—not least for the pleasure of seeing Jonathan Rees in action. We’re all still falling short of figuring out exactly how edtech, university marketing and casualisation add up to the state that we’re in, but he’s on the case. I wanted to find the conversation more encouraging, but it’s hard to ask a group…

Being an academic, Casualisation of work, Higher education, Risk

Piecework

Kate Bowles July 11, 2012 4 Comments

I forget why exactly, but I’m on a daily email list for the US fast food industry. I’ve learned all sorts of colourful facts about change management practices and customer loyalty schemes, and it’s getting harder to avoid the conclusion that higher education institutions and quick service restaurants are marching to a similar drum. Mad Greens*, for example, is currently pitching for the same trifecta of improved service quality, compliance and productivity that informs most of the divisional workplans I’ve…

Casualisation of work, Higher education, Risk