Ninth Level Ireland

“I have that terrible feeling (after more than 20 years) that my whole approach to teaching is fundamentally misguided. Like many people, my response to the transformation of third level into a form of mass education (and the inevitable decline in the academic ability of the student intake) has made me change my teaching style into one that is really an extension of the second level system …” (more)

[educationandstuff, 10 May]

“Caroline Usei at Swansea Met tells Eliza Anyangwe why entrepreneurship is less about start-ups and more about ideas – which are vital in higher education …” (more)

[Guardian Professional, 10 May]

“Addressing what has long been considered an Achilles heel of the local technology sector, the Irish Software Association is has introduced two new postgraduate qualifications in software product management …” (more)

[Irish Times, 10 May]

“We were ‘doing’ the Tudors. My nice‑but-dull history tutor was giving me a reading list for the following week’s essay in the cosy confines of his Oxford rooms. ‘How about Antonia Fraser?’ I piped up …” (more)

[Peter Stanford, Daily Telegraph, 10 May]

“Joris talks to an academic about the pressure on students, the social skills of quants and the problem with financial models …” (more)

[Joris Luyendijk, Guardian, 8 May]

“Ireland was known the world over as the ‘island of saints and scholars’, and we traded on that reputation for many years. How often did teachers report receiving a new pupil from the UK or the US but, after a while, advise the parents that their child should drop back a class? …” (more)

[Seán Cottrell, Irish Times, 8 May]

“Earlier this year, the House of Lords published a long and detailed report on the outwardly rather dry topic of government chief scientific advisers. This 100-page report was based on almost 400 pages of evidence and made some important recommendations about how scientific evidence should be acted upon in public policymaking …” (more)

[Fiona Millar, Guardian, 7 May]

“Competition is wonderful. A Stanford professor, Sebastian Thrun, starts his own online instructional company and gets a six-digit number of participants. No doubt worried about the implications of this, Stanford teams with Princeton, Michigan and Penn to offer free online courses …” (more)

[Richard Vedder, New York Times, 6 May]

“Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. On this week’s programme, Professor from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and author of Multiplication is for White People: Raising Expectations for Other People’s Children talks about her thoughts on raising expectations for students of colour in the United States in light of how they may help Irish educators think about educating traveller children, children from disadvantaged areas, and children whose parents were not born in Ireland.” (mp3)

[Inside Education on 103.2 Dublin City FM, 6 May]

“High-profile scholarly boycotts aren’t the only way to get a big publisher’s attention. Sometimes all it takes is a tweet. Not long ago, Heather A Piwowar, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia, found herself on the phone with six high-level employees of the science-publishing giant Elsevier …” (more)

[Jennifer Howard, Chronicle of Higher Education, 6 May]

“When budget season hits the federal government and the debate begins about where and how to cut spending, a perennial favorite target is the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and its sister organization, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) …” (more)

[Jessica Meyer, 4Humanities, 5 May]

“Chinese is to be offered as a Leaving Certificate exam subject, according to Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn. He announced his plans in Portlaoise, Co Laois, yesterday, at the official announcement of a transition-year course on Chinese language and culture …” (more)

[Eoghan Mac Connell, Irish Times, 4 May]

“A growing number of students in the Republic of Ireland are studying Chinese culture and language. As Ireland struggles out of a deep recession, it is looking to adapt to a new world order …” (more)

[BBC News, 3 May]

“Ever wanted to attend classes at the world’s number one university? Well, now you can – sort of – thanks to a new online initiative …” (more)

[TheJournal.ie, 3 May]

“An education think tank should be established to address the ‘incoherence’ of the Irish education system, according to Prof Brian MacCraith, president of Dublin City University. Delivering the keynote address at a major school-management conference, he said Ireland was at a critical point in its education history …” (more)

[Seán Flynn, Irish Times, 3 May]

“The training of teachers in 22 different colleges is wasteful in a country this size, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has said. He told TDs and senators there are too many courses doing the same thing, particularly when compared to other countries …” (more)

[Niall Murray, Irish Examiner, 3 May]

“New powers to sanction bad teachers and stop some from working again are to come into effect under plans by Ruairi Quinn, the education minister. In a long-awaited move, the Teaching Council will be allowed establish fitness-to-teach inquiries …” (more)

[Niall Murray, Irish Examiner, 3 May]

“In preparation for an e-learning summer school workshop in DIT next month, I’m spending the morning in an e-production #eprdctn classroom with third level students …” (more)

[Bernie Goldbach, Inside View from Ireland, 2 May]

“Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced today at a joint press conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the launch of edX, a system of online courses that will be available to learners worldwide …” (more)

[Beryl Benderly, Science, 2 May]

“Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Taoiseach in view of the budget announcement to end the modern languages in primary schools initiative, the justification for the launch of the new pilot project called the blue star programme, one of whose aims is to promote awareness of cultural and linguistic diversity …” (more)

[Dáil Éireann Questions, 1 May]