Could Distributed Peer Review Better Decide Grant Funding?
The landscape of academic grant funding is notoriously competitive and plagued by lengthy, bureaucratic processes, exacerbated by difficulties in finding willing reviewers. Distributed […]
MOOCS: Veni, Vidi, Meh!
David Glance argues that the university-shaking predictions once routinely made for massive open online courses have been borne out.
What Do Sociology Students Read?
Just as scholarship now is more and more about the generation of economic benefits, for many studying is now less about ‘reading for a degree’ than about ‘getting a degree,’ suggests Daniel Nehring.
Return to Planet Quantophrenia
Robert Dingwall argues that numeracy and and a grasp of quantitative method of course have a place in the education of a social scientist, but they shouldn’t be the only skills in the graduate’s quiver. How about he ability to walk around, for one?
Pricing the ‘Great Cost Shift’ in US Higher Ed
Some Australians have looked to the United States as a model for revamping Oz’s higher education system. U.S.-based sociologist Steven Ward suggests they ought to take another look.
Googling ‘Reference Work’ in the Age of Wikipedia
These aren’t the best of times for reference librarians, but the challenges leave only one option — to get with the times.
The Trials and Futures of ‘English for Academic Purposes’
Academic English is its own language (for better or for worse), and literacy in it requires more than just being a dab hand with Google Translate.
Quantophrenia is Back in Town
Many social scientists find themselves members of a cult of quantification, argues Robert Dingwall, in love with numbers for their own sake even when those numbers produce no useful knowledge.
Performative Social Science?
The arts can have a role in both conducting social science and in getting into the hands of the wider community, argues Kip Jones, and should be in the quiver of research methods. Plus, it takes a step away from using PowerPoint!
