Do most people know that a ‘good’, 'full-time', 'permanent' job in #STEM #research is often just a constant search for part-time, temp jobs called ‘grants’?

This very short article explains the increasingly #softMoney model of #science in #higherEd:

https://grad.uw.edu/advice/debunking-myths-about-tenure-track-positions/

Yesterday I learned that some high schools in my metro area now give “writing assignments” based on an instruction to prompt an #LLM. The student does no actual writing, because “ #AI is the future.” Writing, it appears, is an output-only process, just as reading is a facts-extracting-only process. This is a PSA to #highered faculty for next year and beyond.

Yesterday I learned that some high schools in my metro area now give “writing assignments” based on an instruction to prompt an #LLM. The student does no actual writing, because “ #AI is the future.” Writing, it appears, is an output-only process, just as reading is a facts-extracting-only process. This is a PSA to #highered faculty for next year and beyond.

Since this morning I have received 35 emails from a colleague who has somehow triggered an out-of-office message response to all their received emails going back to spring 2023. I used to team teach with this colleague, so their out-of-office-bot has a lot of old emails from me to respond to. The office has messaged them asking them to turn off their out-of-office message, but they are, you know, out of the office. #officelife #highered #ugh

Since this morning I have received 35 emails from a colleague who has somehow triggered an out-of-office message response to all their received emails going back to spring 2023. I used to team teach with this colleague, so their out-of-office-bot has a lot of old emails from me to respond to. The office has messaged them asking them to turn off their out-of-office message, but they are, you know, out of the office. #officelife #highered #ugh

Seeking advice. I frequently teach a #HigherEd #AcademicChatter class in the US on Social Informatics which includes a module on #OpenGovernment and #CivicTech to give students an overview of the sector (international, national, state/provincial, local) as a public good, driver of economic health, and locus for potential careers. Obviously there have been changes in US federal policies with deleterious trends in the past year, and I have those covered.

I am seeking help covering emerging #DigitalSovereignty trends. Especially those which involve non-US entities leaving or planning departures from US-based tech because of any combination of tariff demands, copyright/surveillance policies, or other concerns about corporate and/or political power. I already cover the UK transition to Open Document Format in 2014. So I'm not presenting this as something new, but the speed and urgency is definitely picking up (see example links of EU moves to promote FOSS alternatives to US tech, France dropping Teams and Zoom).

1. Examples and links are definitely welcome

2. Thoughts from folks about how to explain this emergent scenario to US-based #ComputerScience and #Informatics and other college students, and its impacts on their futures. Thoughts from outside and inside the US are very welcome.

3. Same as no.2 but where do you see this trend in 5 years? 10 years?

You read this far? Thank you! Wow!

e.g. EU https://www.opensourceforu.com/2026/01/eu-plans-to-scale-open-source-into-commercial-rivals-to-us-technology/

e.g. France https://www.zdnet.com/article/france-dumps-teams-zoom-digital-sovereignty-replacement/

Seeking advice. I frequently teach a #HigherEd #AcademicChatter class in the US on Social Informatics which includes a module on #OpenGovernment and #CivicTech to give students an overview of the sector (international, national, state/provincial, local) as a public good, driver of economic health, and locus for potential careers. Obviously there have been changes in US federal policies with deleterious trends in the past year, and I have those covered.

I am seeking help covering emerging #DigitalSovereignty trends. Especially those which involve non-US entities leaving or planning departures from US-based tech because of any combination of tariff demands, copyright/surveillance policies, or other concerns about corporate and/or political power. I already cover the UK transition to Open Document Format in 2014. So I'm not presenting this as something new, but the speed and urgency is definitely picking up (see example links of EU moves to promote FOSS alternatives to US tech, France dropping Teams and Zoom).

1. Examples and links are definitely welcome

2. Thoughts from folks about how to explain this emergent scenario to US-based #ComputerScience and #Informatics and other college students, and its impacts on their futures. Thoughts from outside and inside the US are very welcome.

3. Same as no.2 but where do you see this trend in 5 years? 10 years?

You read this far? Thank you! Wow!

e.g. EU https://www.opensourceforu.com/2026/01/eu-plans-to-scale-open-source-into-commercial-rivals-to-us-technology/

e.g. France https://www.zdnet.com/article/france-dumps-teams-zoom-digital-sovereignty-replacement/

I welcome the new Alliance for Higher Ed ( #AHE).
https://allianceforhighered.org

"The Alliance is the coalition uniting all of higher education to defend and improve the field as a foundational pillar of democracy. We stand in opposition to authoritarian policy and actions, financial intimidation, and political interference."

