By Carrie Dunn. Bournemouth is just one university offering a master's in public relations, which encompasses social media and viral campaigns. Spin doctors might be less high-profile than they once were, but even if the practitioners are not all over the front page of the newspaper any more, the art of public relations is still as vital as ever for individuals and businesses of all sizes. Read more...By Claire Shaw. Experts from our recent #HElivechat share best practice and advice on better engaging the public in university research. By Helena Pozniak. Leading UK universities offer short Mooc courses to help mature students stay abreast of the latest developments. The world of distance learning has changed beyond recognition since the first correspondence courses dropped onto doormats more than 40 years ago. Classes of thousands from around the world can now join interactive lectures for free. This is the world of moocs – massive open online courses – which have blazed a trail in the US. This autumn, 21 UK universities – including Bristol, Leeds and Southampton – are preparing to launch their own moocs in partnership with the Open University. Read more...By Liz Lightfoot. If you change your mind about your career during your degree, find a postgrad course to give you the focus you need. Employability is the buzzword in higher education but a surprising number of students are rethinking their careers as they don their graduation gowns. Perhaps they have studied science and want to go into advertising or they have trained as a doctor but want the excitement of a career in the City. Choosing the "wrong" degree subject leaves graduates with a dilemma, and not one necessarily of their making. Read more...By Carrie Dunn. MA courses have elevated the subject to an academic discipline. Think expertise in social media is something just picked up by trial and error? Think again. In March the University of Westminster launched a new MA in social media, alongside its new Centre for Social Media Research, announcing that it would be recruiting for September entry. Read more...By Wendy Berliner. Exams where you can Google the answers; is research all it's cracked up to be; plus our new hub for parents of students … all on our online education communities this week. Moving beyond the well-worn debate about the potential of technology in the classroom, this week the Guardian Teacher Network is running a special series to explore how technology is transforming the role of a teacher. Read more...By Helena Pozniak. Smartphones and laptops mean students on field trips can interact with universities. A postgraduate student is on a field trip to the Orkney Islands collecting data for her PhD in cultural heritage. She checks her RSS feed on her smart phone over breakfast, honing in on the most relevant reports from hundreds of professional journals and blogs that she follows. Her working day begins with a Skype meeting with supervisors in Leicester and Glasgow. Together they edit an article via Google Docs. She then publishes a blog via Wordpress, which she uses to share and test ideas-in-progress with peers and experts worldwide. Read more...By Mark Mazower. Forget the US model. British academics should aspire to offer more than just intellectual fig leaves for policymakers. First there was Francis Fukuyama's The End of History. More recently, we had Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point and Cass Sunstein's Nudge: for years, it seems, big ideas have been heading our way across the Atlantic. It is hard to think of many similarly catchy slogans that have gone the other way of late – Tony Giddens' notion of "the third way" may be one. Read more...By Martin McQuillan. Plans to sell off student loans to private investors undermine trust in the whole university process, says Martin McQuillan. The Guardian last week revealed a secret report commissioned by the government from Rothschild bank, looking at ways in which the student loan book could be made attractive to private investors and sold off. The report is still under active consideration at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and, notably, ministers have failed to deny its contents. Read more...By Anonymous. One postdoc asks: is the joy of working in a research field you love worth the pressure and uncertainty of an academic career? Stick or twist is the name of this game. Stick with pouring all my energy and attention into publications, grants and job applications in the hope that I can extend my academic career, and eventually find a permanent position. Or give up and make a serious and sustained attempt at redirecting my working life.We all try and hedge our bets of course, but let's be honest – given the scarcity of positions in both academia and the wider job market it is very difficult. To continue conducting and publishing research, especially once cut off from the material and digital resources which come with academic affiliation, is no easy matter and requires a heavy investment of time. Read more.../https%3A%2F%2Fprofilepics.canalblog.com%2Fprofilepics%2F1%2F0%2F1076071.jpg)
