FFS... and not the most important thing but stopping teaching staff from accessing the Teachers Pension Scheme is exactly the kind of irony that sums up UK HE
11.03.2026 08:14
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FFS... and not the most important thing but stopping teaching staff from accessing the Teachers Pension Scheme is exactly the kind of irony that sums up UK HE
Direction of Travel: Extinction
This is horrible but it's actually LESS bad than what some universities have already done - they're moving onto the Local Government Pension Scheme, which is still defined benefit. That doesn't make this OK, but it's worth knowing that some unis have moved staff wholly to private DC schemes too.
I thought REF was supposed to be institutional.
Solidarity with all @ucuhallam.bsky.social this is absolutely despicable behaviour.
#LoveLD - love #LTHEchat - this Weds - 8-9 Blue Sky: lthechat.com/2026/03/06/l... - follow the hashtag - join the conversation. #edchat #studychat
#LoveLD - love #creativeHE - and looking forward to Harnessing Scattered Energy... a creativeHE and #ICRSC meetup (19 March 26) creativehecommunity.wordpress.com/2026/01/22/h... - please join us! #LTHEchat #EdChat #studychat
Reading the @wonkhe.bsky.social article on student complaints this morning reminded me of this research we did at Plymouth uni. Still surprised by how little consistent analysis there is of student complaints.
pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/cgi/viewcont....
We should never have introduced loans in the first place! The very second that 'non-trad' students thought about HE, we slapped loans on them - now hedgefunds can make more profits and nontrad students have crippling debts. Debt enslaves - education should be liberating #LoveLD
New @therestpolitics.bsky.social Q and A. We finally get round to the Gorton and Denton by election; what UK can do better for soft power; and student loans (sorry we took so long)
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
Excited we are going to be discussing this at Palaeounch next week. In this Aurignacian ivory mammoth I can't get away from seeing a model of a stitched up toy mammoth. Did Auriganican kids have cuddly toys sewn from megafaunal hide? 🦣🏺
A group of children engaged in an outdoor learning activity on grass, wearing green shirts, symbolising community and education. Green Library Hubs logo
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A3 I totally agree, people often view information on social media differently so the critical awareness they use in other spheres might not automatically cross over #LTHEchat
#LTHEChat A4 Historically we taught:how peer review works; how publishing incentives shape research; how media framing operates. Algorithms are the new knowledge gatekeepers. Students now encounter information through: recommender systems, search ranking algorithms. If we don;t we are out of date.
Thank you for a great #LTHEchat !!!
#LTHEchat I don't know if this is the revenge of the algorithm - but it is taking a long time for posts to appeal? Despite the delays , I have found the cool questions and engaged with some great replies! Thank you all. I will look for more of them later - when the gatekeeper relents ...
Q6: As generative AI becomes more embedded in social platforms, what new challenges or opportunities might emerge for teaching about algorithmic influence in HE?
Q6: As generative AI becomes more embedded in social platforms, what new challenges or opportunities might emerge for teaching about algorithmic influence in HE?
Reply with A6 #LTHEChat and your response
#LTHEchat A5 Asking all the students to ask their favourite search engine or AI channel the same question - then to highlight key points in the output - then to write something using that information - then critiquing the different outputs together?
Q5: What practical activities, assessments, or discussions have you (or could you) use to help students critically evaluate algorithm-curated content?
Q5: What practical activities, assessments, or discussions have you (or could you) use to help students critically evaluate algorithm-curated content?
Reply with A5 #LTHEChat and your response
That is such a beautiful point! Active listening - engaging in a ral dialogue. It's why I like to talk about the diaalogic rather than the dialectic :-D #LTHEchat
A3 #LTHEChat I think there is a reduction in listening skills - active listening to someone else's point of view. Its not that you are expected to change your view - but to carefully listen to and respect that someone else takes a different one and that is valid.
A5 We've had students set up personas on tiktok or instagram and examine how easy it is to manipulate the algorithm to serve particular content or topics without explicitly searching for them - interacting with posts they think will eventually lead to where they want to go #LTHEChat
It's always been an issue with all the media with which we engage - and that includes educational texts - it includes our curricula also. These are all constructed systems and all subject to biases - often whilst appearing neutral or posing as objective #LTHEchat
#LTHEchat A4 I like to develop critical capacities by asking students to analyse images, poetry, prose, video - material they already engage with critically - but giving those discussions more time & thus deepening the engagement. It would be good to expand that analysis to online information also.
Q4: To what extent do educators have an ethical responsibility to address algorithmic influence on students’ knowledge formation? Is this outside of our teaching role?
Q4: To what extent do educators have an ethical responsibility to address algorithmic influence on students’ knowledge formation? Is this outside of our teaching role?
Reply with A4 #LTHEChat and your response
#LTHEchat A3 Apparently more people access all their news and information from social media more than official channels. They claim the latter are biased and the former are more 'real' and consequently more 'true'. Thus the normal critical lens people might apply to information is further blinded
Q3 How does algorithm-driven content contribute to misinformation or echo chambers among students, and what signs do you notice in your teaching?
Q3 How does algorithm-driven content contribute to misinformation or echo chambers among students, and what signs do you notice in your teaching?
Reply with A3 #LTHEChat and your response
Strong reactions to topics because they have mainly seen one side of the argument online.
Difficulty distinguishing between opinion, sponsored content, and verified information.
Limited awareness of multiple perspectives on an issue.
#LTHEchat
A2 Totally agree, I think bias in all its forms has become so engrained in our technical lives that for many it's invisible so we need to constantly question it and resist it. #LTHEchat
It's one reason I always argue that Media Studies is essential for understanding & critquing a media-saturated world - and one possible reason why the already privileged disparaged it as a subject. Who wants a critical proletariat? #LTHEchat
#LTHEchat A2 I am a great believer in revealing the hidden curriculum in education - whatever the form. We need to make transparent all the forms & processes with which we engage to resist enslavement - so - revealing this bias - alongside general bias & manipulation - is very important for agency.