Article about it:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/politics-elections/2026/01/28/alliance-forms-protect-higher-ed-political-meddling

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #HigherEd #Trump #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

"These court victories tell us that … we have a right to say that Charlie Kirk said some disgusting things, and just because we’re faculty members doesn’t mean we don’t have the right to say those things"

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/weekly-education/2026/01/26/faculty-firings-over-kirk-commentary-are-unraveling-00745705

#uspol #AAUP #HigherEd #academia

yet another case of "don't comply in advance, assholes"--turns out it was both illegal and unnecessary (as well as shortsighted and immoral) to comply with EO's scrubbing DEI in higher ed. who knew!

https://apnews.com/article/dei-education-department-lawsuit-appeal-ad150d5ab7747b9c782bc381890e5c8f

#DEI #HigherEd #academia #uspol

Free hybrid #Quarto workshops this week @unibibkoeln and on Zoom:

**Thursday 22 January**
10.00 – 11.30 Intro to Quarto – Papers and Slides
14.00 – 15.30 Themes, templates, pandoc – Style your Quarto
16.00 – 17.30 ReproducibiliTea in the HumaniTeas: Quarto/RMarkdown for reproducible research and academic writing

**Friday 23 January**
10.00 – 12.30 Quarto for teaching and Open Educational Resources
14.00 – 16.00 Using Quarto with #git

Registration and detailed schedule: https://gschwier.pages.git.nrw/quartoworkshop2026/

Artwork CC BY Allison Horst from the “Hello, Quarto” keynote by Julia Lowndes and Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel, first presented at the #RStudio Conference 2022.

#ReproducibiliTea #academia #Rstats #OpenScience #OER #OpenEducation #HigherEd

yet another case of "don't comply in advance, assholes"--turns out it was both illegal and unnecessary (as well as shortsighted and immoral) to comply with EO's scrubbing DEI in higher ed. who knew!

https://apnews.com/article/dei-education-department-lawsuit-appeal-ad150d5ab7747b9c782bc381890e5c8f

#DEI #HigherEd #academia #uspol

@npub16dsu2ghu9yd363utyw7dejqc8rgx5ps7r4hxddrvx2x64dh73p7qqkh6vy

After exclusions the sample was closer to 100. That’s actually decent, given typical course enrollments in #higherEd. It’s also enough statistical power to detect the effects that prior research when comparing between (rather than within) participants’.

Looks like I’m not the only one to find that between-person differences in #criticalThinking didn’t replicate in within-person changes over time:

Testing #argumentMapping effects: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/390977878

Assessing #higherEd over time: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-025-01000-1

#edu #stats

Giving University Exams in the Age of Chatbots

https://ploum.net/2026-01-19-exam-with-chatbots.html

#HackerNews #GivingUniversityExams #Chatbots #Education #Technology #Innovation #HigherEd

Free hybrid #Quarto workshops this week @unibibkoeln and on Zoom:

**Thursday 22 January**
10.00 – 11.30 Intro to Quarto – Papers and Slides
14.00 – 15.30 Themes, templates, pandoc – Style your Quarto
16.00 – 17.30 ReproducibiliTea in the HumaniTeas: Quarto/RMarkdown for reproducible research and academic writing

**Friday 23 January**
10.00 – 12.30 Quarto for teaching and Open Educational Resources
14.00 – 16.00 Using Quarto with #git

Registration and detailed schedule: https://gschwier.pages.git.nrw/quartoworkshop2026/

Artwork CC BY Allison Horst from the “Hello, Quarto” keynote by Julia Lowndes and Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel, first presented at the #RStudio Conference 2022.

#ReproducibiliTea #academia #Rstats #OpenScience #OER #OpenEducation #HigherEd

Next week, #ReproducibiliTea in the HumaniTeas in Cologne is organising a two-day extravaganza of Quarto workshops and talks: https://gschwier.pages.git.nrw/quartoworkshop2026/

We are making online attendance possible for the world to join in the fun! Online and on-site @unibibkoeln registration is possible via our homepage.

#Quarto is a modern open-source publishing system that turns plain text and code into polished papers, slides, websites, books, and teaching materials. It unifies writing and computation, supports seamless reproducible workflows, and bridges the gap between publishing your research and reusing the same transparent analyses in notebooks for teaching.

#reproducibility #OpenScience #OpenEducation #HigherEd #academia

🫖 Our tea-infused discussions on good research practices, Open Science, research ethics, and reproducibility continue TODAY (Thursday 15 Jan)! 🫖

We are delighted to welcome Prof. Stephan Rixen, a law professor from the University of Cologne for a special guest talk on "Universities and research integrity – much ado about nothing?" followed by a discussion.

Join us today (Thursday) 16:00–17:30 CET in person (room 4.006 @unibibkoeln) or online (DM me for the Zoom link if you haven't already got it via our mailing list and join the list for next time: https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/reproducibilitea-humaniteas).

Recommended preparation reading: https://ub.uni-koeln.de/sites/UB/user_upload/FuL_wissIntegrit%C3%A4t_Rixen_reproducibilitea_2025.pdf (in German but the session will be in English).

#ReproducibiliTea #OpenScience #Ethics #Integrity #ResearchIntegrity #HIgherEd

Welcome Scholars!

Digital projects take time, care, and collaboration. H-Net Spaces supports digital humanities and digital history work by organizing, preserving, and displaying YOUR research. From early ideas to finished projects, we’re glad to support your research at any stage.

https://networks.h-net.org/h-net-spaces

#spaces #education #academia #digitialhumanities #digitalhistory #digital #humanities #history #highered