Adrian Jackson

Convince more people to run?

This makes no sense. If your second preference is elected based on the distribution of your vote from your first preference, your vote isn’t wasted.

I wrote to then NDIS minister Bill Shorten (also my local MP) urging him to expand the eligibility of the hearing services program as the cost of hearing aids is an equity issue. His staff refused to consider it as every problem needed the NDIS hammer which I can’t see how it helps.

Picture of Canadian politician Tommy Douglas and a quote from him: “Once more, let me remind you what fascism is. It need not wear a brown shirt or a green shirt. Fascism begins the moment a ruling class, fearing the people may use their political democracy to gain economic democracy, begins to destroy political democracy in order to retain its power of exploitation and special privilege."

In solidarity with Canada and Mexico, I offer this still-timely reminder from Tommy Douglas. Douglas was a Canadian politician who helped launch universal healthcare in Canada.

This looks like an @abrahampiper.bsky.social bat signal

Here’s something we see far too often - car paraphernalia lazily intruding on pedestrian space.
When cars & their junk signage already hog so much of the street space.
At very least plonk it in the parking lane!

Criticism of technology has a history. We have to look back as we look forward. Our pushback on insidious tech (and especially edtech) has to be as nuanced as possible. 🧵

The sending name not the email address

Australian Universities are largely in crisis because international student fees were the only way to grow revenue and when faced with a pandemic and a housing crisis, the ability to do that has been severed. The government commissioned a review of the sector that only mentioned ‘learning’ 7 times.

Two reasons (and I’m in Australia for context): very few academics want teaching to be the job, they got there by research and I think most want their jobs to be paid versions of PhD candidature; and accreditation is tied to research output by the government

This means the degree product funds the institution and therefore the focus of effort is on the running of the products.

I sometimes theorise that tertiary level education becoming a prerequisite for much of the workforce has meant that universities have become more accessible to the wider populace but to make that scale, we’ve had to economise higher education into a commodity product.

Adding this to my Haymarket roundabout wishlist.

Apparently we think alike! bsky.app/profile/adri...

This would be perfect for the Haymarket roundabout.

We need to do everything to stop Dutton and his insane nuclear power wish. I'm not opposed to nuclear on safety grounds, I'm opposed on the basis that its slower and more expensive. If only the incumbent PM was capable of making decisions rather than two way bets.

Interested in co-editing a leading religious history journal? Here’s your chance! JRH is moving into its next phase - join us! EOIs due Jan 17 2025.

I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that emergency management vetoed any chance of it being called North Melbourne because the probability of someone meaning the old North Melbourne is too high.

A must-read essay for anyone working in a university humanities department, by Andrew Dean:
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/essays/welco...

I was unemployed and had the opportunity to work overseas. Car registration was coming up and basically it was cheaper to scrap the car. When I got back a few months later, I didn’t have the income to buy a car and have learned to live without it. Car share was a helpful transition.

Catcalls, aggression, male domination: Why women aren’t cycling Women are avoiding riding bikes because Victoria’s transport networks are set up for the needs and safety perceptions of confident, physically fit men.

Released today, our research found that 92% of young women want to ride a bike, but participation is 4 times lower than men of the same age.
www.theage.com.au/national/vic...

Great pic from final session of the #ascilite2024 conference thanks Chris Bridge of UNE

To be fair, Danny did it in support of the argument being made. #ascilite2024

Anecdote that when he presented these findings previously, Danny Liu subsequently immediately proved how flawed a lot of the responses were. (Okay, I feel sorry for the academics). #ascilite2024

Survey Q2: Has genAI made you rethink your assessment?

25% no.

Coded from textual responses so not multi-tick but a lot of the yes is going to invigilation. #ascilite2024

Study is a survey of 99 academics teaching in STEM.

Q1: Have you tried putting your assessment into a LLM to see how it performs? A: 37% of academics said no.

No significant variations over time or in categorisation of sub-disciplines. #ascilite2024

Apology retracted, he just took a swipe at ancient history. Is showing a DALL-E generated rendition of a medieval battle.

Although I do like this generated image of ChatGPT in the style of a medieval book illustration.
#ascilite2024

Next session. Christopher Bridge from UNE talking about STEM assessment redesign.

I apologise in advance for any humanities snark about STEM in my posts about this. #ascilite2024

Did I just personify chatbots? #ascilite2024

There's the confession: the AI tutor is not a competent engineer.

My question then is, can people who can't do the work, teach?

#ascilite2024