LU Watcher

AI generated image mashup of the Loughborough crest with a bottle of fizz. For some reason AI is incapable of spelling Loughborough correctly, even though it is 100% right in the query...

It's that end-of-term feeling again... We live to fight on another day. Merry Christmas! #Loughborough #University

Crypto boss eats banana artwork bought for $6.2m Justin Sun described Maurizio Cattelan's infamous 2019 work as

Not the same banana as when the 'artwork' was sold more than a week ago! Anyone who eats 🍌 knows- it's well over!

Friendship matchmakers: 'Our generation is lonelier than others' Meet the Glasgow University students going on blind friendship dates to connect with new people.

A great idea! Sad to hear if it really is true that people are lonelier these days.

Interesting essay. One of the issues is that more regularly now the output from AI looks similar to the output from scholarship. However it isn't scholarship. Now that might not matter in some applications, because AI will still produce very useful work. #academicsky

Twitter/X has ceased to be a neutral platform it’s time academics let go Following the recent US election Twitter/X has seen an exodus of users to other platforms. Mark Carrigan, argues that the platform no longer holds value for academics looking to share and communica…

Yes time to go... #academicsky, also time for other media, industry and commerce to follow.

Thank you @jeevunsandher.bsky.social for representing us in Parliament today and listening to a challenging and emotional debate.

I don't know if it reassures you but I don't think that feeling ever fully goes away. I've started to regard it, and similar feelings, as an integral part of what drives you to improve. It is though a very fine balance. Good wishes to you 😀

UMHC Framework - Student Minds Hub The University Mental Health Charter Framework helps guide universities to adopt a Whole-University approach to mental health and wellbeing.

This is excellent work and has recently been updated.

Food for thought here. Good news about overall Postgraduate Taught student satisfaction but work to do... #academicsky

Partnering with Universities in Europe to Expand the Possibilities of Immersive Learning | Meta Today, as part of our ongoing efforts to develop new educational offerings for Meta Quest headsets, we've launched the Meta for Education beta program -

Interesting stuff for internationalisation. It could be a lot more interesting if we were talking about providing a campus experience for students who are unable to access it (e.g. short-term health or certain disabilities).

Yes overcomplicated it seems. On balance it seems the number of farms affected isn't nearly as many as is often alleged.

All real! I think.

Three must read papers for PhD students. #scisky #PhD #science #research #academicsky

1. The importance of stupidity in scientific research

Open Access
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

Consider them recommended 📌

This sort of place takes your breath away. The typefaces used in the numbering, the old ironwork, the figuring on the oak.....!

The far right thrives on ignorance. It's hardly surprising that academia is always the no.1 target. Academia's mantra if we are proven wrong is 'oh yeah, better change what we think'. (Not saying that's easy, BTW, just that this is the eventual effect.)

I agree. Even live performances these days might not be quite what they seem. See 'Wings of Pegasus' on YouTube for allegations about miming and autotuning. Personally, I am a huge fan of imperfection- it's what makes all forms of art human/expressive.

Band Aid at 40: 'We knew Christmas before your ancestors' Forty years on, the Band Aid song continues to generate debate about the way it presents Africa.

This was questionable from Day 1, now it makes me wince when I hear it.

The acid test is whether I would be happy sit next to someone from the country while this was playing.

Definite no for a stranger, but it it was a friend I'd hope we could talk about it.

In general, we seem to be in the wild west in terms of protecting intellectual property of all sorts. AI is changing everything as well in terms of the whole nature of creation. I worry for the future of original music 😢

Photo of the remains of a snowman sitting on green grass partially covered in autumn leaves.

Photo summary of the week's #weather in #loughborough...

The quality of the work produced in this way is absolutely stunning and, for my taste, very attractive. #loughborough #university

What would be very interesting would be to know how much people trust what they are actually reading in those articles. Trust in news sources is usually quoted well below 50% in the titles themselves. I'd love to know how much a newspaper's core readership suck up everything, or ignore it.

Etymology of the day: to be ‘blowing a hoolie’ (or ‘hooley’) was probably inspired by the Orkney word ‘hoolan’, a howling gale, with a touch of the ‘hooley’ that is a very noisy party thrown in.

Just used the "Sky Bridge" chrome plugin to find people I'm following on what was Twitter who are now on BSky. It is good but has limitations due to same names issue. If you're a Joe Bloggs, but not the Joe Bloggs I need, don't take it the wrong way if I now unfollow you...

Absolutely, it seems like common sense and civility is back in fashion. For now at least 😀

Since 2016 I’ve been making a maths Christmas quiz. Here’s the 2024 one. www.tes.com/teaching-res...

You’ll need to allow external media to hear the music.

That's fantastic. Data education is essential for everyone in society these days. Hope that cross-curricula links are maximised so it is not treated as 'just another part of maths'.

Excellent guide. Well played @uoylibrary.bsky.social ! Highly recommended #academicsky #loughborough #university

I agree, some parts of the media have also clearly struggled to properly understand the issues. The reporting has been patchy and focused on what particular prominent people think, rather than helping untangle all the different challenges.

We need better awarding gap metrics to genuinely address inequity What do awarding gaps really tell us about the experiences and outcomes of students with vastly different circumstances? For Katharine Hubbard, the current metrics leave a lot to be desired

Good summary with link to more detail. This needs much wider debate. Completion is also a very important part of discussion because while classification is important, failure has much longer term impact. wonkhe.com/blogs/we-nee...