Thursday, June 14, 2012

NEW PUBLICATION - Australian Universities: A Portrait of Decline by Donald Meyers

Ormond College (1879), University of Melbourne
Ormond College (1879), University of Melbourne (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Hi readers,

I'd like you to have a read of an eye-opening publication written by Donald Meyers about the damage being done by increasing commercialisation and managerialism within the Australian higher education sector.

I urge you to have a read, and be sure to leave comments - let's start a dialogue. It may make a difference.

http://www.australianuniversities.id.au/Australian_Universities-A_Portrait_of_Decline.pdf

http://www.australianuniversities.id.au
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12 comments:

  1. It is a great book. From my experience as an Australian academic it is spot on. I really hope the government and my colleagues pay serious attention to this work.

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    1. it is more than spot on. To me it reads like a transcript of our Deputy Deans an Deans' Day of Reckoning Trials. In my Sand Stone uni the curriculum wreckers, or in Meyers words, the Educationalists, are busy 24/7 imposing their unsupported student-centred theories onto the first year curses. (luckily the can't go any any higher, they lack the knowledge).

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    2. Anonymous,

      Thanks for your comments.

      Firstly, it's interesting that the comments coming through are registered as "anonymous". There is definitely fear out there.

      I have to agree that the educationalists are constantly testing unwarranted and unproven theories on students and staff through an agenda of 'change management' inspired by the upper levels of university administration. This managerialist agenda is forcing change at any cost, ultimately to the detriment of students.

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    3. Thanks Anon,

      My site is getting a large number of hits, so the word is getting out. But the managerialist discourse is very strong, and easily brushes off arguments simply by labelling those who are looking for a better way as whingers. Classic bullying tactics in the spirit of John Howard!

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  2. I can see why the book was rejected by a number of publishers. While it makes many great points, it in an unapologetic polemic which engages in its own 'leaps of logic' while attempting to demolish the so-called Educationalists' agenda. IMHO it grossly distorts and misrepresents some aspects of current educational theory. For example, the corollory of Meyer's support for traditional lectures is that if your learning style does not align with being 'lectured to' then you are simply not suitable to be a scientist. This is plain bunkum. Many great students learn by reading and private study without having to sit through hours of mind-numbing lectures.

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    1. Hi Anon,

      I agree with your final point. There must be a variety of teaching and learning methods that need to be taken into account.

      Nevertheless, I have worked in institutions where many of the ideas that have been implemented are highly experimental with no evidence-base, therefore one can only conclude there is a different agenda in place, rather than the attempt to improve student learning.

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    2. Dear Anon(9:47 am) I think you are missing the point. Meyers does not advocate traditional lecturing per se. Indeed, attending lectures is not compulsory in Au unis., so in principle whether you take a traditional course or student centred one, should make no difference for the bright and motivated. I , like any other lecturer, have met a few students for the first time at the examination room, and some, (a few!) did get a good mark. Meyers' point is more to do with the soft approach, like building bridges using laundry pegs, and call that Introduction to Professional Engineering (I am not making this up,it is done at UQ engng) . The issue is that lecturers, good ones at least, are role models, and bring props and encourage discussion. The student centred approach is so time inefficient that students learn next to nothing, although they have a lot of fun. The stats of the student centred courses show that the number of failures does decrease, but so do the number of 7's. In a nut shell, student centred teaching spreads mediocrity.

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  3. The PDF has serious problems. After trying with a number of PDF readers and downloading twice it still doesn't read properly. Suggest remaking it.

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    1. Hi,

      I can't understand why you can't open it. Nobody else has had a problem. So, I'll do a shout-out.

      NOTE: If anyone is having a problem opening the document, please let me know.

      In the meantime, if you drop me a message at: dr.robert.muller@gmail.com, I would be more than happy to email you a copy.

      Cheers,

      Robert.

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  4. You are right on target Dr Robert.Keep up your good work. I just hope some of these managers and politicians have the guts to make changes to the current Australia education system!

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  5. Thanks for your comment.

    The managers won't change things and neither will the politicians. It's going to take some serious guts from academics to change things.

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  6. Anon (9:47 am): With apologies for stating the obvious, the fact that the book was rejected by the "official" publishers can be read the other way around. For example, Melbourne Uni press rejected Coady-Margison et al.'s book "Why Universities Matter" back in 1998 also for being "too controversial".
    If you care to check what Marginson had to say back then, it predicts quite nicely what Meyers confirms in his personal experience, give or take. We may argue about a detail or two, but what makes Meyers' book controversial are the elements of truth, and there are plenty in it as far as I can tell.

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