I spent an hour or so with a student from Vietnam this week. I could tell from her accented English she was likely to be Vietnamese, but she was quick – keen even – to let me know. In fact, she began our tutorial by explaining that she was attending this writing tutorial because English …

It has become commonplace to describe all sorts of phenomena in positive terms. Take the word community. It is often applied to any group of people with something vaguely in common, however thin or ill-defined that thing might be. To call such a group a community immediately suggests coherence, shared recognition, and solidarity. Curiously, the …

In Leisure, the Basis of Culture (first published in 1948), Josef Pieper notes the difference between looking as contemplation and looking as observation. With the first kind of looking – as when we look at a rose – we are ‘passive and receptive’, and ‘our attention is not strained’. We are simply looking, open ‘to …

I recently learned of a paper on The Student Voice (likely capitalised, perhaps bolded) that reportedly recommends mandating end-of-course surveys for every course, with completion required in class. Currently, I conclude my courses by sharing the optional survey link, respecting students’ autonomy as adults to choose whether to comment. In-class mandates would likely increase response …