France Stratégie et le CEPII réunissent régulièrement des personnalités du monde officiel, économique, financier ou académique, pour discuter de façon informelle et sous les règles de Chatham House des grandes thématiques européennes. Voir l'article...
By Celine Cooper. What is the role of the university in today’s changing world? 
Par Antonia Birnbaum. Aujourd’hui, la question « à quoi bon encore l’université ? » est posée. Il y a ceux qui la posent pour nous inviter à la déserter. Il y a ceux qui la posent pour la défendre. Il y a ceux qui les premiers en dictent les termes, et qui possèdent déjà la réponse, à savoir les tenants d’un pouvoir au service de l’irrationnelle rationalité de l’économie. Dans les remarques qui suivent, je voudrais tenter de nommer le malaise que j’éprouve à enseigner aujourd’hui en université. J’écris donc un texte d’humeur...
En tant que la formation professionnelle s’impose à l’université comme son ressort principal, la soumet au fonctionnement régulier de la société, elle ne cherche pas à « faciliter » l’insertion future des étudiants, pas plus que ne le ferait une agence d’emploi. Ça, pour faire vite, c’est l’idéologie qui va avec. En vérité, la formation professionnelle soumet bien entendu l’université au fonctionnement réel de l’économie, c’est-à-dire à la précarité, à la flexibilité, au chômage, à un travail salarié exclusivement conçu au regard de sa solvabilité et de son utilité pour la reproduction capitaliste de la société. C’est à cela qu’elle forme. Voir l'article...
By Garry Marr. Tall Clubs International says it probably comes up a little short when it comes to the number of applications it receives for its scholarships. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Going further
Doug Peterson, doug — off the record, 2016/04/05
Doug peterson says there should be pushback on the post What does the fox say? More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. I Don't Care About Your Life
Jason Guriel, The Walrus, 2016/04/15
I realize that you don't care about my life (at least, not nearly as much as I care about it). That's OK, I can deal with that. But when I was taking religious studies courses in the 1980s I first encountered the 'confessional' course, where we were studying religion not only as a phenomenon but also as an expression of personal faith. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. In Britain, the Wealthy Get Wealthier
John Morgan, Inside Higher Ed, 2016/04/14
More evidence for a proposition that has been noted in this newsletter before, specifically, that equality of outcomes is not achieved simply by providing access to the same curriculum. The purpose of elite institutions of higher education is to allow the wealthy to create insider networks, and these appear to freeze out the non-wealthy, even those who attend these institutions. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Some academics remain skeptical of Academia.edu
Shawna Wagman, University Affairs, 2016/04/14
"Please, don’t put your papers on Academia.edu," Wolfgang Schwarz writes, arguing according to this article that "He argues that the platform essentially bans access for academics who, for whatever reason, don’t have an Academia.edu account. It also shuts out non-academics." I've been hit with login requirements from both here and its twin, ResearchGate. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Does neuron ‘feedback’ let the brain trick us?
Jocelyn Duffy, Futurity, 2016/04/11
"Seeing something that isn’t really there could be your brain reacting to feedback between neurons in different parts of the visual system, according to new research.... it signifies that studying neuronal feedback is important to our understanding of how the brain works to process stimuli." This is interesting. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Self Determination Theory
Various authors, Self Determination Theory, 2016/04/06
I was talking about this topic over lunch and then Jon Dron came up with a slide pointing to this site during his talk. Essentially, intrinsic motivation exists only if there is autonomy, competence and relatedness. More...
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