Pete Orford

Experimental evidence of the effects of large language models versus web search on depth of learning Abstract. The effects of using large language models (LLMs) versus traditional web search on depth of learning are explored. A theory is proposed that when

When people learn with ChatGPT instead of following their own searches, they end up knowing less, caring less, and producing worse advice, even when the facts are the same.

Friction is an essential ingredient for learning! Convenience makes us shallow.

academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.

Every decade, university administrators excite themselves over the prospects of firing all the faculty and 95% of the staff.

Early 2020s: LLMs
Early 2010s: MOOCs
Early 2000s: Wikis

We’re on our way to Dickens Day 🎉

a young boy is holding a bowl with a spoon in it in front of a group of children . Alt: A scene from David Lean's Oliver Twist in which Oliver is holding a bowl with a spoon in it in front of a group of children. We're told he is asking for gruel, but oh what the young scamp wouldn't give for a cup of coffee

Awake and at the train station stupidly early? Ah, it must be Dickens Day. I'm off to London to hear a range of speakers talk all about "Dickens and Art". I'm especially looking forward to the coffee!
#DickensDay

The basic structure of so much commentary, some in the guise of academic study, reduces to:

(1) generative AI products are detrimental to the goals of education

(2) therefore, the goals of education must change.

Without the tacit axiom that AI has authority behind it, that just doesn’t follow.

Just to say that teachers do an incredibly difficult job, with all the right intentions, and can be the defining influence on a young person's life. They are the exact opposite of poisoners because good teaching provides the antidote to so many dangers

Honestly? If Badenoch is condemning something, that's pretty much the highest endorsement for doing it.

Meme showing a worker labelled "academic staff" digging a hole in the ground while 10 others look labelled with management titles such as "Director of Human Resources" look on. The caption underneath reads "The only way we can cut costs is to reduce the number of academic staff..."

A meme for the modern university...

*cough* Higher Education *cough*

See also: AI, 3D cinema, films starring Dakota Johnson...

Academia can be demoralising at times. But today I read the first draft of my book (and liked it a lot more than I thought I would), examined a very good phd viva (which passed) and am now reading with a pint while I wait for the train back. So yeah, academia-wise, it's a good day.

Front view of the Crystal Palace exterior rendered in Lego complete with megalosaurus and horsedrawn omnibus

Interior view of Lego Crystal Palace showing various details of the exhibition

Victorianists - a little bit of silly joy in all the gloom: take a moment today to vote for this gorgeous Lego set idea of the Great Exhibition so we can all get it for Christmas! beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...

Oof, this one hurts. And also means I have to update my Paradise Lost slide where I compare the devils at the Stygian Council to Gollum, Loki, Hulk and Iago the parrot from Aladdin (I long since abandoned the comparison of Adam and Eve to Peter Perfect and Penelope Pitstop)

One of the things that really grinds at the “elite” is that RAE/REF has shown for 30 years that research excellence really IS spread far beyond their narrow vision. They absolutely HATE it.

The last REF found that 98% of UK research was either "internationally recognised", "internationally excellent", or "world-leading". If you think low-quality research is the noteworthy challenge in UK higher ed right now, you are wilfully looking in the wrong direction

We want robust, enormous research that is SUCH good research, you already know how important and right and insightful it is before you even start it. We want research so predeterminedly world-changing that there is hardly any point actually doing the research at all.

If anything, there's an interchangeability that Dickens plays with. They're never specified as twins to be sure, but they're described collectively as elder or elderly, and Frederick speaks of them being together since the onset of their lives. I doubt anyone is supposed to know who is older!

Um...I don't think it's actually specified. Implied, yes. Frederick is described as feeble many times by William. Moreover when William dies Frederick says "You to go before me" which implies it's not the expected order. But nothing concrete

Numbered pieces of paper relating to paragraphs in my chapter, reorganised into a new order that will (hopefully) make better narrative sense!

Editing hack that's always helped me:
1. Go through your draft and number each paragraph on the document
2. Write the numbers and a short descriptive title of each paragraph on separate pieces of paper.
3. Move the papers round and test out better narrative flows for your argument
4. Now edit!

I’m reasonably confident that Starkey doesn’t even know what he means when he says “technical education”, except that he thinks it’s something good enough for oiks.

✨Call for reviewers ✨

There are lots of new Victorianist books this autumn, and we're looking for reviewers at the @bavs-uk.bsky.social newsletter.

It’s the perfect opportunity for Victorian scholars to read the latest releases and publish a review.

Full details here 👇

bavs.ac.uk/newsletters/

Dickens Day 2025 - ‘Dickens and Art’

What day is it sir? Why it's DICKENS DAY sir! Join us in London on 11 October for a day of readings and papers on the theme of Dickens and Art. More details and booking form here:

ies.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

Shock university ‘merger’ announced The Universities of Kent and Greenwich are set to ‘merge’ in a shock move affecting thousands of staff and students.

Major university merger announced. The start of a wave?

The Guardian view on university finances: stop chipping away at a crumbling system | Editorial Editorial: Economic and academic activity are bound up together. Charging international students more for less will not fix deep-seated problems

Crisis at England universities created by successive govts.

Freeze on student fees
Real cuts in govt grants
Harder to enrol foreign students
Home student numbers falling
£267bn student debt
Real wage cuts
40% of universities in trouble.

Local economies decline with university decline

Cold spots: Mapping inequality in SHAPE provision in UK higher education This British Academy report reveals that many parts of the UK are becoming subject cold spots – areas with no provision in a subject within a commutable distance. These are often in rural, coastal or ...

"leaving what is taught in our universities solely up to market forces undermines resilient subject provision and economic strategy, with lasting consequences for students and for universities’ ability to serve a public good.” 2/2

A really fine summary of this important aspect of the 19th-c newspaper press. Thanks, too, to the always terrific Victorian Commons for the link to this splendid clip about Dickens's experience as a Parliamentary reporter: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AROf... #19thc #C19th @rs4vp.org

Showtime opening posters

Sketch of Dickens, Mark Lemon and Wilkie Collins rehearsing Mr Nightingale’s Profession

Michael Eaton talking about adapting Dickens

The ‘Showtime’ exhibition now on at the dickensmuseum.com/blogs/all-ev... has playbills, annotated copies of the scripts of Dickens’s reading texts and interviews with adaptors and performers of Dickens and his works and more.

Two new publications - on the left, the special edition of The Dickensian to mark the 100th anniversary of the Dickens Museum; on the right, Edinburgh University Press's new publication "Dickens and Decadence" edited by Giles Whitelet and Jonathan Foster

Contents page of The Dickensian

Contents page of "Dickens and Decadence"

Two exciting ego-boosts in the post this morning: the special issue of the Dickensian I contributed to, and my author copy of "Dickens and Decadence". Happy to be in illustrious company in both cases!