Let’s start by making one thing clear: academics are not special. Yes, we may have hard-won qualifications; many of us may have become experts in our respective fields; and we may indeed be thought of as eccentric compared to the rest of the population; but being ‘quirky’ and ‘different’ in this respect certainly does not mean we have a special status from everyone else and are free to operate above the law. More...

There is a huge appetite to know more about this: my own piece on the subject has been more widely read than anything else I have ever written. One point that particularly resonated with people (securing 1,400 retweets) was a point about the limited access civil servants and politicians have to academic output in peer-reviewed journals. More...

Student number planning is a complex task. Historically, student number data has been completed in spreadsheets and compiled from data from lots of different departments and systems – from finance departments, academic administrators through to admissions. More...

The autonomy of universities over whom to admit is enshrined in primary legislation. This was confirmed in the most recent higher education act, which was passed just over a year ago. This means the room for action on restricting unconditional offers is strictly limited without a change to the law. More...

Today’s report from UCAS highlights the stratospheric rise of unconditional (U) offers on the university admissions scene.  Since 2013, when the University of Birmingham made the first controversial move, the practice of confirming places for students before they get their exam results has grown exponentially. More...

The Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) has today published a new report on free speech with a Foreword by human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. The report serves as a practical guide to help higher education institutions secure freedom of speech on campus. More...

By Michael Feldstein. When we were at BbWorld the week before last, Blackboard's executive management pushed back vehemently on our analysis of how their high levels of debt could impact their business decisions. More...

By Michael Feldstein. Sometimes breaking news overturns your blogging schedule. We have had e-Literate staff at four LMS conferences in the past few weeks and have a raft of news and analysis to publish. However, there's some big news today out of Moodle that needs at least a timely mention while we write our other posts and chase down the details for more analysis of this event. More...

By Michael Feldstein. My last post on Canvas' US market share surpassing Blackboard's predictably got a fair bit of attention, including some follow-up press elsewhere on the internet. There were a few comments to the press made by Blackboard executives and industry experts that merit some further examination. More...

By Michael Feldstein. As of July 6th, our data partner LISTedTECH informs us that Canvas is now the primary LMS in more US colleges and universities than Blackboard Learn. By a margin of two; Canvas has 1,218 installations, while Blackboard Learn has 1,216. Statistically speaking, the two companies are tied for US market share. More...