Dr Nicola Rivers and Dr Dave Webster [With a hat-tip to the Thesis Whisperer] Academia is fuelled by rejection. For every article accepted or funding bid won, numerous others will have been summarily rejected, with promising ideas never seeing the light of day. In fact the constant spectre of rejection is so widely acknowledged within the academicContinue reading “Why it’s always personal… Rejection, failure and the University as a bad boyfriend”
Category Archives: Resilience
Schrödinger’s Snowflake.
Too scared to make a phone call, and hear opposing views, while simultaneously the greatest threat to civilisation and ‘Western/enlightenment’ values in living memory? Dr Nicola Rivers and Dr Dave Webster The idea of Schrodinger’s Cat has recently been adopted as a metaphor for numerous cultural phenomena or tropes. You may have seen it related to theContinue reading “Schrödinger’s Snowflake.”
Stop Trying to Fix Students and Start Trying to Fix the University
Dr Nicola Rivers and Dr Dave Webster What do Universities do for students to help them secure a thriving future? They offer them mindfulness; sign them up to resilience programmes; advocate that they cultivate grit, and encourage them to promote themselves as personal brands, ready to do battle in the brutal arena of the precarious, broken gigContinue reading “Stop Trying to Fix Students and Start Trying to Fix the University”
Between Resilience & Vulnerability: Experiences of the Neoliberal Academy – Conference Announcement
We are pleased to announce that our Between Resilience & Vulnerability: Experiences of the Neoliberal Academy conference will take place on May 15th, at the University of Gloucestershire’s Park Campus Cheltenham. Click here for full details/poster There are more details over at the http://projectsoftheself.com/ blog, including the call for contributions.
How much a smile cost?
How much a dollar really cost? The question is detrimental, paralyzin’ my thoughts Kendrick Lamar: How Much a Dollar Cost? Walking into the campus this morning, I had a chance encounter with one of my favourite colleagues, and ended up talking about the busy, and quite challenging, day that I had in store. She observedContinue reading “How much a smile cost?”
What is ‘motivation porn’, and why does Higher Education seem addicted to it?
Dr Nicola Rivers and Dr Dave Webster. In our recent work, looking at discourses of ‘resilience’ and ‘grit’ in Higher Education, we have made only passing reference to a phenomenon that seems to occupy much of the same narrative space, namely motivation porn. The term ‘motivation porn’ refers to a form of narrative that seeks to associateContinue reading “What is ‘motivation porn’, and why does Higher Education seem addicted to it?”
What is academic challenge? Vulnerability, resilience, grit, stretch, toughness and the student experience.
Next month, Ros O’Leary and I will be attending ICERI2017, the 10th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation. The title of our contribution is What is academic challenge? Vulnerability, resilience, grit, stretch, toughness and conceptualising the student experience. This will draw on our Model for Academic Challenge, that we have began to develop here, as well on the concernsContinue reading “What is academic challenge? Vulnerability, resilience, grit, stretch, toughness and the student experience.”
Teaching In Higher Ed podcast on Resilience in Education.
Recently, Dr Rivers and I were interviewed by Bonni Stachowiak, from Teaching in Higher Ed, for their podcast series. Ours was number 173 in the series, and there is a wealth of really exciting content to enjoy amongst them. We talked about our work on resilience, notions of grit, student welfare and mental health, and aContinue reading “Teaching In Higher Ed podcast on Resilience in Education.”
You’re So Vain, You Probably Think This Blog is About You: Academic Conference Misbehaviour
[Note: conference bingo image is not mine- but not sure where online I originally found it] September is, for many academics, the conference season, but they occur all year, and this post is borne from decades of bad coffee, overstuffed powerpoint slides, humble-brag introductions, and unspeakable ‘social event’ experiences. Much of the behaviour I discussContinue reading “You’re So Vain, You Probably Think This Blog is About You: Academic Conference Misbehaviour”
Why we should be wary of thinking students just want to have fun
Dr Nicola Rivers and Dr Dave Webster. This post is borne out of hearing some in the HE sector talk about the puzzle of student engagement. This is a serious and worthwhile endeavour. Amidst the plethora of good ideas, and a lot of them relate to forms of active learning, however, we have heard the notion thatContinue reading “Why we should be wary of thinking students just want to have fun”
Dave Webster 