Image: my laptop – I’ve been spending a lot of time here lately… Over the past term, I have been joining educators around the country in getting to grips with new ways of teaching. I’ve been learning the skills of video-editing and web design, finding out about theories of e-learning, Read more
Like many who are not schoolteachers, NHS staff or other key workers, in these recent weeks I have been getting used to spending most of my time at home, getting very acquainted with Zoom and the various tools we are using for online teaching at the university where I work. Read more
A major challenge for younger academics is the increasing prevalence of both fixed-term contracts and institutional mobility. A year ago I wrote about moving from a university to a business environment, and now I’m back in a university again, with another shift in my research area. So I thought it might be helpful to share the story of these transitions Read more
In this post I’d like to reflect on a tension that I consider to be quite widespread within academia. ‘Critical thinking’ is often extolled as one of the core virtues necessary for the intellectual life: much university-level teaching is geared towards developing this skill, and it is viewed as foundational Read more
Is gentleness something academics should aspire to? If a colleague or a peer described you as gentle, would you be pleased, or a little worried? I’ve just had a weekend away with my church, and the teaching focused on the character of Christ – specifically the way he perfectly embodies Read more
It won’t be news to anyone reading this blog that life as a researcher – perhaps particularly life as a doctoral student – can be, and often is, very isolating. You’re working on a niche topic, which few other people may understand or seriously care about; your day-to-day research is Read more
‘Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?’ It’s a classic interview question – and one which I’m very glad I’ve not (yet) been asked. Have you ever been tempted to answer it with ‘If it is the Lord’s will, I will live and do this or that’ (James Read more