When Did Learning Stop Being the Real World?

The phrase “in the real world” is often used in higher education. Educators use it to inspire students, while industry partners critique courses with it. It’s spoken casually, as if its meaning is clear and universally accepted. In the classroom, phrases such as “in the real world……………..(fill in the blank)” may be familiar. These remarks…

Not Reinvention, but Intention: Beginning a New Teaching Year

The beginning of a new year always invites reflection. Fresh diaries. Clean calendars. The quiet promise that things might feel a little different this time around. In Australia, that sense of renewal holds extra significance because a new year also marks the start of a new teaching year. New classes. New cohorts. New groups of…

Do Teaching Philosophies Actually Matter?

As the new school year begins in many regions, educators are encouraged to revisit their teaching philosophy. For some, this is a real opportunity to pause and consider what genuinely matters in their teaching. Others see it as little more than busywork, a document they produce simply because it’s required, not because it leads to…

Why Higher Education Must Separate Assessing from Grading

In higher education, we often talk about assessment, but what is usually meant is grading. The two have become so closely linked that we forget they serve very different purposes. When they blend together, it is learning that suffers. If we see assessment as the process of understanding where a student is in their learning:…

If We Built a University Today: What We’d Keep, What We’d Leave Behind, and What We’d Finally Get Right

What would happen if we started over? If we wiped the slate clean. IF there were no inherited policies, no century-old traditions, no “we’ve always done it this way”, and we built a university designed for students, educators, and the societies of today? This isn’t meant to be a financial blueprint. It isn’t limited by…