I had this feeling that the house would be a lot cleaner once I'd retired. This has proven to be completely untrue, but today I suddenly realised why. Before I reveal all, let's just think about academics and housework more generally. First, cleaners: we don't have one. Lots of my academic friends do, whether they… Continue reading Housework for academics
It’s ‘retiring’, not ‘retired’
When I retired, I never planned to have a clear before/after moment. Professionally, binaries of this kind have no appeal - I wrote a whole book about one such alleged moment - and when it comes to life transitions, why is one supposed to feel any different just because of a birthday, for example? In… Continue reading It’s ‘retiring’, not ‘retired’
Retirement, four months in: it’s all a blur
I think it's time for another stock-taking blog post. This retirement thing is complicated, and I know I have followers who are thinking of taking the same path and want to know what it looks like, although their paths may turn out to be quite different. So, four months of retirement: what has happened so… Continue reading Retirement, four months in: it’s all a blur
Redundancy in universities
It's déjà vu all over again... I had a bad case of déjà vu this week, as the universities of Manchester, Aberystwyth and Sunderland announced job cuts. I went through this at Reading in 2010 and it was why I left to take up a position at the Open University. More on that in a moment.… Continue reading Redundancy in universities
Exam season – my top tips
Students - How to survive the exam season with your sanity intact...
The travelling academic (2) Being allowed out
Should you go to that conference? What's the real cost? Can you get there from here?? And what's my top conference tip?
Harassment and sexual misconduct: discussing the unthinkable
Issues of power and consent in higher education: as harassment advisor and from the other side
Publishing the book
'There are two sorts of failures,' one said with authority, 'those who never publish their PhD and those who publish it with xxxxxxxxx'. .
The agony of marking
It's that season, yet again. For UK academics, term has ended, and coursework marking has begun. Soon to come: marking dissertations, followed by marking exams. I gave up marking when I moved to The Open University in 2011, as there it's done by the associate lecturers (aka 'tutors'), so all that was left for me… Continue reading The agony of marking
‘Helen and the Mentors’: life in a MOOC
Updated 6 April The last thing I did at The Open University before leaving was to produce a MOOC. I'm so glad I did this, because the challenge of writing around 35,000 words that took advantage of the FutureLearn platform - arranged in 'steps' of 750 words or five minutes or so of audio or… Continue reading ‘Helen and the Mentors’: life in a MOOC
