This week I embarked on getting a Coder Dojo established. The CoderDojo movement is a global organisation of coding clubs that seek to foster self-directed project based engagement with computer code. The process has been relatively straightforward and cooperation of the hosting site has made it much easier to start planning. We’ll be aiming to […]
Later this month I’ll be meeting with Erin Reilly, Managing Director + Research Fellow at USC’s Annenberg Innovation Lab, when she visits our campus. Erin has an amazing track record of work and an impressive group of current and former collaborators. While she’s in Perth she has agreed to make time in her very busy schedule to […]
G20 climate challenge calls for a rethink of economics By Geoff Harcourt, UNSW Australia Business School and Anne Junor Focusing on growth, the Brisbane G20 leaders’ summit has not grappled with three key issues. How much more growth can the planet survive? How can poorer nations raise their living standards to parity with the “developed” […]
Obama: protect Barrier Reef from climate change By Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra US president Barack Obama has given Australia a sharp prod on climate change, saying he wanted his future grandchildren to be able to enjoy the Great Barrier Reef. Obama, addressing an enthusiastic audience including mostly young people at the University of Queensland, […]
Buying essays: how to make sure assessment is authentic By Shirley Alexander, University of Technology, Sydney The essay, as the primary form of assessment, should be dead. This is the kind of comment that terrifies academics everywhere – but it is an idea that I think we all need to consider. The “news” that there […]
Palm oil continues to destroy Indonesia’s wildlife By Penny van Oosterzee, James Cook University and Bill Laurance, James Cook University How do the products we buy affect the world’s rainforests? In the lead up to the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit held in Sydney this week, The Conversation is running a series on rainforest commodities. If you […]
The Coalition’s 19th-century colonial time warp on climate By David Holmes, Monash University Greens senator Scott Ludlam’s prophecy that environment minister Greg Hunt has been directed to play solitaire for an entire term of office is so far holding up to scrutiny. It is looking increasingly unlikely that Australia will meet even its now-minuscule target […]
A Moment With Gough Whitlam By John Keane, University of Sydney Gough Whitlam, addressing supporters on the day of his dismissal, November 11, 1975 ABC Edward Gough Whitlam has passed on, leaving behind millions of citizens saddened by scores of eloquent obituaries reminding us how, once upon a time, Australian politics produced world-class leaders courageously […]
‘Gentle parenting’ explainer: no rewards, no punishments, no misbehaving kids By Rebecca English, Queensland University of Technology In a piece in The Conversation, Bernadette Saunders described positive discipline. Parents who practise positive discipline or gentle parenting use neither rewards nor punishments to encourage their children to behave. By “no rewards” I mean they don’t use […]
Since Gough died the other day there seems to be one great achievement left to be recorded – it seems to me that his passing has revitalised a broad desire to change for the greater good – apart from the standard detritus from the Cabinet we’re seeing many more elected officers standing for what’s right […]